Several California Democrats slammed Vice President Vance after he referred to Sen. Alex Padilla (D-Calif.) as “Jose” during a Friday presser in Los Angeles.
“I was hoping Jose Padilla would be here to ask a question,” Vance said, referring to Padilla’s forcible removal from a Department of Homeland Security (DHS) press conference last week.
“I guess he decided not to show up because there wasn’t a theater,” he continued.
Democrats railed against Vance for misnaming the state’s first Latino senator, who the vice president served alongside before his successful White House bid.
“Calling him ‘Jose Padilla’ is not an accident,” California Gov. Gavin Newsom (D) said in a Friday post on the social media platform X.
Newsom also urged Vance, who spoke about the governor's response to unrest sparked by mass Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) raids in the region, to make remarks to his face during a debate, instead of online or during public events in a later post.
While Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass (D) echoed the governor’s concerns, she cited potential racial undertones in Vance’s remarks.
“I guess he just looked like anybody to you, but he’s not just anybody to us. He is our senator,” Bass said during a Friday presser.
“Mr. Vice President, how dare you disrespect Senator Alex Padilla like that? You serve with him in the Senate right now. You know him,” Bass wrote in a post on X, referring to the vice president’s role as president of the upper chamber.
However, Vance’s spokesperson said the mix up was an innocent mistake.
“He must have mixed up two people who have broken the law,” Taylor Van Kirk, a spokesperson for Vance told reporters on Friday.
But Padilla’s colleagues aren’t buying it.
“JD Vance served alongside Alex Padilla, and knows better. He’s taking this cheap shot to distract from the real fear and havoc this Administration is creating,” Sen. Adam Schiff (D-Calif.) wrote in a Friday post on X. “It’s pathetic.”
The vice president's visit to Los Angeles came a day after a federal appeals ruled President Trump could retain control of the California National Guard in response to the protests.
Both Bass and Newsom have encouraged the Trump administration to remove the forces from Los Angeles, arguing the city is safer without federal forces.
Democratic lawmakers have continued to question the conditions detained illegal immigrants are being held under as well as law enforcement’s use of physical force against protesters and members of Congress seeking to conduct oversight of immigration operations.
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