Democratic Gov. Tim Walz of Minnesota and Republican Sen. JD Vance of Ohio faced off in the first and only vice presidential debate on Oct. 1 at the CBS broadcast center in New York City. This comes three weeks after the presidential debate between Kamala Harris and Donald Trump.
The moderators for the debate were CBS Evening News anchor Norah O’Donnell and Face the Nation moderator Margaret Brennan. Previously, Trump called ABC News, who moderated the presidential debate, “the worst network” saying that he “agreed to do it because they wouldn’t do any other network.”
Walz, Harris’s running mate has had a relatively long political career compared to his opponent, serving as a U.S. Representative from 2007-2019 and later becoming Minnesota Gov. in 2019. Trump’s running mate, JD Vance was elected into his first national office in 2022, less than two years before he was selected to be the vice presidential candidate.
The debate started with a question from Brennan in which she asked if Walz would “support or oppose a preemptive strike by Israel on Iran in response to the recent Iranian strikes”, in which Walz misspoke, confusing Israel with Iran. Vance began by not answering the question, but providing the audience with an introduction to himself before saying “it is up to Israel what they think they need to do to keep their country safe.”
The vice presidential candidates spent the most time discussing the opposing presidential nominees’ character and fitness. Vance spoke more confidently while Walz didn’t find his footing until midway through.
CBS’s decision to avoid moderator fact-checking sparked concern as Claudia Milne, senior vice president for standards and practices for CBS News explained to the New York Times, “The goal of the debate is to facilitate a good debate between the candidates, and the moderators will give them the opportunity to fact-check each other in real-time.”
However, in a key moment, Brennan did fact-check a statement made by Vance about immigration in Springfield, Ohio in which Vance said he was “concerned about Americans there” who “have had their lives destroyed by Kamala Harris’s open border,” due to unaffordable housing. Brennan responded, “And just to clarify for our viewers, Springfield, Ohio does have a large number of Haitian migrants who have legal status, temporary protected status.”
This drew criticism from Trump who accused Brennan of being biased by only targeting Vance and not fact-checking Walz.
Vance’s answers were smooth, and at times robotic, reminding the audience that although current Vice President Harris has promised policy change, democrats have held the White House for the past three and a half years. “If Kamala Harris has such great plans for how to address middle-class problems, then she ought to do them now,” Vance said.
This was proven false because although the vice president can influence policies and legislative decisions, the vice president does not have direct control over executive decisions, only the president does.
One of the main issues during this upcoming election, and a popular Trump administration talking point is immigration, specifically in regards to the border. Vance blamed immigrants which he repeatedly referred to as “illegal aliens” for increases in inflation and crime. Walz countered by saying that there was a bipartisan bill which would have worked to help secure the border, but Trump did not want to sign the bill into law. Walz took the approach of highlighting Harris’ record on immigration as California attorney general where she prosecuted gangs involved in drug smuggling.
As the topic shifted to abortion, an important issue which polarizes both parties, Walz defended his stance, saying that he isn’t “pro-abortion,” rather “pro-women,” while Vance opposed the supposed “radical” abortion stance that the Harris-Walz administration has taken saying, “We’ve got to do so much better of a job [to get] the American people’s trust back on this issue where they frankly just don’t trust us.”
On Truth Social during the debate, Trump shifted his stance saying that he would veto a national abortion ban.
During the debate, Walz questioned Vance about the Jan. 6 attack on the Capital and whether or not he thought that Trump won the 2020 election.
“Did he lose the 2020 election?” Walz asked Vance, attempting to get Vance to give a straight answer.
“Tim, I’m focused on the future,” Vance responded.
“That is a damning nonanswer,” Walz shot back.
Walz also made the claim that “[former vice president] Pence is not on this stage because he followed the Constitution, not Donald Trump.”
The debate was virtually even with 42% of people saying Vance won the debate, while 41% thought that Walz was the winner, 17% thought the debate ended in a draw. Both candidates displayed different visions for the country, offering voters a clear contrast between candidates. As election day approaches, the decision rests with the voters to determine which path to take in regards to the nation’s future.
