Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz, left, and Ohio Sen. J.D. Vance, right. Credit: Jose. F. Moreno/Jessica Griffin/The Philadelphia Inquirer via TNS
Though initially expected to be even more explosive than last month’s presidential face-off, Tuesday night’s vice presidential debate between Republican Ohio Sen. J.D. Vance and Democratic Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz was surprisingly cordial.
Hosted by CBS News in New York City at 9 p.m., the debate — which was likely the final debate of this election cycle — saw both Vance and Walz directly talk to the American public by staring straight into the camera and even using “you” to personally address audience members in their respective statements.
Vance, former President Donald Trump’s running mate, spoke often of making “the American dream” attainable again via Trump’s campaign. The Ohio State alum also frequently insinuated Vice President Kamala Harris is hypocritical for not implementing many of her presidential candidate policy points during her four years in office alongside President Joe Biden.
Walz initially stumbled over his words more than his opponent, but he eventually hit his stride. As Harris’ running mate, Walz spoke up when he believed he and Vance saw eye to eye on certain topics, at one point even saying he agreed with several of his opponent’s comments, but that “[Vance’s] running mate is the problem.”
Although the debate rules outlined both candidates’ microphones would remain on throughout the 90-minute session, CBS said it reserved the right to cut the sound if speaking out of turn became an issue. Indeed, both microphones were turned off for a short period after Vance challenged a fact check by moderators Norah O’Donnell and Margaret Brennan.
Notably, both candidates made efforts to establish points of agreement between their respective agendas.
In response to the high costs of home ownership and rent, Vance agreed with Walz that housing shouldn’t be viewed as a commodity. Walz likewise agreed with Vance in regard to foreign affairs, saying that he didn’t want to excessively ship goods overseas.
Hurricane Helene and climate change
When asked about scientists’ claims that climate change may have worsened the impact of Hurricane Helene, Vance said he was “sure Gov. Walz agrees with [him] about the tragedy” of so many citizens dying as a result of the natural disaster.
Later, Vance addressed his “Democratic friends” and their concerns about climate change by clarifying that both he and Trump support clean air and water, but believe the proper way to address concerns about carbon emissions is via reshoring as much American manufacturing as possible.
Vance said in contrast to Harris’ policies, if the American public cares about climate change, the best thing to do is “double down” and invest in American workers.
Walz said climate change must be addressed by minimizing humans’ impact on the environment, but this can be done while also creating jobs; in fact, he said that’s what the Harris administration has done thus far and intends to do if elected into the Oval Office.
Immigration and the border crisis
Vance said “[he’d] ask [his] fellow Americans to remember” that Harris fulfilled her promise to undo many of Trump’s immigration policies, which he said “has opened the floodgates” to the current border crisis. If elected, Vance said he and Trump would work to reimplement the former president’s immigration policies.
“We have to stop the bleeding,” Vance said.
Walz turned to the bipartisan border security bill — or what he referred to as “the fairest and toughest bill in immigration that the nation has seen” — which he said Trump instructed Republican members of Congress to kill in order to keep the border crisis “a campaign issue.” If elected, Walz said Harris would sign a similar bill into law.
“We could come together and solve this if we didn’t let Donald Trump continue to make it an issue,” Walz said.
Springfield, Ohio received another shout-out, though Vance kept pets out of the conversation this time. Instead, he said Springfield is one example of a community that lacks enough public resources to provide for its residents “because of immigrants.”
Interestingly, each candidate said they believe the other wants to solve this issue, but their respective running mates do not.
Economy
While Walz criticized Trump’s allocation of tax cuts to the wealthy — which he said has contributed to an $8 trillion increase in national debt — Vance once again focused on how Harris has had three-and-a-half years in office, and said that “if [she] had such great plans for how to address middle-class problems, then she ought to do them now.”
“We’re gonna get back to that common-sense wisdom so that you can afford to live that American dream again,” Vance said.
Walz said Trump’s belief that he has “all the answers” as president is problematic, referencing Trump’s repeated claims that various economic experts can’t be trusted.
In response, Vance said those experts “have lied in the past” about what would make the middle class stronger.
“Donald Trump had the wisdom and the courage to say to that bipartisan consensus, ‘We’re not doing it anymore,’” Vance said.
Abortion and women’s reproductive rights
Walz opened the conversation by sharing the stories of women who were negatively impacted by the overturning of Roe v. Wade. He criticized Trump’s claims that abortion is best left in the hands of the states, claiming that the “what’s right for one state may not be right for another” argument is illegitimate.
“That’s not how this works, this is basic human rights,” Walz said.
Vance explicitly said he and the Trump administration would not create a federal pregnancy monitoring agency — contrary to the reported agenda of right-wing political initiative Project 2025 — and that he wants to be “pro-family in the fullest sense of the word” to give women more options.
In what many may have viewed as a surprising change of rhetoric, Vance looked directly into the camera to personally address a woman in his life who had an abortion, saying “I love you.” He then went on to say the Republican Party must work hard if they want to regain the public’s confidence on this issue.
“We’ve got to do so much better of a job earning back the American people’s trust,” Vance said.
Even so, Vance maintained his stance that individual states should dictate their own abortion policies.
In response to Vance’s claims that he and Trump are dedicated to pursuing “pro-family initiatives,” Walz said reinstating Roe v. Wade and allocating more funds to federal resources in support of children and families are not mutually exclusive.
“We’re not pro-abortion, we’re pro-women,” Walz said.
Gun legislation
Though Vance said the nation has to do better in response to the firearm crisis, he quickly tied the issue back to immigration, claiming the amount of “illegal guns” in the United States is higher today than it was before the Biden-Harris administration.
To address this, Vance said the country needs “common sense bipartisan solutions,” which he said include increasing security in schools by way of strengthening door locks and windows.
Walz said he believed Vance wanted to combat this crisis, but his proposed solutions weren’t enough, especially when mechanisms like red flag laws and universal background checks exist.
“Do you want your schools hardened to look like a fort?” Walz said. “These are things that shouldn’t be that difficult.”
Closing remarks
Both candidates thanked each other, CBS and the American public for the opportunity to debate.
In their final comments to viewers, Walz said Vance has proven that he will stand behind Trump’s agenda, whereas Vance said the country needs a president who has successfully led the American people once before.
