Gov. Tim Walz (D-MN) mentioned his home state multiple times during the vice presidential debate, while Sen. J.D. Vance (R-OH) mentioned the Buckeye State far less frequently.
During the 90-minute debate, Walz said “Minnesota” 26 times, while Vance only named the North Star State once. In comparison, Vance only name-dropped his home state of Ohio five times, while Walz mentioned Ohio twice.
Walz, who has served as governor of Minnesota since 2019, mainly mentioned his home state when touting policies he was looking to bring to the national level. He mentioned Minnesota’s solar panel manufacturing and again when discussing housing policy. The governor also mentioned his home state when contrasting former President Donald Trump with experts.
“Look, if you’re going to be president, you don’t have all the answers. Donald Trump believes he does. My pro tip of the day is this: If you need heart surgery, listen to the people at the Mayo Clinic in Rochester, Minnesota, not Donald Trump,” Walz said.
He also touted Minnesota’s abortion law, which Vance contended allowed for late-term and post-birth abortions. Walz said the law restores Roe v. Wade, while Vance pointed to how the law edited a state statute to remove provisions ensuring healthcare for babies born during botched abortions. Vance’s only mention of Minnesota came during this discussion.
Walz also bragged that his home state was “ranked first in healthcare for a reason,” saying they “trust” women and doctors. The ranking was likely in reference to WalletHub’s 2024 ranking of Minnesota as the best state for healthcare, which he has touted before.
He also pushed Minnesota gun and paid family leave laws as blueprints for solutions the governor and Vice President Kamala Harris could bring to the White House.
Most of Walz’s executive experience in government comes from being governor of Minnesota. While Vance was able to translate his years of government service into a national conversation, Walz’s repeated reliance on Minnesota policies proved less successful.
Ohio’s main mentions during the debate came when discussing unfounded claims about migrants in Springfield, Ohio, which Vance, in part, helped elevate.
“Look, in Springfield, Ohio, and in communities all across this country, you’ve got schools that are overwhelmed. You’ve got hospitals that are overwhelmed. You have got housing that is totally unaffordable because we brought in millions of illegal immigrants to compete with Americans for scarce homes,” Vance said.
“The people that I’m most worried about in Springfield, Ohio, are the American citizens who have had their lives destroyed by Kamala Harris’s open border,” he added.
When asked about abortion, Vance invoked his home state to say the 2023 ballot measure enshrining abortion into law in the Buckeye State was a wake-up call that the GOP needs to win back trust on the topic.
“One of the things that changed is in the state of Ohio, we had a referendum in 2023, and the people of Ohio voted overwhelmingly, by the way, against my position. And I think that what I learned from that, Norah, is that we’ve got to do a better job at winning back people’s trust,” Vance said during the debate.
Walz’s two mentions of Ohio came early in the debate, and both were touting the Biden-Harris administration’s accomplishments in Vance’s home state. The first mention was in reference to electric vehicle manufacturing jobs in Jeffersonville, Ohio, which Walz credits to the Inflation Reduction Act, while the second mention came when touting a 30% decrease in opioid deaths in the Buckeye State under the Biden-Harris administration.
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Neither Minnesota nor Ohio is considered a battleground state in the November election, with the Cook Political Report rating Minnesota as “likely Democratic” and Ohio as “solid Republican.”
The debate between Vance and Walz appears likely to be the final presidential or vice presidential debate of the 2024 election cycle.