(NewsNation) — An internet search for “JD Vance” will yield lots of stories about the Ohio senator and Republican vice presidential nominee. And many in the past few days have included the phrase “buyer’s remorse.”
It’s appeared in several headlines and articles, including on this website, as critics lash out at the resurrection of a three-year-old interview in which Vance said the country was being run by “a bunch of childless cat ladies.”
“We have seen vice presidential picks come roaring out of the gate, only to have trouble later,” said David Drucker, senior writer for The Dispatch, who cited 2008 GOP vice presidential candidate Sarah Palin as an example.
“He’s a wonderful candidate,” responded former Trump White House communications official Roma Daravi. “The people who are voting for President Trump? They love that sarcasm. That’s what they live on. And I think it’s no surprise that you’ll get a little of that from JD.”
Drucker, who appeared with Daravi on NewsNation’s “On Balance,” said Vance is now in a much tougher situation than when he won his Senate seat in 2022.
“Vance ... ran in a red state. The toughest race he had was in a Republican primary. All he had to do in the general election was get known. So, this is a brand-new experience for him,” Drucker said.
Appearing on then-Fox host Tucker Carlson’s show in 2021 while campaigning for his Senate seat, Vance said the U.S. was 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.”
“It’s just a basic fact — you look at Kamala Harris, Pete Buttigieg, AOC — the entire future of the Democrats is controlled by people without children,” Vance said. “And how does it make any sense that we’ve turned our country over to people who don’t really have a direct stake in it?”
On Friday, the Harris campaign pounced on the comments, both old and new, even using the term “buyer’s remorse” in one email.
“It’s only been 11 days, but voters know the Trump-Vance ticket is running to take America backwards and take away our freedoms,” Harris spokesperson Sarafina Chitika said.
And some Republicans, speaking to The Hill on condition of anonymity to discuss the sensitive topic, raised concerns about Vance’s foreign policy positions, lack of experience and inability to expand the Republican coalition beyond Trump’s base.
Also Friday, on Megyn Kelly’s SiriusXM talk show, Vance defended himself.
“It’s not a criticism of people who don’t have children. I explicitly said in my remarks — despite the fact the media has lied about this — that this is not about criticizing people who for various reasons didn’t have kids,” Vance said. “This is about criticizing the Democratic Party for becoming anti-family and anti-children.”
Daravi echoed Vance’s words, saying “the media smear campaign against him has been going since the day we announced he was going to be on the ticket. That’s not a surprise, either.”
Drucker said, as in all presidential campaigns, the suitability of Vance as Trump’s running mate won’t be a long-term issue.
“Ultimately, this race is about Donald Trump vs. the (current) vice president,” he said. “Some people may want to scapegoat JD as the problem. But if there’s any problem in this campaign … it’s all about the top of the ticket. It’s not about the running mate.”
The Hill and The Associated Press contributed to this story.