Gov. Tim Walz and Sen. JD Vance attacked each other Tuesday in a friendlier debate between vice presidential candidates that began with a discussion of growing domestic and international problems: a hurricane that devastated much of the southeastern United States, the growing fears of a regional war in the Middle East, abortion, immigration, climate change and the economy.
Both Walz, the Democratic governor of Minnesota, and Vance, the Republican senator from Ohio, focused many of their attacks on the leading candidates, as is traditional in vice-presidential debates.
Each pointed to the crises of the day as reasons for voters to choose Vice President Kamala Harris or former President Donald Trump.
Walz, responding to a question about whether he would support a preemptive strike against Iran after it launched missiles at Israel, described Trump as too dangerous to the country and the world at an unstable time.
“What’s critical here is that strong leadership is going to matter,” Walz said.
“And the world saw it on the debate stage a few weeks ago: a nearly 80-year-old Donald Trump talking about how crowd sizes aren’t what we need right now.”
“Kamala Harris has allowed fentanyl into our communities at unprecedented levels,” he added.
In his response, Vance argued that Trump is an intimidating figure whose presence on the international stage is itself a deterrent.
“Donald Trump really brought stability,” he said.
The debate in New York produced by CBS News began with a sober tone that reflected growing national and international concerns about security.
But it led to sharper attacks from both Walz and Vance, and a moment when the moderators stopped the discussion by cutting off the two men’s microphones.
SPRINGFIELD, OHIO, WAS NOT LEFT OUT
Walz accused Vance and Trump of demonizing legal immigrants in Vance’s home state.
He pointed to the fact that Ohio’s Republican governor, Mike DeWine, had to send additional police forces to provide security at city schools after Vance tweeted and Trump amplified false claims about Haitians eating pets.
“This is what happens when you don’t want to solve it, you demonize it,” Walz said, adding that not doing so would allow people to “come together.”
Vance said the 15,000 Haitians in the city had caused housing, economic and other problems that the Biden-Harris administration was ignoring.
The debate began by asking the candidates whether or not they support a preemptive strike by Israel on Iran.
When debate moderators pointed out that Haitians living there had legal status, Vance protested that CBS News had said its moderators would not verify the facts, leaving the responsibility to the candidates.
As Vance continued and the moderators attempted to move on, their microphone was cut off and neither man could be heard.
The two running mates agreed that the number of immigrants in the United States illegally is a problem, but each blamed the opposing presidential candidate.
THE HOT TOPIC OF IMMIGRATION
Vance echoed Trump by repeatedly calling Harris the “border czar” and suggesting that she, as vice president, single-handedly repealed immigration restrictions that Trump had imposed as president. The result, according to Vance, is an uncontrolled flow of fentanyl, pressure on state and local resources, and rising housing prices across the country.
Harris was never asked to be “border czar” and was never specifically given responsibility for border security. In March 2021, Biden tasked him with addressing the “root causes” of migration from the Central American countries of Honduras, Guatemala and El Salvador and pressing leaders there and in Mexico to enforce immigration laws.
Tim Walz said he and Kamala Harris come from the middle class and promise to put it first.
Harris was not empowered to set US immigration policy: Only the president can sign executive orders, and Harris was not empowered as Biden’s representative in negotiations with Congress over immigration law.
Walz presented Democrats’ arguments that Trump single-handedly killed a bipartisan Senate agreement to strengthen border security and improve the processing system for immigrants and asylum seekers. Republicans backed out of the deal, Walz noted, only after Trump said it wasn’t good enough.
The two running mates agreed that the number of immigrants in the United States illegally is a problem, but each blamed the opposing presidential candidate.
HURRICANE HELENE, A THEME THAT UNITS WALZ AND VANCE
Both men found unity over Hurricane Helene, which has devastated several states and caused massive flooding in North Carolina in particular.
Walz mentioned the devastation of the storm and talked about working with governors across the country, saying they don’t let politics get in the way of collaboration.
The question about Hurricane Helene led to a moment of political courtesy when Vance said, “I’m sure Governor Walz joins me in saying our hearts go out to those innocent people.”
Following the devastation caused by Hurricane Helene, Vance responded to a question about climate change and gave an answer about jobs and manufacturing, deviating from Trump’s previous claims that global warming is a “hoax.”
“We should remove the illegal immigrants who are competing for those homes,” he said.
Vance argued that the best way to fight climate change was to move more manufacturing to the United States, because the country has the cleanest energy economy in the world.
It was a distinctly domestic interpretation of a global crisis, especially after Trump withdrew the United States from the international Paris climate accords during his administration.
Walz also kept the focus on climate change on the national level, touting the Biden administration’s renewable energy investments as well as record levels of oil and natural gas production. “You can see us becoming an energy superpower in the future,” Walz said.
It was a decidedly optimistic take on a widespread and grim global problem.
A DEBATE WITH A MORE FRIENDLY TONE
The two Midwesterners took a noticeably friendlier tone than the Trump-Harris showdown — or, earlier this year, Trump and President Joe Biden before he dropped out of the race.
When they first addressed immigration and the influx of migrants crossing the U.S.-Mexico border, one of the hottest issues of the campaign, the two men gave each other credit for having good intentions.
“I think Senator Vance wants to solve this, but by supporting Donald Trump and not working together to find a solution, it becomes a topic of discussion and when it becomes a topic of discussion like this, we dehumanize and demonize other beings humans,” Walz said.
Vance echoed the sentiment, saying, “I think you want to solve this problem, but I don’t think Kamala Harris does.”
VANCE AND WALZ ACKNOWLEDGE PAST ERRORS
The role of a presidential running mate is typically to serve as an attack dog for the person at the top of the ticket, arguing against the opposing presidential candidate and their representative on stage. Both Vance and Walz have taken on that role.
Vance was asked to address his previous scathing criticism of the former president, including once suggesting that Trump would be “America’s Hitler.”
Walz signed a bill that enshrined abortion rights into state law in 2023.
“When you’re wrong about something and you change your mind, you have to be honest with the American people,” he said Tuesday.
Meanwhile, Walz was pressed on his misleading claim, which was investigated this week by Minnesota Public Radio and other outlets, that he was in Hong Kong during the turbulence surrounding the 1989 Tiananmen Square massacre, part of a larger pattern. wide range of inaccuracies that Republicans hope to exploit.
Confronted with his erroneous statements about his trips to China years ago, Walz defended himself by saying, “I haven’t been perfect.” In fact, he said, “Sometimes I’m an idiot.” Finally, he acknowledged that he had misspoken about his story.
The tone of the debate, for the most part, was polite and there were no interruptions between the two, in contrast to the much more disorderly debate between Trump and Harris.
