'Veep' star Louis-Dreyfus moderates discussion with Democratic women governors

"Veep" star Julia Louis-Dreyfus kicked off a hot-ticket event Wednesday featuring the country’s eight women governors with an immediate swipe at Republican vice presidential candidate JD Vance.

“This is so cool. We are very honored to have eight highly intelligent, highly capable women leaders for the 21st century with us — or what JD Vance might call a coven of semi-menstruating witches,” Louis-Dreyfus said at the South Loop gathering.

Louis-Dreyfus, whose fictional character Selina Meyer’s storyline eerily mirrors Kamala Harris’ ascent to the top of the ticket, has been a prominent Democratic activist for years. And with a vice president as the presidential nominee, viewership of the eternally popular HBO show shot up once again.

“Was anyone else weeping for two hours last night watching the first gentleman and the Obamas speak?” Louis-Dreyfus asked the crowd.

“We’re laughing. We’re crying. I’m f---ing exhausted, to be honest with you,” Louis-Dreyfus said. “But we’re filled with hope and joy. And all of you women on this stage are evidence that Martin Luther King Jr. was right when he said, ‘The arc of the moral universe is long, but it bends toward justice.’ Sometimes we forget that, when [former President Donald] Trump is trying to bend it back the other way.”

While Louis-Dreyfus weaved in humor — like a mention of “brat summer” and a question about why “the GOP are so f---ing weird” — she also asked serious questions about abortion and election interference.

The panel consisted of Kansas Gov. Laura Kelly, Massachusetts Gov. Maura Healey, Arizona Gov. Katie Hobbs, Maine Gov. Janet Mills, Michigan Gov. Gretchen Whitmer, New Mexico Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham, New York Gov. Kathy Hochul and Oregon Gov. Tina Kotek .

On election interference, Hobbs told the crowd Arizona has “a little experience with that.”

“I think the challenges that we saw in 2020 are going to look like kindergarten compared to what we see now,” Hobbs said. “But we are ready.”

The Arizona governor said she hopes voters in her state will support a November ballot initiative to enshrine abortion rights.

“I think we’re seeing what’s happening, that there’s no lack of interest now,” Hobbs said. “It really has awoken people, particularly our young people. … Here I am, a lifetime later [after the Roe v. Wade decision] and back at it, but now joined by the young people who had been taking it for granted but no longer will. And I hope they remember this so that their granddaughters don’t have to go through this.”

Louis-Dreyfus also asked the governors whether being a woman offers a “unique advantage.”

In a way, Whitmer said.

“It is a huge advantage to be underestimated, in any debate, in any way you show up,” Whitmer said.

“And look, we can rock some fabulous colors too, right? I do think that that’s a huge advantage to come in where people write us off, don’t expect us to be as deep on issues or as thoughtful in articulating a vision, or as tough as everyone on this panel has said. I would much rather be underestimated than overestimated.”