Analysis, key moments from the Vance-Walz VP debate (original) (raw)
Democracy Dies in Darkness
Updated
October 2, 2024 at 12:16 a.m. EDT
|Published October 1, 2024 at 2:01 p.m. EDT
Sen. J.D. Vance (R-Ohio) and Gov. Tim Walz (D) on Oct. 1 debated the current state of abortion access and reproductive rights across the country. (Video: CBS News)
A group of Washington Post reporters shared insights, analysis and fact-checked the only scheduled debate between former president Donald Trump’s running mate, Sen. JD Vance (R-Ohio), and Vice President Kamala Harris’s running mate, Gov. Tim Walz (D-Minn.).
Live coverage contributors 37
Analysis: 5 takeaways from the 2024 vice-presidential debate
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Sen. JD Vance (R-Ohio) and Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz (D) took part Tuesday night in the only scheduled vice-presidential debate of the 2024 election — and what for now looks to be the final debate, period.
It was a chance for the long-unpopular Vance to try to right the ship, while it presented Republicans with a chance to lay a glove on Walz in ways they’ve thus far failed to. And of course, the name of the game was not so much building themselves up as helping their tickets.
This is an excerpt from a full story.
The more people hear from Walz, ‘the more they like him,’ Colorado governor says
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NEW YORK — Asked whether Walz should be engaging more with the media, Colorado Gov. Jared Polis said, “The more people see and hear from Tim Walz, the more they like him.”
“The more people see and hear from Kamala Harris and Tim Walz, the better,” he said, “because people like … their message, and they fundamentally like them as good people and good human beings.”
Democratic National Committee Chair Jaime Harrison argued that Walz has been doing interviews with local media and on social media.
Texas congresswoman: Lack of interviews didn’t hurt Walz’s debate performance
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NEW YORK — Walz surrogate Rep. Jasmine Crockett (D-Tex.) argued that his lack of speaking with the media since he was named to the ticket did not hurt his debate performance. Vance, in contrast, has regularly sparred with the reporters covering his campaign — which many allies saw as good preparation for the debate.
Walz, wife visit New York pizzeria after VP debate
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Democratic vice-presidential candidate Tim Walz and his wife, Gwen Walz, visited a New York pizzeria on Tuesday night following his debate against Republican rival JD Vance.
The couple shook hands with people inside Justino’s Pizza and ordered a pepperoni pizza, according to a pool report. The Minnesota governor ignored reporters’ questions about some of the less flattering moments of the debate for him but replied when asked what he believed his strongest moment was.
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Asked about JD Vance’s respectful demeanor and why he hasn’t shown that side of him earlier in the campaign, Sen. Katie Boyd Britt (R-Ala.), a friend of Vance’s, insisted that he came across as he does in the Senate.
“He is like that,” she said. Vance refuses to say Trump lost in 2020, sparking debate’s biggest clash
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Sen. JD Vance refused to acknowledge that former president Donald Trump lost the 2020 election, setting off one of the most contentious exchanges in Tuesday night’s vice-presidential debate with Gov. Tim Walz.
This is an excerpt from a full story.
VP debate moderators clarify, press and cut the mics once, for JD Vance
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CBS News anchors Norah O’Donnell and Margaret Brennan took a diplomatic approach to moderating Tuesday night’s vice-presidential debate, cutting off the candidates’ microphones at one point but mostly facilitating a conversation between Sen. JD Vance (R-Ohio) and Gov. Tim Walz (D-Minn.) rather than regularly interjecting.
This is an excerpt from a full story.
In debate, Walz struggles to answer question on his time in Hong Kong
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It is one of the featured elements of Tim Walz’s biography: how as a teacher he often went to China, and how it informed his worldview. In his telling, it broadened his life experience. It helped educate his students, and Walz himself.
This is an excerpt from a full story.
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Donald Trump is reiterating he does not want to debate Kamala Harris again. After the vice-presidential debate Tuesday night, the Harris campaign again called on Trump to debate her Oct. 23 on CNN. Trump rejected the pressure in a social media post minutes later, saying he is “not looking to do it again, too far down the line.” JD Vance’s mic is muted during debate exchange on immigration
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The microphone of Republican vice-presidential candidate JD Vance was muted Tuesday night during a debate when he sought to dispute an effort by moderators to fact-check his claims about immigration. A moderator suggested the microphone of Vance’s Democratic rival, Tim Walz, was also cut off.
