Insights from the vice president debate between Vance and Walz

WASHINGTON (AP) — Vice presidential contender Tim Waltz And JD Vance focused their criticism on the top issue of the campaign on Tuesday as they engaged in a political discussion that could potentially be the final debate of the 2024 presidential campaign.

It was the first meeting between Minnesota's Democratic governor and Ohio's Republican senator since last month debate between Vice President Kamala Harris and former President Donald Trump. It takes place just five weeks before Election Day and millions of voters can now cast their ballots early.

Tuesday's confrontation petered out as the contest's stakes rose again afterward Iran fired missiles in Israel, during a devastating hurricane and potentially debilitating Port strike shocked the country at home. Walz and Vance repeatedly explained the political and character differences between their fellow campaigners as they tried to introduce themselves to the country.

Here are some takeaways from Tuesday's debate.

As the Middle East is in turmoil, Walz promises “stable leadership” and Vance offers “peace through strength”

Iran's ballistic missile attack on Israel on Tuesday sparked a contrast between Democrats and Republicans on foreign policy: Walz promised “stable leadership” under Harris, while Vance promised a return to “peace through strength” if Trump were elected White House returns.

The different ideas about what American leadership should look like overshadowed the stark policy differences between the two parties.

The Iranian threat to the region and U.S. interests around the world opened the debate, with Walz pivoting the topic to criticism of Trump.

“The fundamental thing here is that stable leadership is what matters,” Walz said, then referred to the “almost 80-year-old Donald Trump, who speaks over crowds” and responds to global crises via tweet.

Vance, for his part, promised a return to “effective deterrence.” Trump against Iranby rejecting Walz's criticism of Trump by attacking Harris and her role in the Biden administration.

“Who has been vice president for the last three and a half years and the answer is your vice president, not mine,” he said. He explicitly stated that the Hamas attacks on Israel on October 7, 2023 occurred “during the term of Kamala Harris.”

Vance and Walz punch each other instead of attacking each other

Vance and Walz directed most of their attacks not at their rivals on stage, but at the competitors who were not in the room.

Both vice presidential candidates tried to project a friendly face as they criticized Harris and Trump, respectively.

This reflected the fact that most voters do not cast their votes based on the vice president and the historical role of a vice presidential candidate acting as an attack dog for his running mates.

Walz specifically attacked Trump for not keeping his promise Creating a physical barrier across the entire U.S.-Mexico border at the expense of the country's southern neighbor.

“Less than 2% of this wall has been built and Mexico hasn’t paid a dime,” Walz said.

During a back-and-forth over immigration, Vance underscored the focus on the top of the ticket, telling his opponent: “I think you want to solve this problem, but I don't think Kamala Harris does.”

It was a strange political debate involving risk pools, housing regulations and energy policy

In an era of world-class dissent optimized for social media, Tuesday's debate was a detour into substance. Both candidates took a reserved approach and enthusiastically delved into the details.

When Walz was in the House in 2009, he was heavily involved in crafting the Affordable Care Act and pressed Vance on the senator's claim that Trump, who tried to repeal the law, actually helped preserve it. Vance defended his claim that illegal immigration is driving up housing prices, citing a Federal Reserve study to support his claim. Walz talked about how Minneapolis tinkered with local regulations to increase housing supply. Both men spoke about the intersections between energy policy, trade and climate change.

It was a very different style than had often been seen in presidential debates in recent election cycles.

Vance remains on the defensive on abortion

Walz repeatedly pounced on Vance over abortion access and reproductive rights as the Ohio senator tried to argue that a Matrix of Abortion Laws State by State is the ideal approach for the United States. Walz responded that a “fundamental right” for a woman should not be determined “according to geography.”

“It’s a very simple thesis: These are women’s decisions,” said Walz. “We trust women. We trust doctors.”

Walz tried to personalize the topic by referencing the death of Amber Thurman, who Waited over 20 hours in the hospital for a routine medical procedure called D&C to remove tissue remaining after taking abortion pills. She developed sepsis and died.

At one point, rather than skirting the hint, Vance agreed with Walz that “Amber Thurman should still be alive.”

