JD Vance and Tim Walz defended their respective running mates and their policies during Tuesday night’s vice presidential debate.
Walz, the Democratic governor of Minnesota, and Vance, a Republican senator from Ohio, defended the two running at the top of the ticket, stumping for Vice President Kamala Harris and former President Donald Trump, respectively, the Associated Press reported.
The debate, held in New York and moderated by CBS News, was more tame and civil in an election cycle like no other as the past four months have included President Joe Biden dropping out of the race, Harris coming in as a fourth-quarter replacement and two assassination attempts on Trump.
Harris and Trump are running neck and neck, according to many polls. This gives added importance to the meat of what the vice presidential have to say.
Vance continued the rhetoric regarding the Jan. 6 attack on the U.S. Capitol and Trump’s denial that he lost the 2020 election.
The conciliatory tone of the debate included a moment when Walz mentioned his teenage son witnessed a shooting at a community center.
“I’m sorry about that. Christ have mercy,” Vance said.
“I appreciate that,” Walz responded.
This is a stark contrast to debates held earlier between the presidential candidates.
Vance attempted to soften his approach, which is usually forceful and aggressive verbiage and acknowledged people might not like the Republican candidates.
He discussed Trump’s ideas with finesse and avoided being pinned down on the more controversial parts of Trump’s past record.
The topic of the Middle East started the debate as Israeli troops are fighting Hezbollah in Lebanon. In Gaza, Israeli forces continue to fight Hamas after the Oct. 7, 2023, attack.
“What’s fundamental here is that steady leadership is going to matter,” Walz said. “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 in this moment.”
Vance replied Trump is an intimidating figure and his mere presence is its own deterrent.
“Gov. Walz can criticize Donald Trump’s tweets, but effective, smart diplomacy and peace through strength is how you bring stability back to a very broken world,” Vance said.
There were contentious moments in the debate and at one point, the moderators cut the candidates’ mics.
Walz said Vance and Trump were disparaging legal immigrants in Vance’s home state of Ohio. He said Ohio Gov. Mike DeWine, a Republican, had to have extra law enforcement come in to provide security to Springfield schools after Vance and Trump repeated rumors about Haitians eating pets.
“This is what happens when you don’t want to solve it, you demonize it,” Walz said.
Vance said there are 15,000 Haitians in Springfield who have caused housing, economic and other issues. He added the Biden-Harris administration has been ignoring these issues.
The debate moderators said those Haitians were legal, but Vance countered by saying CBS News said the moderators would not be fact-checking and the onus was on the candidates.
Vance continued to talk and microphone was cut.
There was more talk of policy than before with the presidential candidates.
Both men shared stories regarding abortion. Walz talked about a Texas woman who was denied an abortion even though she had a life-threatening infection. He also spoke of a 12-year-old girl who was raped and impregnated by her stepfather.
Vance talked about a friend who “told me something a couple of years ago that she felt like if she hadn’t had that abortion, that it would have destroyed her life because she was in an abusive relationship.”
Vance said he never supported a national ban when he was running for the Senate in 2022.
Trump posted on his Truth Social during the debate that he would veto a national abortion ban even though he has taken credit for the Supreme Court decision overturning Roe v. Wade. This has allowed conservative states to ban or restrict abortions.
Walz and Vance also talked about the effects of Hurricane Helene.
“I’m sure Gov. Walz joins me in saying our hearts go out to those innocent people. Our prayers go out to them,” Vance said. “And we want as robust and aggressive as a federal response as we can get to save as many lives as possible.”
When the topic turned to the Jan. 6 attack on the Capitol, Vance referred to it as Trump calling for people to “peacefully” march on the U.S. Capitol.
Censorship, Vance said, was the real threat to democracy.
“We ought to debate our differences. We ought to argue about them. Kamala Harris is engaged in censorship on an industrial scale,” Vance said.
Walz said Vance was promoting the denial of “the first time in American history that a president or anyone tried to overturn a fair election and the peaceful transfer of power.”
Walz then asked Vance if Trump won the 2020 election.
“I’m focused on the future,” Vance responded.
“That is a damning non-answer,” Walz said.
In the end, Walz said he “enjoyed tonight’s debate, and I think there was a lot of commonality here.”
He added he’s “sympathetic to misspeaking on things and I think I might have with the senator.”
“Me too, man,” Vance said.
