It’s been a challenging week for JD Vance, and New York Gov. Kathy Hochul didn’t exactly help on Thursday when she responded to a repeated error by the vice president with two sentences of snark.
On Wednesday, the vice president visited Long Island for a “Protect Taxpayer Dollars” rally in order to campaign for GOP congressional candidate Mike LiPetri.
Vance attacked LiPetri’s Democratic opponent, Rep. Thomas Suozzi, by telling attendees, “he doesn’t represent you, he represents her,” referring to Hochul, whom he incorrectly called “Katie.”
Politico reporter Jason Beeferman noted on social media that Vance called Hochul “Katie” at least twice during his speech.
Hochul was happy to deftly correct Vance about his mistake.
“It’s still Kathy,” she said in response to Beeferman’s post. “Not everyone changes their name every year.”
Hochul was, of course, referring to the many, many name changes the vice president made during his 39 years on Earth.
Vance was born James Donald Bowman, but his mother renamed him “James David Hamel” when he was 6 and adopted by his then-stepdad, Robert Hamel. He changed his last name to “Vance,” the last name of the grandmother who raised him, in 2013, and dropped the periods from the initials “J” and “D” in 2021, when he first ran for public office.
Hochul’s sharp rejoinder is just one of several obstacles that have rolled in front of the vice president this week. He was supposed to spend time promoting his new book, “Communion,” but instead drew buzz for his clunky appearance on “The View” Tuesday and had to deal with a volley of heated criticism from fellow Republicans over the agreement to end the Iran war.
