US election campaign: Vance: “Cat women” comment was misunderstood

The US Republican vice presidential candidate, JD Vance, sees no reason to take back his statement about “childless cat women”. “I regret a lot of things, (…), but making a joke three years ago is not in the top ten on my list,” said Vance in an interview with the US broadcaster NBC News when asked whether he wished he had never made that comment. “Of course I regret that many people took it the wrong way,” Vance continued. But he will continue to make “jokes” and phrase things “sarcastically” in the future. With his statement at the time, he made it clear that the USA had become too hostile to families, said the 40-year-old.

Statements resurfaced after nomination

Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump introduced Vance as his vice president at the Republican Party convention in Milwaukee in mid-July. Shortly afterwards, the politician and author came under criticism for, among other things, his sexist statements about childless women. In a 2021 interview, the father of three described leading Democratic politicians – including Vice President Kamala Harris, who is now running for the White House herself – as “childless cat women” who were unhappy with their lives and therefore wanted the entire country to be unhappy too. The clip from that time resurfaced after his rise to Trump’s vice president and spread rapidly.

Poor popularity ratings

It was not the senator’s only statement in this direction. Vance also once demanded that childless people should have less say in a democracy and pay more taxes. Polls show that Vance has lower popularity ratings than the Democratic vice presidential candidate Tim Walz. However, the vice presidential candidates in the USA are not usually decisive in who wins the presidential election. In the vote on November 5, former President Trump and the Democratic candidate, US Vice President Kamala Harris, will compete against each other. It is shaping up to be a close race.