Both the 2016 and 2020 elections were decided by just tens of thousands of votes in a handful of swing states. And according to one columnist, Senator JD Vance (R-Ohio) is hindering former President Donald Trump’s path to 270 electoral votes by continually denigrating women voters.
In her recent column for the Guardian, author Arwa Mahdawi wrote that the Republican vice presidential candidate continues to stymie Trump’s efforts to bring more women into the Republican party. She noted that a resurfaced interview the Ohio Republican gave on a podcast showed Vance agreeing with host Eric Weinstein, who said that raising grandchildren is the primary task of the “postmenopausal woman” (Vance wrote in his memoir Hillbilly Elegy that he was mostly raised by his grandmother).
“You can listen to the clip yourself if you can bear it and draw your own conclusions. However, I think it’s fair to say that Vance certainly does not vocally contradict Weinstein’s statement,” Mahdawi wrote. “Nor does he say anything along the lines of ‘Eric, my friend, please do not refer to women as femaleso, it’s creepy and gives off strong incel vibes.'”
READ MORE: New audio recordings reveal JD Vance’s ‘creepy’ views on the purpose of the ‘postmenopausal woman’
Mahdawi argued that this comment was just the latest gaffe by the Trump/Vance team when it came to the enthusiasm gap among female voters. She noted that shortly after his nomination, the Ohio senator made a remark about “childless cat ladies” supposedly forcing a progressive agenda on Americans that later caught up with him (Vance later apologized to cats, but not women, in an interview with SiriusXM host Megyn Kelly).
The Guardian columnist also argued that Vance’s problem with female voters is exacerbated by being the vice presidential candidate for a convicted rapist. She reminded readers of Trump’s own problematic record with women, as he was found guilty earlier this year of defaming writer E. Jean Carroll, who also successfully sued him for sexual abuse in 2023.
“Ultimately, it’s difficult to give Vance the benefit of the doubt on these comments, given his past statements on gender and the type of people he surrounds himself with,” she wrote. “Donald Trump, the man’s vice presidential candidate, has been legally branded a sex offender and is one of the world’s most famous misogynists, for goodness sake!”
In her column, Mahdawi noted that Ohio’s junior senator “seems determined to continue offending as many women as possible,” invoking a remark he made in a recent Fox News interview on the subject of abortion rights. When Fox News host Laura Ingraham asked him about how suburban women might vote in light of Republicans’ ongoing attacks on abortion, Vance downplayed concerns about how much the issue of reproductive freedom might affect the election, claiming that “regular” voters would not have the issue on their minds when they went to the polls.
READ MORE: Vance’s attempt to retract a “sexist” remark was heavily criticized: “No problem with cats, only with women”
“I don’t think so… I think most suburban women are interested in the normal things that most Americans care about,” he said.
But Mahdawi said abortion is a key motivator for women. She cited an April Wall Street Journal poll that found nearly 40 percent of suburban voters said abortion would be a “key issue” for them in November.
“My point is: Please keep talking, JD, you are well on your way to alienating half the electorate! Kamala Harris already has a massive lead in the polls among likely female voters and Vance seems to be doing his very best to widen the gender gap,” she wrote.
Click here to read Mahdawi’s column in full.
READ MORE: ‘Obsession with controlling women’: Harris calls JD Vance a ‘creep’ in scathing statement
