Tim Walz and J.D. Vance took to the stage Tuesday night for a vice presidential debate that was less dramatic than September’s presidential debate, but they disagreed on abortion, school shootings and immigration. revealed.
Three weeks ago, Kamala Harris and Donald Trump endured an hour-and-a-half argument, during which an emotional Trump ranted about the number of people attending his rallies and called the vice president a “Marxist.” declared. He reportedly threatened to sue one of the debate moderators. Harris’s approval ratings temporarily rose as a result of her performance.
But on Tuesday, Mr. Walz and Mr. Vance largely avoided attacking each other, instead focusing their fire on each other’s running mates. It was a more policy-driven debate than that of the vice presidential candidates, but there were some gaffes that could overshadow some of its content in the coming days.
Minnesota Governor Walz followed Harris’ lead in bringing up personal stories during a high-stakes exchange about abortion.
Trump is “bragging about how great it was to get the justices in and overturn Roe v. Wade,” Walz said. He spoke with Amanda Zulawski, who was denied an abortion in Texas despite having serious health problems during her pregnancy and who is now part of a group of women suing the state of Texas. He cited the case of a Kentucky girl who was raped as a child. I got pregnant with my stepfather.
“If[women]didn’t know about this, they’ll soon find out. Their Project 2025 is going to have pregnancy registries,” Walz said, while Vance said: I objected to this.
Walz also criticized Trump and Vance’s position that states should decide whether women can get abortions.
“That can’t be true. This is a basic human right. Maternal mortality rates have skyrocketed in Texas and are outpacing many other countries in the world,” he said.
When Harris was considering Walz as a running mate, he reportedly told her that Walz was bad at debates and wore a sharp blue suit and pink tie from the start. That’s what Vance looked like, all wrapped up and slathered in make-up and hair gel. A more sophisticated performer. Walz, a former high school teacher and football coach, appeared more active in a loose-fitting black suit.
Ohio Sen. Vance, a longtime fixture on right-wing news shows, effortlessly dodged questions about whether he thought the climate crisis was a “hoax” and lamented how much money has been spent on solar panels. .
Mr. Walz emerged as a running mate for vice president in part because of his confident appearances on cable news, which is where his famous “weird” portrayals of Vance and Trump came from, but initially seemed nervous and did not repeat his scathing criticism of his opponent.
Both men also frequently mentioned their Midwestern upbringing.
“Let me be the first to say that I have poured my heart into my community and have tried to do the best I can, but I am not perfect and I am a little clumsy at times,” Walz said. I have a question regarding my stay in China. “But (Minnesota people) elected me to Congress for 12 years.”
Walz also criticized Trump and Vance for demonizing immigrants in Springfield, Ohio. They falsely claimed that Haitian immigrants were eating people’s pets, that their actions had led to bomb threats, and that children in the city were being escorted to school by police.
Asked about immigration, one of November’s key issues, Walz talked about Harris’ career in California and said the real purpose here is that both he and Vance are touting their records. It showed that the point is not to talk about the boss’s record, but to talk about the record of the superior.
“Kamala Harris was the attorney general of California’s largest border state. She is the only person in this race to prosecute transnational gangs for human trafficking and drug interference,” Walz said.
Vance blamed Harris for the number of people crossing the border under the Biden administration, prompting Walz to raise the issue of a bipartisan border security bill. The bill was backed by the National Border Patrol Council and killed by President Trump earlier this year.
“As soon as we were ready to pass the bill and we were actually working on this issue, President Trump said ‘no’ and told us to vote against it because it would become a campaign issue,” Walz said.
The conversation about immigration led to some uncomfortable moments for Vance. President Trump has said that if elected, he would carry out “the largest deportation in the history of our country,” but how will he do so in a country where some families’ children may be U.S. citizens born to non-citizen parents? It has not been explained why they will be deported. It will work.
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Vance twice declined to answer when asked whether the Trump administration would separate immigrant parents from their U.S. children.
Meanwhile, Walz’s missteps, which were largely formal rather than substantive, could become fodder for the right in the coming days. Mr. Walz was asked about his false claim that he was in Hong Kong “at the time of Tiananmen Square,” referring to anti-government protests in June 1989 that led to the massacre of hundreds of people. It was revealed this week that Walz traveled to China in 1989. Two months later in August.
“You know, I grew up in a small rural Nebraska town of 400 people where I rode my bike with my buddies until the streetlights came on. I’m proud of that service,” Walz answered. has begun. I tried to avoid the question completely.
Waltz, who was further pressed, said: So I just… said that. So I was in Hong Kong and China during the democracy movement. From there, I learned a lot of what is necessary for governance. ”
Toward the end of the debate, both men were asked about school shootings and whether AR-15-style guns, which have been used in some mass shootings, should be banned.
Vance called school shootings “terrible” before condemning Harris’ gun violence. He claimed there was a “massive influx of illegal guns run by Mexican drug cartels,” but the weapons used in the majority of school shootings were legally purchased. Democrats have called for stricter gun laws to curb mass shootings, but Mr. Vance took a different approach.
“What can we do to protect our children? And I think the answer is this, and I say this without trying to love this answer, but I don’t feel safe. We don’t want to send our children to schools where there are visible signs of safety, but unfortunately we think we have to. We will increase security on the doors. We have to make it better. We have to make the doors stronger. We have to make the windows stronger,” Vance said.
Waltz was more direct. He said he had met with parents of children killed in the Sandy Hook school shooting, and said, “Our first responsibility is to our children,” and spoke about Minnesota’s red flag policy. Explained in detail.
“I ask you, your schools are fortified. Is that what we have to go through?” he said.
“I think what we end up doing is starting to look for scapegoats. Sometimes it’s just the guns.”
But his powerful answer on gun reform was overshadowed on social media when he mistakenly said he was “friends with the school shooter” instead of the victim.
The vice president and his debate are generally considered unimportant, and it remains to be seen how much impact this debate will have. But the election is expected to be very close, and if either Mr. Vance or Mr. Walz can persuade a small number of voters, the hour and a half of scrutiny and even gaffes may have been worth it. .
