Gov. J.B. Pritzker (D-Ill.) doubled down on his string of digs at Sen. JD Vance (R-Ohio), amplifying a humiliating rumor on Sunday about the Republican vice presidential candidate’s relationship with couches.
The progressive and possible contender to be Vice President Kamala Harris’ running mate told ABC’s “This Week” that the new presumptive Democratic presidential nominee is the “Energizer Bunny” on the campaign trail, while former President Donald Trump and his running mate are “just weird.”
“The things that they stand for — Donald Trump, of course, is afraid of windmills, and, you know, he talks about all kinds of crazy stuff,” Pritzker said.
“You know, his running mate, as you probably have heard, is, you know, getting known for his obsession with couches, and somebody who is hiding his views on a woman’s right to choose,” he continued. “And then, just broadly, the attack on people who are childless and saying that we ought to raise taxes on childless people and calling them cat ladies — I think he apologized to cats, but he hasn’t apologized to women.”
The governor’s remark about couches is in reference to a wild social media rumor about the Ohio senator allegedly writing in his memoir, “Hillbilly Elegy,” that he tried to simulate the act of sex using a rubber glove between couch cushions as a young man.
On Wednesday, The Associated Press released a fact-check on the claim with an unusually blunt headline: “No, JD Vance did not have sex with a couch.” The AP, which has since deleted the fact-check, reportedly could not find the claim in Vance’s book. In a separate report, The Cut also did not find the claim.
The decision by Pritzker to tease the couch rumor is new, but the progressive has been going after Vance for days. On Wednesday, the governor told CNN that Vance is the “Donald Trump Mini-Me,” referring to a character from the movie “Austin Powers.” He also said that Vance had “the worst launch since Sarah Palin,” the former Republican governor of Alaska who served as the late Sen. John McCain’s (R-Ariz.) running mate in the 2008 presidential election against former President Barack Obama and his running mate, President Joe Biden.
Pritzker served as a vocal surrogate for the Biden-Harris ticket before the president dropped out of the race a week ago, and Pritzker quickly endorsed Harris when Biden announced his endorsement of her. The list of potential running mates for Harris includes several governors — particularly those from the Midwest — with Pritzker being one of them. The governor has publicly remained open to the possibility of being the Democratic Party’s vice presidential nominee.