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By Martha McHardy
US News Reporter
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Senator JD Vance's aunt has defended him against the criticism he has faced for calling certain women in the Democratic Party "childless cat ladies."
In an exclusive statement to Newsweek, Lori Meibers, who helped raise the vice presidential nominee, said that "women have been forefront throughout JD's life."
"As you know, he was raised without a father figure. My mother, Bonnie Vance – or Mamaw, as we know her – his sister, Lindsay, and myself all coalesced around him to raise him ourselves," she said.
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"My own daughters have chosen significant others that resemble the man JD is, and that brings me incredible joy to know that he has had such a lasting impact on them."
She added: "It's disgusting that the Democrats and media are attacking him in this way."
It comes after Vance's sister also defended him in a statement shared with CNN.
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Vance drew criticism this week when a 2021 interview resurfaced, in which he told the former Fox News host Tucker Carlson that the country 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 that if you look at Kamala Harris, Pete Buttigieg, AOC [Representative Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez], the entire future of the Democrats is controlled by people without children. 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?" he said.
Harris has two stepchildren with her husband, Doug Emhoff. Harris said on The Drew Barrymore Show in April that her husband's adult children do not refer to her as their stepmother because "Disney kind of messed that up. You know, for a lot of us over the years, [there was] the evil stepparent."
Instead, they call her "Momola," she said.
On Thursday, Emhoff's ex-wife slammed Vance for his comments, pointing out that Harris has been a co-parent of their children for years.
"She is loving, nurturing, fiercely protective and always present," Kerstin Emhoff told CNN. "I love our blended family and am grateful to have her in it."
Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg also hit back at Vance's comments.
"The really sad thing is, he said that after Chasten [Buttigieg] and I had been through a fairly heartbreaking setback in our adoption journey," Buttigieg, who now has twins he adopted with his husband in 2021, said Tuesday on CNN's The Source.
"He couldn't have known that, but maybe that's why you shouldn't be talking about other people's children," he told host Kaitlan Collins in the interview.
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Meanwhile, the Harris campaign addressed Vance's comments directly in an email heralding World IVF Day. Vance "is driving away voters in droves, insulting couples struggling with infertility who are sounding off on his disparaging comments about 'childless' women," the Harris campaign wrote.
Celebrities like actors Whoopi Goldberg and Jennifer Aniston also criticized Vance.
"I truly can't believe this is coming from a potential VP of The United States," Aniston said on Instagram. "All I can say is...Mr. Vance, I pray that your daughter is fortunate enough to bear children of her own one day."
Goldberg said on The View, which she moderates: "There are people who have chosen not to have children for whatever reason."
"There are people who want to have children who cannot, how dare you?" she continued.
"You never had a baby. Your wife had a baby...So you know nothing about this," Goldberg said of Vance. "And how dare you. And women, you heard how he thinks of you. This is not good for you, JD."
Vance has three children with his wife, Usha Vance.
Meibers, who lives in Ohio, is Vance's maternal aunt. She was backstage when her nephew appeared alongside other family members at the Republican National Convention in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, last week. Vance was confirmed as Trump's nominee for vice president.
She told the Dayton Daily News that it felt "like a dream" to have her nephew run for vice president.
"We always knew he was smart and destined for greatness," she said.
Vance, a 2003 Middletown High School graduate, has previously talked about his mother's drug addictions and numerous failed marriages and how his grandmother, whom he calls "mamaw," was his guiding force.
"His whole life prepared him for this role," his aunt said. "JD is a survivor."
She also told the Dayton Daily News that her sister's battle with drug addiction was "the hardest years" of her life.
"Addiction robs the whole family of something they can never replace," she said. "I was so proud of my sister."
Aikins has regained her nursing license and works at an addiction center, her sister said.
Update 7/26/24, 8:16 a.m. ET: This article was updated with additional information.
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