JD Vance’s mother Beverly Vance reacts to vice president’s ‘childless cat ladies’ spat with Taylor Swift
Beverly Vance, mother of Vice President JD Vance, has said she was unaware that Taylor Swift referenced her son's 2021 "childless cat ladies" remark when the singer endorsed Kamala Harris and Tim Walz during the 2024 US presidential campaign. Speaking on OutKick's "Tomi Lahren is Fearless" podcast, she said she had not connected the two until it was pointed out to her, and laughed off the episode as a misunderstood joke rather than a serious political controversy.
The comment originated from a 2021 Fox News interview with Tucker Carlson, in which the then-Senate candidate described Democrats as "a bunch of childless cat ladies" who were unhappy with their own lives. Beverly Vance said her son was simply exercising his sense of humour and that people had failed to take it as intended, though JD Vance has since acknowledged in his book that the remark was a mistake. Swift alluded to the comment with a cat photo in her Harris-Walz endorsement post; Lahren also noted that Swift's husband, Travis Kelce, grew up in Ohio like the Vances, prompting Beverly to point out that Kelce played college football at the University of Cincinnati.
In short
- Beverly Vance says she never linked Swift's post to JD Vance's remark
- She calls the 2021 "childless cat ladies" comment a misunderstood joke
- JD Vance has since admitted in his book the remark was a mistake
Explained simply
Beverly Vance, mother of US Vice President JD Vance, has spoken publicly about a long-running row involving her son's past comments. In 2021, when he was a Senate candidate, JD Vance told Fox News that Democrats were led by "a bunch of childless cat ladies", a remark that drew heavy criticism at the time and resurfaced during the 2024 presidential election.
The comment gained fresh attention when singer Taylor Swift appeared to reference it while publicly backing Kamala Harris and Tim Walz for president and vice president. Swift's endorsement included an image of a cat, widely read as a pointed nod to Vance's earlier remark, turning a years-old soundbite into a talking point in the wider campaign.
The story matters because it touches on the intersection of celebrity influence and US politics, and on how offhand remarks by politicians can follow them into national campaigns. Beverly Vance's comments add a personal, family perspective to a episode that had already become a well-known flashpoint between her son and one of the world's most famous musicians.