Current:Home > NewsKamala Harris Addresses Criticism About Not Having Biological Children -TrueNorth Finance Path
Kamala Harris Addresses Criticism About Not Having Biological Children
View
Date:2025-04-14 13:56:17
Vice President Kamala Harris isn’t leaving her family up for debate.
After Sarah Huckabee Sanders, the Governer of Arkansas, made comments implying the 2024 Democratic presidential nominee doesn’t have kids of her own—despite her blended family with husband Doug Emhoff including his children, Cole, 30, and Emma, 25—Harris slammed what she felt to be an outdated point of view.
“I feel very strongly, we each have our family by blood and then we have our family by love,” Harris told Alex Cooper during Call Her Daddy’s Oct. 6 episode. “I have both. And I consider it to be a real blessing. I have two beautiful children who call me ‘Mamala.’”
“We have a very modern family,” she noted, before quipping, “My husband’s ex-wife is a friend of mine.”
The 59-year-old also reflected on how her own childhood changed her approach to step parenting.
“I’m a child of divorced parents,” Harris explained. “When I started dating Doug, I was very thoughtful and sensitive to making sure that until I knew that our relationship was something that was going to be real, I didn’t want to form a relationship with the kids and then walk away from that relationship.”
She continued, “My own experience tells me that children form attachments and I wanted to be thoughtful about it. So I waited to meet the kids. And they are my children and I love those kids to death.”
Because, as she noted, there is no one way to define family.
“Family comes in many forms and I think that increasingly, all of us understand that this is not the 1950s anymore,” Harris added. “Families come in all shapes or forms and they are family nonetheless.”
And the Vice President also had a response for comments made by President Donald Trump’s running mate JD Vance, in which the Republican nominee for vice president referred to Harris as a “childless cat lady” for not having biological children.
“I just think it’s mean and mean spirited,” she told Cooper. “And I think that most Americans want leaders who understand that the measure of their strength is not based on who you beat down, the real measure of the strength of a leader is based on who you lift up.”
For the latest breaking news updates, click here to download the E! News AppveryGood! (927)
Related
- McConnell absent from Senate on Thursday as he recovers from fall in Capitol
- Promising rookie Nick Dunlap took the PGA Tour by storm. Now he's learning how to be a pro
- Sen. Bob Menendez reveals his wife has breast cancer as presentation of evidence begins at his trial
- Ben Affleck and Jennifer Lopez Step Out With Wedding Rings Amid Breakup Rumors
- Intel's stock did something it hasn't done since 2022
- NFL Week 1 odds: Point spreads, moneyline and over/under for first week of 2024 season
- Ex-Michigan State coach Mel Tucker wins court fight over release of text messages
- Indonesia raises alert for Mount Ibu volcano to highest level following a series of eruptions
- North Carolina trustees approve Bill Belichick’s deal ahead of introductory news conference
- Kevin Spacey says he's 'enormously pleased' amid support from Sharon Stone, Liam Neeson
Ranking
- From family road trips to travel woes: Americans are navigating skyrocketing holiday costs
- Former Connecticut budget official arrested on federal charges
- Half of Amazon warehouse workers struggle to cover food, housing costs, report finds
- Peruvian lawmakers begin yet another effort to remove President Dina Boluarte from office
- Off the Grid: Sally breaks down USA TODAY's daily crossword puzzle, Triathlon
- 'Never resurfaced': 80 years after Pearl Harbor, beloved 'Cremo' buried at Arlington
- These Beverly Hills, 90210 Secrets Are Saucier Than Kissing Your Ex at Your Best Friend's Wedding
- Father and daughter killed in deadly Ohio house explosion, police say
Recommendation
What were Tom Selleck's juicy final 'Blue Bloods' words in Reagan family
Man smoked marijuana oil, took medication before deadly Florida crash, affidavit says
What to stream this week: Billie Eilish and Zayn Malik albums, ‘Bridgerton,’ and ‘American Fiction’
Shaken by the Fico assassination attempt, the EU wonders if June elections can be free of violence
Romantasy reigns on spicy BookTok: Recommendations from the internet’s favorite genre
Miss Hawaii Savannah Gankiewicz takes Miss USA crown after Noelia Voigt resignation
Ben Affleck and Jennifer Lopez Step Out With Wedding Rings Amid Breakup Rumors
As crisis escalates in Tunisia, lawyers strike over arrested colleague they say was tortured