Sen. J.D. Vance (R-OH) is gearing up for next week’s vice presidential debate in New York City, and he has a high-profile Minnesotan helping him out.
Vance is preparing with his wife, Usha Vance, and political adviser Jason Miller to debate Gov. Tim Walz (D-MN). He has a congressional colleague, Rep. Tom Emmer (R-MN), acting as a stand-in for his opponent, a source confirmed to the Washington Examiner.
Vance and Walz will face off at 9 p.m. on Oct. 1, with CBS hosting the event. It will be their only face-to-face meeting, as is customary for vice presidential candidates.
Meanwhile, Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg is standing in as Vance in the Democratic preparation sessions for Walz.
In a closely contested election, there has been a heightened amount of attention paid to each vice presidential candidate. Walz is getting a spotlight in part because Vice President Kamala Harris is relatively unknown herself, and Vance has been relentlessly attacked by Democrats for comments he made in 2021 saying the party is run by “crazy cat ladies.”
Vance has been prepping for the debate for more than a month, NBC News reported, using in-person sessions, Zoom calls, and “murder boards” of difficult questions he might be asked. The team has dug through videos of old Walz debates looking for clues to his style and techniques.
In choosing Emmer, Vance is sparring with another Minnesotan with a background in coaching youth sports, two things that the House majority whip has in common with Walz.
Walz has aides Rob Friedlander and Zayn Siddique helping with his preparation, the latter of whom also did debate preparation for Harris.
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While the election is believed to be a dead heat, Vance may have more work to do to sell himself to voters.
According to FiveThirtyEight, Walz enjoys a 40% favorability rate, with 36% finding him unfavorable. Vance, however, is underwater in surveys, with 45% finding him unfavorable and just 34% saying he is favorable.
David Sivak contributed to this report.