Sen. JD Vance of Ohio, the Republican vice presidential nominee, attacked teachers who don’t have children in remarks in 2021 that resurfaced Tuesday.
In his public comments, he reserved specific criticism for Randi Weingarten, the head of the American Federation of Teachers.
“You know, so many of the leaders of the left, and I hate to be so personal about this, but they’re people without kids, trying to brainwash the minds of our children,” Vance said at a Center for Christian Virtue leadership forum moderated by conservative radio host Hugh Hewitt and the group’s president, Aaron Baer, in October 2021.
Vance was joined by other Republican candidates in Ohio’s Senate race for 2022.
When the candidates were asked about handling problems with schools and making them more responsive to parents, Vance took aim at Weingarten, who has described herself as “a mother by marriage,” by saying she “doesn’t have a single child.”
“If she wants to brainwash and destroy the mind of children, she should have some of her own and leave ours the hell alone,” he said in a 30-second clip the liberal news site Heartland Signal resurfaced Tuesday. Vice President Kamala Harris’ campaign later amplified the clip.
NBC News reviewed the entirety of Vance’s remarks from the event.
Vance previously drew widespread criticism over other resurfaced remarks from 2021 in which he called Harris one of the “childless cat ladies” who “want to make the rest of the country miserable, too.”
Weingarten, whose union endorsed Harris last month, spoke at the Democratic National Convention last week in support of her presidential bid.Taylor Van Kirk, a spokeswoman for Vance, said in a statement to NBC News on Tuesday that Vance “will continue to loudly call this crap out to defend our kids.”
“There is no bigger threat to American children than the left wing indoctrination being peddled in our schools by radicals like Randi Weingarten, with the support of Kamala Harris and Tim Walz,” Van Kirk said.
A spokesperson for the teachers union directed NBC News to Weingarten’s comments on X about Vance’s remarks.
“Gross! JD Vance’s comments are sad and insulting to millions of modern families, and school teachers including Catholic nuns, none of whom should be targeted for their family decisions,” Weingarten wrote.
National Education Association President Becky Pringle said in a statement to NBC News that former President Donald Trump and Vance lack respect for educators who “dedicate their lives to serving students.”
“Instead they choose to attack and demean us while pushing an extreme, unprecedented Project 2025 agenda on America that will fundamentally jeopardize our children’s futures and give Trump unprecedented power over our daily lives,” Pringle said.
Vance isn’t the first Republican who has disparaged Weingarten’s status as a parent.
“Randi Weingarten is a joke. Randi Weingarten does not even have children of her own. What in the hell does she know about raising and teaching kids?” Sen. Tom Cotton, R-Ark., said in a Fox News interview in 2021.
Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene, R-Ga., made similar remarks about Weingarten last year.
