COLUMBUS, OH — OCTOBER 19: Ohio Republican nominee for U.S. Senate J.D. Vance speaks to supporters at a campaign event, October 19, 2022, at the Franklin County GOP headquarters in Columbus, Ohio. (Photo by Graham Stokes for Ohio Capital Journal)
Again, because more than 100 years ago, two women campaigning cross-country for women’s suffrage adopted a cat, making the feline a sign of their movement.
This time, supporters of Kamala Harris’s campaign for president seem to have seized the cat, posting all sorts of clever cat memes on social media. The memes mostly are a reaction to remarks by JD Vance, Donald Trump’s vice presidential pick.
But more than a political statement, some of those Harris supporters are wondering whether there are enough cat owners to influence the outcome of the election and whether a first cat will again occupy the White House.
Vance, in a 2021 Fox news interview, criticized Democrats as “childless cat ladies.”
Harris supporters, some of whom call themselves Cat Ladies for Kamala, are using the cat to contrast the presidential candidates’ views on reproductive rights. The cat also is being used to call attention to an offensive remark Donald Trump made in 2005, but surfaced during 2016 presidential campaign against Hillary Clinton.
Clinton, along with her husband, Bill, raised a child — and a cat — while in the White House.
Trump, who was talking to a celebrity interviewer off camera, was bragging about his sexual prowess. “When you’re a star, they let you do it,” he said talking about kissing women, adding: “You can do anything.” Trump then described where he could grab women, using a vulgarity also used to refer to a cat.
