The vice presidential debate between Sen. J.D. Vance (R-OH) and Gov. Tim Walz (D-MN) featured far fewer fireworks than the presidential debate between former President Donald Trump and Vice President Kamala Harris.
The two running mates lobbied most of their attacks against their rival presidential candidates, opting to refrain from attacking each other harshly.
But it was Vance’s smooth performance, pivoting away from his more pugnacious attacks that won him plaudits post-debate, as experts wondered where Walz’s famous Midwestern dad energy had gone.
In an interview with the Washington Examiner, GOP strategist Ford O’Connell said, “Vance turned in one of the best VP debate performances on record.”
“Some folks may not know J.D. Vance’s name before tonight, but they do after tonight,” he continued. “When it comes to Walz, look, he was nervous, and at times, he looked like a deer in the headlights.”
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During the debate, there were no attacks from Walz about Vance’s “childless cat ladies” comments, his being “weird” or Vance undercutting the Minnesota governor’s record in the National Guard, a stark contrast from the Trump-Harris debate last month.
It was a sharp departure for Vance who has excoriated the Democratic ticket on the campaign trail, even at one point calling for Harris to “go to hell.”
One of the most controversial moments came when Vance pushed back against the moderators fact-checking him during the immigration portion of the debate.
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“The rules were that you got a fact check, and since you’re fact-checking me, I think it’s important to say what’s actually going on,” Vance protested before his mic was eventually cut off.
Even during the section about abortion, the two men disagreed on how to implement pro-family policies, but neither candidate devolved into name-calling, although Vance criticized Walz’s record on abortion.
“I read the Minnesota law that you signed into into into law, the statute that you signed into law, it says that a doctor who presides over an abortion where the baby survives, the doctor is under no obligation to provide lifesaving care to a baby who survives a botched late-term abortion,” Vance said. “That is fundamentally barbaric.”
Walz responded by claiming Vance was incorrect in his interpretation of the law and leaned on his often-used retort: “Just mind your own business on this.”
Trump, however, took to Truth Social to attack Walz labeling him “Tampon Tim” and defending his record on abortion.
“EVERYONE KNOWS I WOULD NOT SUPPORT A FEDERAL ABORTION BAN, UNDER ANY CIRCUMSTANCES, AND WOULD, IN FACT, VETO IT,” he wrote. “BECAUSE IT IS UP TO THE STATES TO DECIDE BASED ON THE WILL OF THEIR VOTERS (THE WILL OF THE PEOPLE!).”
Vance and Walz often claimed they agreed with one another during the debate before delving into their different pathways to handle immigration, the economy, and climate change. At the end of the 90 minutes, the two Midwesterners chummed around and lingered on the New York City debate stage.
“I actually think I agree with you. I think you want to solve this problem, but I don’t think Kamala Harris does,” Vance told Walz as they battled over solving the immigration crisis and the senator’s attacks on Haitian migrants in Springfield, Ohio.
“We need to have fair trading partners. That’s something that we believe in,” Walz said of Vance when they focused on manufacturing and trade wars. “I think the thing that most concerns me on this is Donald Trump was the guy who created the largest trade deficit in American history with China. So the rhetoric is good. Much of what the senator said right there I’m in agreement with him on this.”
In one moment of solidarity between the candidates, Vance expressed sympathy for Walz’s teenage son who witnessed a shooting.
“Tim, first of all, I didn’t know that your 17-year-old witnessed a shooting. I’m sorry about that, and Christ have mercy. It is, it is awful,” Vance said.
“I appreciate that,” Walz responded.
Vance, again, pointed to their similarities during the segment on gun violence in schools. “We do have to do better. And I think that Gov. Walz and I actually probably agree we have to do better on this,” Vance said.
However, the Minnesota governor lacked his usual joyful manner on the campaign trail, which helped propel him during Harris’s veepstakes vetting.
Walz first appeared nervous on the debate stage before slowly warming up in his answers and sounding more relaxed, which may point to the lack of regular media questioning the governor has faced.
He sounded his most confident when he criticized Vance for downplaying Trump’s handling of the 2020 loss.
“January 6 was not Facebook ads,” Walz said, referencing the Jan. 6 Capitol attack. “And I think a revisionist history on this — look, I don’t understand how we got to this point, but the issue was, that happened.”
When Vance refused to answer the governor asking him if Trump lost in 2020 Walz claimed it was “a damning nonanswer.”
Walz regularly held interviews with the national media before joining Harris’s ticket but has severely limited those interactions, while Vance has regularly held press conferences with journalists at his campaign rallies.
Vance’s ease and confidence in front of the TV cameras was applauded by commentators online, with Dave Wasserman of the Cook Political Report writing on X, “Dems are fortunate presidential debates tend to matter a lot more than VP debates.”
“Where is the Tim Walz who went viral going after ‘weird’ Republicans? Not showing up on that debate stage so far tonight,” wrote Susan Glasser of the New Yorker.
Former CNN reporter turned independent journalist Chris Cillizza wrote: “Vance is winning the debate. He is clearly the best debater of the 4 candidates running for president or vice president.”
GOP pollster Frank Luntz wrote on X that the majority of his 12-member focus group watching the debate said Vance won the debate.
Unlike Trump during the presidential debate earlier this month, Vance remained calm even as he and Walz vigorously disagreed or were asked about past controversial statements.
While Vance was able to easily explain his past derogatory comments on Trump as an error, Walz struggled to explain exaggerations he has made.
“When you screw up, when you misspeak, when you get something wrong, and you change your mind, you ought to be honest with the American people about it,” Vance said.
“I’ve not been perfect, and I’m a knucklehead at times,” Walz said when asked about discrepancies in his stated travels to China prior to entering office.
He later conceded that he previously “misspoke” on the subject.
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With five weeks until the election, it remains to be seen what impact the debate will have on polling and the election. But O’Connell reiterated the Trump campaign had the better night.
“Typically, vice presidential debates don’t move the needle,” O’Connell said. “But again, we are fighting for inches on the electoral map. And you never know what thing is going to put one ticket over the other. But if it’s going to be this debate, the Trump-Vance campaign had a great night.”