Sen. J.D. Vance (R-OH) said his controversial comments about “childless cat ladies” were “taken out of context” and blown “out of proportion” by Democrats because that is “what they always do.”

The running mate of Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump has sought to defend his 2021 comments after they sparked backlash last week. Vance was referring to Vice President Kamala Harris and other top Democrats on Tucker Carlson’s Fox News show at the time when he said there were “childless cat ladies” running the United States who “want to make the rest of the country miserable, too.”