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JD Vance Backtracks on Comments Proposing More Votes for Parents [1]
['Ewan Palmer', 'Hikmet Hajiyev', 'Vartan Oskanian']
Date: 2024-08-12 02:34:56-04:00
Republican vice presidential nominee JD Vance has backtracked on his previous comments suggesting people with children should be allowed more votes, saying the suggestion was more of a "thought experiment" than an actual policy.
A clip of the Ohio Senator speaking in 2021 in which he said people with children should have "more power" at the ballot box than those without previously went viral.
"Let's face the consequences and the reality: If you don't have as much of an investment in the future of this country, maybe you shouldn't get nearly the same voice," he said in a speech at the Intercollegiate Studies Institute.
JD Vance speaking at a campaign event in Eau Claire, Wisconsin, on August 7, 2024. Vance has backtracked on previous comments suggesting people with children should be allowed more votes, saying the suggestion was more... JD Vance speaking at a campaign event in Eau Claire, Wisconsin, on August 7, 2024. Vance has backtracked on previous comments suggesting people with children should be allowed more votes, saying the suggestion was more of a "thought experiment." More Alex Brandon/AP
In an interview with ABC News' This Week on Sunday, Vance defended his remarks, but said it was not a "policy proposal" and more a response to suggestions of lowering the voting age in the U.S.
"It's a thought experiment, right? Democrats said we should give children the right to vote. Some Democrats had said we're going to give children the right to vote," Vance said. "And I said, well, if we're going to give the rights to the children, then we should actually just allow the parents to cast those votes, right?
"I trust a parent more with a decision like that than I do, say, a 14-year-old. So, it's a thought experiment."
The Context
Since he was added to the GOP's 2024 ticket, Vance has faced ongoing scrutiny for his previous comments on women, abortion and people without children.
He has also recorded negative net approval ratings since he was announced as Donald Trump's running mate, prompting suggestions the former president may have made a mistake in choosing the MAGA senator as the next potential Republican vice president.
Trump and his team have frequently denied suggestions that he regrets choosing Vance as his running mate, saying he is "thrilled" with his pick.
What We Know
The clip of Vance's 2021 remarks at the Intercollegiate Studies Institute went viral in July.
"Let's give votes to all children in this country, but let's give control over those votes to the parents of those children," Vance said. "When you go to the polls in this country as a parent, you should have more power—you should have more of an ability to speak your voice in our democratic republic—than people who don't have kids.
"Let's face the consequences and the reality: If you don't have as much of an investment in the future of this country, maybe you shouldn't get nearly the same voice."
The video reemerged after Vance was widely condemned for a 2021 interview he gave to former Tucker Carlson attacking Democrats, such as Vice President Kamala Harris, as a "bunch of childless cat ladies who are miserable at their own lives and the choices that they've made, and so they want to make the rest of the country miserable too."
Harris, the Democratic Party's 2024 nominee, has two stepchildren through her husband, Doug Emhoff.
During Vance's interview on ABC News, the senator said the remarks were just him expressing an idea.
"I've been a senator for two years. Have I proposed any legislation to the effect? Of course, not," he said. "Sometimes people make remarks in response to something that somebody else has said. If it was a policy proposal, I would have made the policy proposal in my two years in the United States Senate."
When asked if he regrets making the comments, Vance replied: "I regret that the media and the Kamala Harris campaign has, frankly, distorted what I said.
"Because they have turned this into a policy proposal that I never made. I said I want us to be more pro-family. And I do want us to be more pro-family.
"When you're a parent and you have children, you obviously have a different perspective. I said that too. And I certainly believe that. But I think that the idea that I actually want to change the American voting system to give 12-year-olds the right to vote and then give control over to their parents, it's ridiculous. I never said that. I was responding to a Democratic line."
Vance also attacked Harris and his Democratic running mate opponent, Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz on Sunday.
"I enjoyed sitting down with three of the major networks today to answer the tough questions any leader should answer. Kamala Harris has done as many tough interviews as Tim Walz has battlefield deployments," Vance posted on X, formerly Twitter.
Views
Columnist Skylar Baker-Jordan said on X: "JD Vance said he mentioned giving people with children more votes in response to Democrats saying they want to give children votes. Which Democrats? Genuinely asking, as I've never heard this argument."
What Next
A vice presidential debate between Vance and Walz has yet to be confirmed.
Vance has previously said he will not agree to any debate with Walz until the Minnesota governor is confirmed as his party's VP nominee.
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[1] Url:
https://www.newsweek.com/jd-vance-backtracks-comments-more-votes-parents-us-presidential-election-donald-trump-1937669
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