JD Vance admits Kamala Harris is stronger opponent in leaked audio

JD Vance was reportedly caught on tape admitting to Republican donors that Vice President Kamala Harris is a formidable political opponent — and that her elevation to the top of the Democratic ticket came as a “sucker punch” to former President Donald Trump.

The GOP vice presidential candidate privately told supporters that Democrats surprised Trump and their campaign by convincing President Joe Biden to step aside and endorse Harris, the Washington Post reported Tuesday.

“All of us were hit with a little bit of a political sucker punch,” Vance said behind closed doors ahead of a Saturday fundraiser in Golden Valley, Minn. “The bad news is that Kamala Harris does not have the same baggage as Joe Biden.”

“Whatever we might have to say, Kamala is a lot younger,” Vance added. “And Kamala Harris is obviously not struggling in the same ways that Joe Biden did.”

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Vance conceded that Republicans may have a tough time promoting negative views about Harris among voters who appear to be breathing a sigh of relief that Biden is no longer in the race.

“We have a … very unique challenge, because, let’s be honest, 10 days ago, the two candidates who were running for president, everybody had an opinion about ’em,” Vance said. “But Kamala Harris, people don’t really know.”

Vance’s candid assessment of Harris’s strengths raises eyebrows because it sounds very different from his public claims that Harris is just as weak a candidate as Biden.

“I don’t think the political calculus changes at all,” Vance told reporters last week.

The leaked recording amounts to a new political headache for Vance, who has suffered a very rocky roll out on the national political scene since Trump tapped him at the Republican National Convention two weeks ago.

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He has come under fierce attack for remarks deriding Americans who have no biological children, suggesting they should have less say in the nation’s affairs.

Vance has sought to downplay his attacks on “childless cat ladies,” claiming the statement was sarcastic and noting he has “nothing against cats.”

But a new report detailed several times he has used similar phrases and mused about different ways of empowering people with children at the expense of other Americans.

In a 2020 interview, Vance claimed without any evidence that political leaders who have no kids are “more sociopathic” and made the country “less mentally stable,” CNN reported.

He slammed “radical childless leaders in this country” in a fundraising message shortly after launching his successful 2022 Ohio Senate race.

Democrats denounce the remarks as “weird.”

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Trump has also sought to distance himself from Vance, noting that many single people or those without children are “unbelievable.”

“They are every bit as good as anybody else that has the most beautiful family,” Trump said Monday night on Fox News.

Some pundits suggest Trump could even dump Vance from his ticket if he can’t turn around the negative headlines, although the former president hasn’t even hinted that could be an option.

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