JD Vance said he was “troubled” by teachers who are not parents

JD Vance is facing renewed criticism after making previous comments about teachers who are not parents.

In a 2021 audio recording obtained by TMZ, former President Donald Trump’s 2024 vice presidential candidate can be heard saying that teachers without children “really bother” him while also taking shots at American Federation of Teachers President Randi Weingarten.

“You know, so many of the leaders of the left, and I hate to get so personal about this, but they are people without children who are trying to brainwash the minds of our children. And that really confuses me and it really bothers me,” Vance, 40, said in the clip.

“Randi Weingarten, the head of the most powerful teachers union in the country, doesn’t have a single child. If she wants to brainwash children and destroy their brains, she should have some of her own and leave ours the hell alone,” the Republican continued.

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Vance’s attack on Weingarten, 66, in the unearthed audio recording came before the educator revealed in April 2023 that she was the stepmother of her wife Sharon Kleinbaum’s children from her previous marriage after being questioned about her motherhood at a hearing by Congresswoman Marjorie Taylor Greene.

Kamala HQ, the official response account for Vice President Kamala Harris’ 2024 presidential campaign, reposted Vance’s audio recording on Instagram and wrote, “He is obsessed” with Vance following his comments.

A spokeswoman for Vance told TMZ regarding the released audio recording: “JD says clearly in the audio recording that our leaders on the left, particularly anti-child radical Randi Weingarten, who are brainwashing our children is deeply disturbing – and he stands by that statement.”

A spokesperson for Vance also contacted PEOPLE about the audio recording and shared a similar statement, saying, “There are many great teachers across the country and JD’s criticism of Randi Weingarten’s actions is not about her,” before adding that Vance wants to end “left-wing indoctrination in our schools.”

Vance’s remarks follow other derogatory comments he made about women, including his mother-in-law, in a recently resurfaced 2020 audio recording.

In an interview on The portal In one of his podcasts at the time, Vance seemed to agree with the description that his wife Usha Vance’s mother was a “post-menopausal woman” when he talked about the time she moved in with her family after the birth of one of his children.

The Republican vice presidential candidate said that having a grandparent in the house made his son “a much better person.” He continued, “And the evidence of that, by the way, is super clear.”

“That’s the whole point of postmenopausal women, in theory,” moderator Eric Weinstein interjected, before Vance agreed, “Yes.”

Vance spokesman Taylor Van Kirk denied in a statement to PEOPLE that the senator agreed with Weinstein’s comments.

“Of course he disagrees with what the host said,” he said. “JD reacted to the first part of the host’s sentence and assumed he was saying, ‘That’s the whole point of spending time with the grandparents.'”