JD Vance targets Kamala Harris' race, addresses 'childless cat ladies' insults

WASHINGTON – Donald Trump running mate JD Vance on Sunday targeted Vice President Kamala Harris' racial identity and addressed his previous insulting comments about "childless cat ladies."

Hitting the Sunday talk show circuit on CNN, CBS, and ABC, Vance argued on the latter network that "Most people, 99% of the country, they don't vote on who the vice presidential nominee (is)."

"They're voting for Donald Trump or for Kamala Harris," Vance told ABC's "This Week."

But the Ohio senator on Sunday still faced questions about whether the GOP ticket would restrict access to medication abortions and the way Democrats have used the term "weird" to knock Republicans.

Here's what you need to know.

Harris' racial identity, Trump's contact with white supremacist

Like Trump, Vance took up Harris' racial identity on Sunday as he criticized the Democratic nominee. The Ohio senator on CNN called Harris – who is Black and Asian – "a fundamentally fake person."

"I believe that Kamala Harris is whatever she says she is. But I believe importantly that President Trump is right that she's a chameleon. She pretends to be one thing in front of one audience. She pretends to be something different in front of another audience, Vance said on CNN, calling her a "fundamentally fake person."

Trump during an interview at the National Association of Black Journalists Annual Convention last month said "I didn't know she was Black until a number of years ago when she happened to turn Black, and now she wants to be known as Black." It's a false claim that immediately drew widespread backlash .

Vance – who was a critic of Trump during the Trump's 2016 presidential campaign – defended the remarks during his television interviews. But he was also asked questions about Trump's 2022 dinner with white supremacist Nick Fuentes, who has also attacked Vance's wife Usha Vance, the daughter of Indian immigrants.

"Of course Donald Trump has criticized this person," Vance said on CBS. "Look, I think the guy's a total loser."

Addressing 'childless cat lady' insult

Vance said his now-viral comment about the Democratic Party being dominated by "childless cat ladies" has been distorted, and he alleged that Democrats have made their own remarks are anti-child and anti-family.

"She has said things like it's reasonable for people not to have children over climate change. It's the exact opposite message we should be sending to our young families," the Ohio senator told CNN.

He also called for expanding the child tax credit for parents and curbing surprise medical billing, both efforts that at least some lawmakers on both sides of the aisle have backed. A bill aimed at boosting the child tax credit failed in the Senate last week after mostly Republican concerns about the legislation.

Democrats pointed out that Vance has also called for tax penalties for childless people, and even suggested giving extra votes to people with children.

On that latter proposal, Vance told ABC: "It's not a policy proposal. It's a thought experiment, right?"

Would a Trump administration block abortion pills?

Vance said another Trump administration would not support allowing the Federal Drug Administration to ban the sale of the abortion drug mifepristone , one of the proposals of the pro-Trump Project 2025.

"The president has said very clearly is that abortion policy should be made by the states, right?" Vance said on CBS's "Face The Nation."

The Supreme Court earlier this year ruled to protect access to mifepristone, but that access can largely depend on where a person seeking the drug. At the time of the Supreme Court's ruling in June, about half of states allowed full access to the medication under terms approved by federal officials.

Vance again told CNN that Trump in a second term in the White House would “let states make the decision on abortion policy,” which could continue to mean that mifeprisone isn't fully available everywhere.

Democratic critics have said that, despite their rhetoric, Trump and Vance have both supported a wide range of abortion restrictions, and the former president has taken credit for appointing the conservative Supreme Court justices who were pivotal in overturning Roe v. Wade.

"We know what he wants because we’ve heard it repeatedly from Vance himself before: JD Vance wants a national abortion ban, full stop," Angela Vasquez-Giroux, Vice President of Communications at Planned Parenthood Votes, said in a statement to USA TODAY.

Vance has previously said he would support a national ban on abortion, though he told the Cincinnati Enquirer , part of the USA TODAY Network, in 2022 that he'd "like it to be primarily a state issue."

Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz , Harris' running mate, responded to Vance's interviews on Sunday and accused the Republican ticket of wanting to ban medication abortion.

The 'weirdness' factor

Vance spent parts of the interviews attacking the Democratic vice presidential candidate, Walz (who made his name in part by coining the new Democratic talking point that Vance and Trump are "weird.")

The Republican candidate again accused his Democratic rival of exaggerating his military record . And on CNN, Vance mocked Walz for shaking his wife's hand rather than kissing her during his kickoff as Harris' running mate.

"This is fundamentally schoolyard bully stuff. They can accuse me of whatever they want to accuse me of," Vance said, alleging that Walz and Harris aren't "comfortable in their own skin because they're uncomfortable with their policy positions for the American people."

Democrats immediately hit back at Vance's responses on Sunday. DNC rapid response director Alex Floyd said in a statement that "Voters are just as put off by their extreme and out-of-touch plans to rip away our basic rights, gut checks and balances, and put billionaires ahead of the middle class as they are by ultra-MAGA creeps like Vance and Trump.”

This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: JD Vance targets Kamala Harris' race, addresses 'childless cat ladies' insults