I have a li'l distaste for bringing out old interviews as news in politics, but in this case Vance's statement was just 3 years ago. Not all that old. And if he doesn't want to stand by it, he'd be totally welcome to say he's learned something since then.
The part I see getting talked about and replied to is that he said Kamala Harris, AOC, and Pete Buttegieg are childless. I'll get to that in a minute. The part that I am not seeing discuss, though I am admittedly only seeing clips, is that he also called them all "cat ladies" and don't tell me that it is a slip including Pete in that, because he's talking about the Democratic leadership. Pete is the transportation secretary, a job where he hasn't distinguished himself any more than anyone else ever has in that job. He's not a mover and shaker in the Democratic Party. He got in the discussion because he fit (at the time) the narrow definition that Vance was trying to point out as if it were the main trend in the Democratic Party and he didn't forget him when he called them ladies.
The point would be kind of a head scratcher if he was just saying that childlessness was a character flaw, but his thrust is that childless people don't even have a stake in what the government does. And I wonder if that is how Vance really feels. That everything he does in Congress, and he hopes in the White House, is for 3 people that live in his house. The House of Representatives is supposed to represent 390 million people. Does it really just represent 1000 or so?
Edit - I forgot to point out: Kamala married a man 10 years ago who was divorced with kids. I really feel like they practically have Vance in a trap. When he made the statement, Pete wasn't an adoptive father yet, but Kamala was already a step-mother, and the resurfaced video is going to play like it is new. If I were Vance I would really be trying to figure out how to get out there that I don't think adoption and step-parenting don't count as parenting. In any case, Kamala's husband's ex-wife came out to defend her and said she's been a great co-parent. Peeps....when you say something about a woman and her husband's ex-wife comes in to defend her, you know you really stepped in it.