The cat is a political symbol again after Vance, Trump comments

The cat is a political symbol — again.

Again, because more than 100 years ago, two women campaigning cross-country for women's suffrage adopted a cat, making the feline a sign of their movement.

This time, supporters of Kamala Harris’s campaign for president seem to have seized the cat, posting all sorts of clever cat memes on social media. The memes mostly are a reaction to remarks by JD Vance, Donald Trump's vice presidential pick.

But more than a political statement, some of those Harris supporters are wondering whether there are enough cat owners to influence the outcome of the election and whether a first cat will again occupy the White House.

Vance, in a 2021 Fox news interview, criticized Democrats as "childless cat ladies."

Harris supporters, some of whom call themselves Cat Ladies for Kamala, are using the cat to contrast the presidential candidates’ views on reproductive rights. The cat also is being used to call attention to an offensive remark Donald Trump made in 2005, but surfaced during 2016 presidential campaign against Hillary Clinton.  

Clinton, along with her husband, Bill, raised a child — and a cat — while in the White House.

Trump, who was talking to a celebrity interviewer off camera, was bragging about his sexual prowess. "When you’re a star, they let you do it," he said talking about kissing women, adding: "You can do anything." Trump then described where he could grab women, using a vulgarity also used to refer to a cat.

Trump was one of three presidents with no pets as president, and Harris reportedly does not own a cat.

The suffragists' road trip

To commemorate the centennial of the 19th Amendment in 2020, the National Park Service introduced the Suffrage Cat. In 1916, suffragettes Nell Richardson and Alice Burke started in New York and embarked on a cross-country road trip to campaign for women’s right to vote.

They left in a yellow two-seater they called the Golden Flier, and along the way, adopted a cat that they named Saxon, which also was the name of the car’s manufacturer. Saxon became their mascot and reinforced the idea that a cat was a symbol of women’s suffrage.

As for White House cats, 11 presidents have had cats while occupying the residence.

More:JD Vance's so-called ‘childless cat ladies’ have thoughts — and pictures of their cats

Abraham Lincoln was the first, according to the Smithsonian, a collection of museums and research centers. He had two kittens, Tabby and Dixie.

Some historians suspect unnamed cats may have lived in the White House before that as a method to rid it of rats and mice. Lincoln, however, loved cats so much, the story goes, his wife once said they were his hobby.

More White House cats

A cat, Willow, currently occupies the White House and has a children's book about her. Willow is an American tabby that President Joe Biden and Jill Biden adopted. She was a farm cat and a gift. The Bidens named Willow after the first lady’s hometown, Willow Grove, Pennsylvania.

President George W. Bush owned a cat, India, a solid black American shorthair. She reportedly was named after Texas Rangers baseball player Ruben Sierra, who went by the nickname El Indio. India almost started an international incident when some in India took the cat’s name an insult.

Bill Clinton, who occupied the White House before Bush, had Socks, which reportedly jumped into the arms of Clinton’s daughter, Chelsea. The news media loved Socks, who liked to linger on the podium in the White House briefing room, and they took plenty of photos of him.

Jimmy Carter’s daughter, Amy, had a cat, Misty Malarky Ying Yang. And so did Gerald R. Ford’s daughter, Susan. Her cat, Shan, was a miniature seal point Siamese, which tended to hide under furniture in the Lincoln bedroom.

The other presidents who had cats: John F. Kennedy, Calvin Coolidge, Woodrow Wilson, Theodore Roosevelt and Rutherford B. Hayes, whose wife, Lucy, loved cats. Lucy Hayes was gifted a Siamese cat, Siam. It was reportedly the first Siamese in the United States. But the cat tragically got sick and died.

The Hayes Presidential Library and Museum in Fremont, Ohio, sells a plush Siam toy.

In total, an estimated 47 million, American households own cats, making the United States "a nation of cat lovers," according to USA TODAY, which also pointed out that the cat is the second most popular pet behind dogs.

As for whether cat lovers will make a difference in the election, no one knows.

Like the presidents who owned them, cat lovers are represented in both parties. But Republicans might beware: At the moment, more Democrats seem to be embracing cats, and earlier this week, many of them celebrated International Cat Day, the purpose of which is to "unite cat lovers" everywhere.

Contact Frank Witsil: 313-222-5022 or fwitsil@freepress.com.