The Ohio senator said educators who do not have children of their own “disorient” him in unearthed audio

J.D. Vance is facing backlash again after comments he previously made against teachers who are not parents.
In resurfaced audio from 2021 obtained by TMZ, the 2024 running mate of former President Donald Trump is heard saying that teachers without children “really disturb” him while taking a shot at the president of the American Federation of Teachers, Randi Weingarten.

“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. And that really disorients me and it really disturbs me,” Vance, 40, said in the clip.

“Randi Weingarten, who’s the head of the most powerful teachers union in the country, she doesn’t have a single child. If she wants to brainwash and destroy the minds of children, she should have some of her own and leave ours the hell alone,” the Republican continued.

Randi Weingarten at the Democratic National Convention in Chicago on Aug. 22, 2024.
Tom Williams/CQ-Roll Call, Inc via Getty

Vance’s targeting of Weingarten, 66, in the unearthed audio came before the educator shared in April 2023 that she is stepmother to wife Sharon Kleinbaum’s children from her previous marriage, after being questioned about her motherhood by Congresswoman Marjorie Taylor Greene at a hearing.

Kamala HQ, the official response account for Vice President Kamala Harris’ 2024 presidential campaign, reposted the audio of Vance on Instagram, writing, “He is obsessed” about Vance, following his comments.

A spokeswoman for Vance told TMZ regarding the released audio, “J.D. clearly says in the audio that our leaders on the left, especially anti-child radical Randi Weingarten, who brainwash our kids, are deeply disturbing — and he stands by that statement.”

A Vance spokeswoman also followed up with PEOPLE about the audio, sharing a similar statement that added, “There are a lot of great teachers across the country, and JD’s criticism of Randi Weingarten’s actions is not about them,” before adding that Vance wants to end “the leftist indoctrination in our schools.”

J.D. Vance in Washington, D.C., on April 23, 2024.
Andrew Harnik/Getty Images

Vance’s remarks follow more derogatory comments he has made about women, including his mother-in-law in recently resurfaced audio from 2020.

Speaking in an interview on The Portal podcast at the time, Vance appeared to agree with a reference to his wife Usha Vance’s mother as a “postmenopausal female” as he spoke about when she came to live with their family after one of his children was born.

The Republican vice-presidential candidate said that having a grandparent around the house made his son “a much better human being.” He continued, “And the evidence on this, by the way, is, like, super clear.”

“That’s the whole purpose of the postmenopausal female in theory,” host Eric Weinstein interjected, before Vance agreed, “Yes.”
Vance spokesperson Taylor Van Kirk refuted that the senator went along with Weinstein’s comments in a statement to PEOPLE.

“Of course he does not agree with what the host said,” he said. “J.D. reacted to the first part of the host’s sentence, assuming he was going to say, ‘That’s the whole purpose of spending time with grandparents.’ “