Walz and Vance go in-depth on policy while attacking each other’s running mates in VP debate

The role of a presidential running mate is typically to serve as an attack dog for the person at the top of the ticket, arguing against the opposing presidential candidate and their proxy on stage

Tim Walz and JD Vance on Tuesday (October 1, 2024) went after each other’s running mates in a vice presidential debate that opened with a discussion of burgeoning domestic and international troubles — a hurricane that ravaged much of the southeast U.S. and growing fears of a regional Middle East war.

Both Mr. Walz, a two-term Democratic governor of Minnesota, and Mr. Vance, a Republican freshman senator from Ohio, focused many of their attacks at the top of the ticket, as is traditional for VP debates. They each pointed to the crises of the day as reasons for voters to choose Vice President Kamala Harris or former President Donald Trump.

The heated tone of the campaign was mostly replaced by deep policy discussions, with the candidates sometimes saying they agreed with each other — even as they outlined vastly different visions about the future of the country.

Despite the milder tone of the debate, there were still glimpses of the political fractures that threaten American democracy. Mr. Vance papered over the Jan. 6 attack on the U.S. Capitol and echoed Mr. Trump’s election denial by refusing to acknowledge that President Joe Biden won the race in 2020.

But throughout much of the rest of the night, two Midwesterners struck a noticeably friendlier tone than the matchup between Mr. Trump and Ms. Harris — or, earlier this year, the showdown between Mr. Trump and Mr. Biden before he dropped out of the race following a disastrous performance.

In one raw moment when Mr. Walz said his teenage son had witnessed a shooting at a community centre, Mr. Vance expressed empathy.

“I’m sorry about that. Christ have mercy,” Mr. Vance said.

“I appreciate that,” Mr. Walz said.

In other parts of the debate, Mr. Vance tried to soften his image, ratcheting down his typically forceful and aggressive delivery and acknowledging that people watching might not agree with him or Mr. Trump. He discussed Mr. Trump’s ideas with polish while avoiding being pinned down on the more controversial parts of the former president’s record. His performance immediately delighted the Trump campaign and many of its allies.

Mr. Walz depicted Mr. Trump as wrong on the issues and a chaotic leader. Mr. Vance rebuffed him with every answer and made the case for the man he once heavily criticized.

“What’s fundamental here is that steady leadership is going to matter,” said Mr. Walz, in response to a question about the situation unfolding in the Middle East. “And the world saw it on that debate stage a few weeks ago, a nearly 80-year-old Donald Trump talking about crowd sizes is not what we need at this moment.”

Mr. Vance, in his reply, argued that Mr. Trump is an intimidating figure whose presence on the international stage is its own deterrent.

The debate in New York hosted by CBS News opened with a sober tone that reflected growing domestic and international concerns about safety and security. But it gave way to sharper attacks from both Mr. Walz and Mr. Vance — and a moment in which the moderators stopped the discussion by cutting the two men’s mics.

Mr. Walz accused Mr. Vance and Mr. Trump of villainizing legal immigrants in Mr. Vance’s home State. He pointed to the fact that Republican Ohio Gov. Mike DeWine had to send in extra law enforcement to provide security to the city’s schools after Vance tweeted about and Trump amplified false claims about Haitians eating pets.

“This is what happens when you don’t want to solve it, you demonize it,” Mr. Walz said, saying not doing so would allow people to “come together.”

Mr. Vance said the 15,000 Haitians in the city had caused housing, economic and other issues that the Biden-Harris administration was ignoring.

When the debate moderators pointed out that the Haitians living there had legal status, Mr. Vance protested that CBS News had said its moderators would not be fact-checking, leaving the onus to the candidates. As Mr. Vance continued and the moderators tried to move on, his microphone was cut and neither man could be heard.

Both men found unity on Hurricane Helene, which has devastated several states and caused massive flooding in North Carolina in particular. Mr. Walz mentioned the storm’s devastation and talked about working with Governors across the country, saying they don’t let politics get in the way of collaborating.

The question about Hurricane Helene led to a moment of political comity as Mr. Vance said, “I’m sure Gov. Walz joins me in saying our hearts go out to those innocent people.”

When they first turned to immigration and the influx of migrants coming over the U.S.-Mexico border, one of the most heated topics of the campaign, the two men credited each other with having good intentions.

“I believe Senator Vance wants to solve this, but by standing with Donald Trump and not working together to find a solution, it becomes a talking point and when it becomes a talking point like this, we dehumanize and villainize other human beings,” Mr. Walz said.

Mr. Vance echoed the sentiment, saying, “I think you want to solve this problem, but I don’t think that Kamala Harris does.”

Tuesday's matchup could have an outsized impact. Polls have shown Vice President Kamala Harris and former President Donald Trump locked in a close contest, giving added weight to anything that can sway voters on the margins, including the impression left by the vice presidential candidates. It also might be the last debate of the campaign, with Ms. Harris and Mr. Trump teams failing to agree on another meeting.

The role of a presidential running mate is typically to serve as an attack dog for the person at the top of the ticket, arguing against the opposing presidential candidate and their proxy on stage. Both Mr. Vance and Mr. Walz have embraced that role.

Mr. Vance's occasionally confrontational news interviews and appearances on the campaign trail have underscored why Mr. Trump picked him for the Republican ticket despite his past biting criticisms of the former President, including once suggesting Mr. Trump would be “America’s Hitler.”

Mr. Walz, meanwhile, catapulted onto Ms. Harris’ campaign by branding Mr. Trump and Republicans as “ just weird,” creating an attack line for Democrats seeking to argue Republicans are disconnected from the American people.

A new AP-NORC poll found that Mr. Walz is better liked than Mr. Vance, potentially giving the Republican an added challenge.

After a Harris-Trump debate in which Republicans complained about the ABC News moderators fact-checking Mr. Trump, Tuesday's debate will not feature any corrections from the hosts. CBS News said the onus for pointing out misstatements will be on the candidates, with moderators “facilitating those opportunities.”

Mr. Trump, on Tuesday evening, said his advice to Mr. Vance was to “have a lot of fun” and praised his running mate as a “smart guy” and “a real warrior.”

As they’ve campaigned, both Mr. Walz and Mr. Vance have played up their roots in small towns in middle America, broadening the appeal of Ms. Harris and Mr. Trump, who hail from California and New York, respectively.

Mr. Walz, 60, frequently invokes his past job coaching a high school football team as he speaks about his campaign with Harris bringing “joy” back to politics and weds his critiques of the GOP to a message to Democrats that they need to “leave it all on the field.”

Mr. Walz, a Nebraska native, was a geography teacher before he was elected to Congress in 2006. He spent a dozen years there before he was elected governor in 2018, winning a second term four years later.

He also served 24 years in the Army National Guard before retiring in 2005. His exit and description of his service have drawn harsh criticism from Mr. Vance, who served in the Marine Corps, including in Iraq.

The 40-year-old Mr. Vance became nationally known in 2016 with the publication of his memoir, “Hillbilly Elegy,” which recounts his childhood in Ohio and his family’s roots in rural Kentucky. The book was cited frequently after Mr. Trump’s 2016 win as a window into working-class white voters who supported his campaign. Mr. Vance went to Yale Law School before working as a venture capitalist in Silicon Valley.

After the publication of his book, he was a prominent critic of Mr. Trump’s before he morphed into a staunch defender of the former President, especially on issues like trade, foreign policy and immigration.

Published - October 02, 2024 06:49 am IST