Vance turned the conversation to the GOP ticket's proposals, which he said would help women and children economically and thus avoid the need for abortions. But Walz countered that such policies — tax credits, expanded child care subsidies, a more equal economy — could be pursued while still allowing women to make their own decisions about abortion.

Both candidates give climate change a domestic political touch

After the devastating impact of Hurricane Helene, Vance answered a question about climate change and gave an answer about jobs and manufacturing, taking a detour from Trump's previous claims that global warming is a “hoax.”

Vance claimed this was the best way to fight Climate change was to move more production to the United States because the country has the cleanest energy economy in the world. It was clearly a domestic variant of a global crisis, especially after Trump withdrew the US from the international Paris climate accords during his time in office.

Walz also continued to focus on climate change domestically, praising the Biden administration's investments in renewable energy and record levels of oil and natural gas production. “You can imagine that we will become an energy superpower in the future,” Walz said.

It was a decidedly optimistic view of a pervasive and grim global problem.

Walz and Vance each blame the opposing presidential candidate for the immigration stalemate

The two vice presidents agreed that the number of illegal immigrants in the United States is a problem. But everyone blamed the opposing presidential candidate.

Vance joined Trump in repeatedly calling Harris a “border czar” and suggesting that as vice president she should single-handedly roll back the border immigration Restrictions that Trump imposed as president. The result, Vance said, is an uncontrolled flow of fentanyl, a strain on state and local resources and rising real estate prices across the country.

Harris was never appointed “border czar” and was never explicitly given responsibility for border security. She was tasked by Biden in March 2021 to address the “root causes” of migration from the Central American countries of Honduras, Guatemala and El Salvador and to push leaders there and in Mexico to enforce immigration laws. Harris did not have the authority to set U.S. immigration policy – only the president can sign executive orders, and Harris did not have the authority to be Biden's deputy in negotiations with Congress over immigration legislation.

Walz made the Democrats' argument that Trump is going it alone killed a bipartisan Senate deal Tighten border security and strengthen the processing system for immigrants and asylum seekers. Walz noted that Republicans only abandoned the deal after Trump said it wasn't good enough.

Both candidates relied on tried-and-true debate tactics — including not answering tough questions

When asked directly whether Trump's promise to deport millions of illegal immigrants would remove the parents of children born in the U.S., Vance never answered. Instead, the senator tried to make the most of Trump's plan to use the military to assist with deportations and attack Harris over a porous border. When asked to respond to Trump calling climate change a “hoax,” Vance also avoided answering.

The debate began with Walz being asked whether he would support a preemptive strike by Israel against Iran. Walz praised Harris' foreign policy leadership but never answered that question either.

And at the end of the debate, Vance did not respond to Walz's direct question about whether Trump actually lost the 2020 election.

Walz stumbles and lands blows on a restless night

Walz had several verbal stumbles on an evening in which he admitted he often “misspoken.” At the start of the debate, he confused Iran and Israel when it came to the Middle East.

At one point he said he had “become friends with school shooters” and he stumbled into an explanation of inaccurate comments about whether he was in Hong Kong during the 1989 Tiananmen Square massacre. ( It wasn't him.)

But the governor noticeably put Vance on the defensive on abortion, asking a pointed question toward the end of the debate about whether Trump won the 2020 election.

Vance remains on the safe side of the January 6th insurrection

The candidates tried their best to be civil to each other until, until the very end, Vance refused to back down from his statements that he would not have certified Trump's 2020 election loss.

Vance tried to redirect the topic to claims that the “far greater threat to democracy” is that Democrats are trying to censor people on social media. But Walz didn't let up.

“That concerns me,” Walz said, noting that he had just praised some of Vance’s answers. He listed the ways Trump tried to overturn his defeat in 2020, noting that the candidate still insists he won that contest. Walz then asked Vance whether Trump actually lost the election.

Vance responded by asking if Harris was censoring people.

“That’s a damn non-answer,” Walz said, pointing out that Trump’s former Vice President Mike Pence wasn’t on the debate stage because he defied Trump January 6, 2021, and led Congress's certification of the former president's loss.

“America,” Walz concluded, “I think you have a really clear decision in this election about who is going to honor this democracy and who is going to honor Donald Trump.”