Erica de Vries, a Democrat running for Congress in New Hampshire, is capitalizing on J.D. Vance’s ‘childless cat lady’ remark with a fundraising email she says is raking in the cash.
Vance, who accepted the Republican nomination this week to serve as Donald Trump’s vice president, has received backlash as his history of making misogynistic comments comes to light. In a 2021 Fox News interview with Tucker Carlson, Vance derided Democratic leadership as childless and miserable, with no stake in the country's future.
“We’re effectively run in this country via the Democrats – via our corporate oligarchs – by a bunch of childless cat ladies who are miserable at their own lives and the choices they have made and they want to make the rest of the country miserable too,” Vance told Tucker on air.
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The quote took off online amid coverage of the Republican National Convention, where it caught de Vries' eye, she told Raw Story by phone Friday.
“His comments on ‘childless cat ladies’ are veiled racism and homophobia and I thought it would be interesting to take his version of an insult and embrace it,” de Vries said.
On Friday morning, her campaign fired off an email asking New Hampshire voters for donations to “help elect a childless cat lady,” de Vries said. The email included a photo of her cats, Effie and Ira, and a salad-cat meme taking a crack at Vance.
“It’s been one of our most effective fundraising emails,” de Vries said, declining to say how much she’s raked in since the fundraiser began. “People are looking for a little levity and I think they are appreciating it coming from candidates.”
Screenshot from fundraising email for New Hampshire Democrat Erica de Vries.