Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg compared Donald Trump’s running mate, Sen. JD Vance, with Trump’s former vice president, Mike Pence, during his speech Wednesday night at the Democratic National Convention in Chicago.
After criticizing Trump, Buttigieg pivoted his attention to the former president’s running mate.
“And don’t even get me started on [Trump’s] new running mate. At least Mike Pence was polite. JD Vance is one of those guys who thinks if you don’t live the life that he has in mind for you, then you don’t count,” Buttigieg, a Democratic presidential candidate in 2020, said as he made comparisons between the two. “Someone who said that if you don’t have kids, you have ’no physical commitment to the future of this country.”
Buttigieg’s remarks referred to a 2021 interview that resurfaced last month in which Vance mocked Vice President Kamala Harris for being among the Democratic Party’s “childless cat ladies” who are “miserable” with their lives. The interview prompted massive backlash from celebrities and elected officials, but Vance chose to back his remarks.
“You know, senator, when I was deployed to Afghanistan, I didn’t have kids then. Many of the men and women who went outside the wire with me didn’t have kids either. But let me tell you, our commitment to the future of this country was pretty damn physical.”