ABC Presidential Debate

Kamala Harris’s Stepdaughter Defends Her Against ‘Childless Cat Lady’ Attacks & It’s a Huge Win for Blended Families

Sydni Ellis

July 27, 2024 at 3:39 AM·3 min read

Kamala Harris’s Stepdaughter Defends Her Against ‘Childless Cat Lady’ Attacks & It’s a Huge Win for Blended Families

Ever since Vice President Kamala Harris announced her campaign for the 2024 presidential election (and, TBH, even before), the trolls have come out. And while plenty of people have defended her against the deluge of misogynistic vitriol thrown her way, one person clapped back in the most meaningful way: her own stepdaughter, Ella Emhoff!

In case you missed it, many Republicans have come at Harris for not having kids — including child-free Republican pundit Laura Loomer who said, “A woman who has no biological children of her own should not be allowed to make decisions in the White House for your children.” (We would be laughing if it wasn’t so damn sad. A woman shouldn’t make decisions about your children? What about men making decisions about a woman’s reproductive care? But we digress.)

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Vice President-Elect Kamala Harris (L) greets stepchildren Cole Emhoff and Ella Emhoff as she arrives for the inauguration of Joe Biden as the 46th US President on January 20, 2021, at the US Capitol in Washington, DC. (Photo by OLIVIER DOULIERY / AFP) (Photo by OLIVIER DOULIERY/AFP via Getty Images)

J.D. Vance, Republican nominee Donald Trump’s Vice President, came out against Harris, who he calls “childless cat ladies” way back in 2023. He appeared on Tucker Carlson’s former Fox show in 2021, claiming that the U.S. has been turned over “to people who don’t really have a direct stake in it” like Harris.

He said the country is being run by “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.”

First of all, Harris is known affectionately as “Momala” to her husband Doug Emhoff’s kids Ella, 25, and Cole Emhoff, 30, who he shares with ex Kerstin Emhoff, so the whole “childless” thing isn’t even true. Second? The whole “childless cat ladies” trope is so disgusting, outdated, and untrue. Case in point: Taylor Swift, the music industry herself! Jennifer Aniston, who also doesn’t have biological children, slammed Vance recently. “I truly can’t believe this is coming from a potential VP of The United States,” she wrote in an Instagram story. “All I can say is … Mr. Vance, I pray that your daughter is fortunate enough to bear children of her own one day. I hope she will not need to turn to IVF as a second option. Because you are trying to take that away from her too.”

Celebrities like Jennifer Aniston, Oprah Winfrey, and Kamala Harris challenge societal norms by openly discussing their decision not to have children. https://t.co/jxm3hAQNRD
— SheKnows (@SheKnows) July 26, 2024

Harris’s blended family also spoke out against Vance. Ella shared a statement written by her mom Kerstin on Instagram. Kerstin did not hold back in defending Harris. She wrote, per ABC News, “These are baseless attacks. For over 10 years, since Cole and Ella were teenagers, Kamala has been a co-parent with Doug and I.” Period!

Kerstin continued, “She is loving, nurturing, fiercely protective, and always present. I love our blended family and am grateful to have her in it.” Getting that fierce of a recommendation from your husband’s ex-wife? That truly speaks to Harris’s character!

Resharing her mom’s post, Ella wrote, “I love my three parents.” Aww! She added, “How can you be ‘childless’ when you have cutie pie kids like Cole and I?” Literally!

Vice President Kamala Harris speaking at a Pentagon conference. On Feb. 10, 2021. She joined President Biden on his first visit to the Defense Department to establish strategic policy on relations with China (BSLOC_2021_4_25)

People loved the blended family love. “Kamala Harris is someone an ex wife trusts to co-parent her children,” one person tweeted. “In my mind, there’s almost no better endorsement of the character of a person than that.”

“Honestly, just run ads that are a split screen of Kerstin Emhoff’s words of praise for Kamala Harris as a step-mother and co-parent to her children in a blended family side by side with JD Vance screaming about broken, crazy cat ladies. They’re just disgusting, hateful freaks,” another tweeted.

Vance might think he’s doing something by attacking Harris, but her family members aren’t letting it slide. We absolutely love this beautiful show of support!

These blended celebrity families make it look easy!