Republican Sen. JD Vance of Ohio and Democratic Gov. Tim Walz of Minnesota faced off Tuesday night in what is expected to be the only debate between the two vice presidential nominees and, most likely, the last debate of the presidential election.
Voting has already begun in 20 states in a contest that polls show is essentially a toss-up. Their debate, which lasted nearly two hours, was far more civil than last month’s clash between Vice President Kamala Harris and former President Trump.
Here are some takeaways:
Stability is on the ballot
The debate took place on a day when it felt like the world was falling apart. Iran showered missiles on Israel, risking an even broader regional conflict in one of the most volatile corners of the world.
Residents living in the aftermath of Hurricane Helene were running out of water and other essentials as authorities counted the deaths, which have exceeded 150. East Coast port workers went on strike, threatening the nation’s economy and supply chain.
Both candidates appealed to the anxiety on voters’ minds, with a recognition that choosing which candidate is likeliest to calm the waters will be a subjective decision for many of them.
Walz contrasted “a nearly 80-year-old Donald Trump talking about crowd sizes” who flatters autocrats with Harris’ “steady leadership.”
Vance downplayed Trump’s volatility, making the case that Trump made the world around him less dangerous and that Harris, as a sitting vice president, bears responsibility for the current chaos.
“Criticize Donald Trump’s tweets,” he said. “But effective, smart diplomacy and peace through strength is how you bring stability back to a very broken world.”
Vance tries to soften his image
Vance came into the debate less popular than Walz, especially with female voters. But the controversial vice presidential nominee of the campaign trail, the guy who mocked “childless cat ladies” in a 2021 interview, was replaced by a toned-down candidate who attempted to soften his image.
Nowhere was that clearer than in his discussion of abortion rights, one of his and Trump’s biggest political vulnerabilities. He spoke in personal terms about a friend who had an abortion and said that he loved her and that his party needed to do better “at earning the American people’s trust back on this issue where they, frankly, just don’t trust us.”
Vance tried to lower the volume on many of Trump’s most controversial policies.
He avoided repeating Trump’s false claim that Haitians in Springfield, Ohio, were stealing cats and dogs to eat them and instead argued that eliminating the lowest-wage jobs would reduce migrants’ incentives to come and boost wages for native-born Americans.
