J.D. Vance, Tim Walz clash on immigration, abortion, democracy in U.S. vice-presidential debate
Vice-presidential candidates defend running mates and avoid personal attacks
Ohio Sen. J.D. Vance and Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz confronted one another for the first time Tuesday in a policy-heavy vice-presidential debate, wrangling key issues from abortion to immigration and gun violence while defending their running mates' records in office.
The debate between Vance, 40, and Walz, 60, struck a far more cordial tone than last month's meeting between Republican nominee Donald Trump and Democratic nominee Kamala Harris.
The vice-presidential candidates, who shook hands before and after the event, focused almost exclusively on minute policy standpoints and avoided targeted personal attacks toward one another — and, as was largely the point of the evening, avoiding any viral missteps that could hurt the presidential hopefuls.
The sharpest moment of the debate came at its close, when Vance dodged a pointed question from Walz during a final exchange about American democracy.
"He is still saying [Trump] didn't lose the election," Walz said, before turning to Vance. "Did he lose the 2020 election?"
"I am focused on the future," Vance responded, before accusing Harris of censoring opposing online views.
"That is a damning non-answer," Walz said.
Chris Cillizza, a political commentator and former CNN editor-at-large, said the moment was Walz's strongest after a shakier start onstage. He said Vance was confident from the outset and clearly tried to defend "some things that Donald Trump has said and done that are, frankly, indefensible."
As with past vice-presidential debates, Cillizza said he didn't think the night was likely to affect the outcome of next month's election.
"Not significantly, no," he told CBC's The National, before adding: "Do I think J.D. Vance did himself a major solid in terms of what he looks like going forward? Yes."
Walz, an affable former high school teacher and football coach, and Vance, the conservative firebrand whose Hillbilly Elegy memoir became a Hollywood film, have both painted themselves as two family-first men with humble American Midwest roots.
They argued Tuesday over the Middle East crisis, immigration, abortion, climate change and the economy. CBS News hosted the 90-minute event from its New York City broadcast centre, with CBS Evening News anchor Norah O'Donnell and Face the Nation host Margaret Brennan serving as moderators.
In contrast to the debate between Trump and Harris, the potential vice presidents at times thanked each other on Tuesday and conceded they might even agree on finer policy theories. Despite having gone after one another's character on the campaign trail, they saved personal jabs for the presidential nominees.
Vance and Walz lingered on stage after the debate, shaking hands again meeting each other's wives before thanking the two debate moderators.
Political scientists have noted the majority of U.S. voters typically don't cast their ballot based on the potential vice-president. In recent campaigns, vice-presidents are typically used to rally the party's voter base and shore up support for the presidential candidate.
But vice-presidential hopefuls are not insignificant: Vance or Walz would have the constitutional duty to step up and lead the United States in the event the president was unable to perform their duties.
On Tuesday, the longest exchanges came on the topics of immigration and abortion — the former being a strong campaign issue for Republicans and the latter for Democrats.
On immigration, moderators asked Vance if a second Trump administration would separate children from their migrant parents, even if those children were U.S. citizens.
Vance did not answer the question directly and dodged it again when moderators came back to him.
At another point, Vance said 15,000 Haitians in the city of Springfield, Ohio, were contributing to problems with housing, the economy and other issues he said the Biden-Harris administration had ignored.
When debate moderators noted Haitians in the city had legal status, Vance objected and said he understood CBS moderators would not be fact-checking during the debate.
After Vance continued despite the moderators' attempts to move on, his microphone was cut off and neither man could be heard.
Throughout the debate, Vance sought to defend Trump's presidential record and questioned why Harris had not done more to address inflation, immigration and the economy since taking office with President Joe Biden in 2021.
"If Kamala Harris has such great plans for how to address middle-class problems, then she ought to do them now — not when asking for [a] promotion, but in the job the American people gave her three-and-a-half years ago," Vance said.
Coming to Harris's defence, Walz described Trump as an unstable leader who sank a congressional bill aimed at slowing illegal immigration because he saw it as "a campaign issue."
"We all want to solve this," Walz said of the border issue, before adding, "Well, most of us."
The Democrat found some of his strongest footing of the night on the issue of abortion. In his responses, he spoke about women who've faced grave health consequences trying to navigate strict abortion laws in states like Texas, Kentucky and Georgia since Roe v. Wade was overturned in 2022.
He criticized Trump for having praised the repeal of the landmark decision, which had guaranteed Americans' right to an abortion for nearly half a century.
"Things worked best when Roe vs. Wade was in place," Walz said.
Vance, who has previously held a much more conservative stance on reproductive rights, acknowledged his past anti-abortion statements have been problematic for voters. Striking a more moderate tone than usual, he added many Americans have lost faith in Republicans when it comes to the issue.
"We've got to do a much better a job at earning Americans' trust back," he said.
Both candidates were also questioned about past remarks they'd made.
Walz was asked about having claimed he was in Hong Kong during the 1989 Tiananmen Square massacre, when he in fact did not arrive until afterward. He said he "misspoke" and "got there that summer."
"I'm a knucklehead at times," Walz said. "I will talk a lot. I will get caught up in the rhetoric."
LISTEN | National Review reporter, Democratic consultant on the debate:
Similarly, Vance backtracked on his previous criticism of Trump — including a past comment that Trump could be "America's Hitler."
"I was wrong about Donald Trump," Vance said Tuesday. "I was wrong, first of all, because I believe some of the media stories that turned out to be dishonest fabrications of his record. But most importantly, Donald Trump delivered for the American people."
The night's tone was a marked change in a campaign characterized by inflammatory rhetoric, two assassination attempts and personal attacks between presidential candidates. Trump has repeatedly attacked Harris's race and gender, while escaping attempts on his life in July and September.
Walz has described his Republican opponents as "weird," while Vance faced criticism for referring to some Democrats as "childless cat ladies."
Early voting is underway in nearly two dozen states with 35 days left until election day. While Harris has edged ahead in national polls, most surveys show voters remain fairly evenly divided in the seven states that will decide the outcome on Nov. 5.
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With files from CBC's The National, The Associated Press and Reuters