Rep. Greg Landsman (D-Ohio), the Democrat who represents Sen. JD Vance’s (R-Ohio) district, slammed the vice presidential candidate for his views on abortion, women and marriage, arguing his was “one of the cruelest, most chaotic and downright weirdest” VP campaigns.
Landsman, in a lengthy Monday thread on the social platform X, argued Vance does not represent the “views and beliefs” of the more than 800,000 residents in southwest Ohio’s 1st Congressional District.
“Right now, Mr. Vance is running one of the cruelest, most chaotic, and downright *weirdest* campaigns for Vice President we’ve ever seen,” Landsman wrote on X. “Mr. Vance makes fun of single women, calling them a ‘bunch of childless cat ladies with miserable lives.'”
Landsman was referring to 2021 remarks Vance made criticizing those who don’t have children, which Democrats have largely criticized.
In those remarks, Vance told then-Fox News host Tucker Carlson the country was being run by “a bunch of childless cat ladies who are miserable at their own lives and the choices that they’ve made, and so they want to make the rest of the country miserable, too.”
Vance defended the “childless cat ladies” remarks last week, calling it a “sarcastic comment.”
“I know the media wants to attack me and wants me to back down on this … but the simple point that I made is that having children, becoming a father, becoming a mother, I really do think it changes your perspective in a pretty profound way,” Vance said on SiriusXM’s “The Megyn Kelly Show” last week.
Landsman went on to criticize Vance for his past suggestion that a federal response may be needed for women traveling across state lines to get an abortion and pointed to Vance’s vote against legislation to establish a national right to in vitro fertilization (IVF).
“Mr. Vance has called for a ‘federal response’ to women traveling across state lines to get an abortion,” Landsman wrote. “Just last month, Mr. Vance voted against protecting the right to access IVF treatment.”
Taylor Van Kirk, a Vance spokesperson, told The Hill the Ohio senator agrees with former President Trump “that each state should have the chance to individually set their own abortion laws.”
“Desperate attacks from Democrats will not distract voters from the deadly effects of Kamala’s wide-open border, the untenable cost of living by her inflationary spending or any other aspect of her far-left, radical agenda,” Van Kirk said Monday.
“Mr. Vance thinks people should have to stay in violent marriages and not get divorced. He thinks some people should get more votes in elections than others, depending on whether they can have children,” Landsman continued.
Democrats have seized on remarks Vance made in 2021 when speaking on no-fault divorce. The Ohio senator said, “This is one of the great tricks that I think the sexual revolution pulled on the American populace, which is the idea that, like, ‘Well, OK, these marriages were fundamentally, you know, they were maybe even violent, but certainly they were unhappy. And so getting rid of them and making it easier for people to shift spouses like they change their underwear, that’s going to make people happier in the long term.’”
Responding to the criticism over the remarks earlier this month, Vance alleged Democrats have “completely twisted” his words.
“As you know, both me and my mom were victims of domestic violence. So, when they say that ‘Vance has supported women staying in violent marriages,’ I think it’s shameful for them to take a guy with my history and my background and say that that’s what I believe. It’s not what I said,” Vance told Fox News days after Trump announced he tapped the Ohio senator as his running mate.
Landsman later claimed Vance is “intricately involved” in Project 2025, the Heritage Foundation’s policy blueprint for a future GOP administration. Trump and his allies have sought to distance themselves from Project 2025, maintaining the blueprint does not represent Trump’s campaign.
Democrats and the Biden-Harris campaign have highlighted Project 2025 for weeks, warning it will come to fruition if Trump is reelected. A CNN fact-check of some of the Biden campaign’s uses of Vance’s remarks on Project 2025 revealed that they falsely described his comments.
“We support an economy that works for working people, not billionaires and big corporations. We support women and will fight to restore reproductive freedom. We believe in our democracy and want to protect voters and the integrity of our elections,” Landsman continued. “We believe in pragmatic, bipartisan leadership – not chaos or cruelty.”
“Southwest Ohio doesn’t like this guy, so take it from the folks who know him best. Mr. Vance is just weird – there’s no other way to say it. This isn’t a guy we want anywhere near the White House,” Landsman concluded.
Democrats have labeled Vance as “weird” for several of his resurfaced comments. He told Fox News on Sunday his feelings are not hurt by the label.