This is an excerpt from a full story.
Harris campaign: VP debate was ‘straight talker’ vs. ‘slick politician’
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Vice President Kamala Harris’s presidential campaign cast Tuesday night’s vice-presidential debate as showing a choice between a “straight talker” and a “slick politician.”
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Speaking with Fox News host Sean Hannity in the spin room, JD Vance said he could make the argument that the world is a more dangerous place because of the latest in the conflict in Israel.
“It’s an easier argument to make tonight, I hate to say it, because of the incredible tragedy unfolding in Israel, which looks increasingly like it could become a broader regional conflict,” he said. - Return to menu
Vance’s censorship claims come as Republicans run an extensive legal campaign claiming that the Biden administration has pressured tech companies to censor their viewpoint. They have not won in the courts, but misinformation researchers say they have been successful in chilling academic and government programs that addressed falsehoods online. - Return to menu
JD Vance claimed that Kamala Harris wants to use “the power of the government and Big Tech to silence people from speaking their minds.” A majority of Supreme Court justices earlier this year rejected a Republican-led effort to place limits on communications between the Biden administration and tech companies, finding that the GOP plaintiffs did not show that the companies’ decisions to remove posts were traceable to the government. - Return to menu
As a reporter covering climate change, I was surprised that the topic got so much airtime so early in the debate, since it’s usually given short shrift. JD Vance didn’t explicitly deny the science of climate change, unlike his running mate Donald Trump, who has repeatedly called it a “hoax.”
But he did voice skepticism that carbon dioxide emissions are warming the Earth, despite the overwhelming scientific consensus that this is the case. Tim Walz, for his part, touted record U.S. oil and gas production, despite Democratic climate goals that call for phasing out fossil fuels. - Return to menu
There was a lot of substantive policy discussion in this debate, something we haven’t seen pretty much this entire election cycle. And I, too, was struck by how civil they were to each other. Ultimately, both men saved their sharpest attacks for the people at the top of the ticket. I’m not sure how much this vice-presidential debate changes people’s calculus about who they’ll vote for, but if someone does change or make up their mind because of tonight, we’re dying to hear from you. - Return to menu
A few takeaways as a health reporter. First, Trump’s line about “concepts of a plan” to replace the Affordable Care Act continues to be a political gift for Democrats, with Vance forced to defend it and Walz hammering him over it tonight. Second, the 2024 version of JD Vance made claims about Trump’s health record — arguing that Trump was so successful at overseeing the ACA, he deserves a chance to pursue more health policies — that I can’t imagine 2017 JD Vance would have agreed with, given that younger Vance’s fears about millions of Americans losing coverage under Trump. - Return to menu
So wow, a lot of substantive discussion of U.S. domestic policy, but not a lot for me and Dan Lamothe to chew on. Kicked off with the Middle East, which seemed like an obvious choice, given the major escalation we’ve seen in the past several days (Israel assassinating the leader of Hezbollah; Israeli troops going into Lebanon; Iran firing nearly 200 ballistic missiles at Israel, etc.). But no real clear answers from either Walz or Vance on HOW a respective Harris or Trump administration would handle Iran, or handle this general crisis, beyond the usual talking points we’ve heard before (Trump = tough, says his campaign. Harris = steady, says her campaign.) And no Ukraine. No Afghanistan. No NATO. - Return to menu
JD Vance has drawn so many unfavorable headlines during this race — mostly as his past comments were unearthed. But tonight he was sharp, prepared and polished, proving himself to be a strong debater. It will be interesting to see whether that turns his unfavorables around a bit. Walz set the bar low for himself by telling Kamala Harris during the vetting process that he wasn’t a greater debater. He did fine tonight — though that school shooter gaffe is going to become a big MAGA talking point, as Isaac pointed out earlier. - Return to menu
To foot-stomp Dan Diamond’s earlier point: No discussion of Ukraine, an ongoing conflict that has cost hundreds of billions of dollars and killed hundreds of thousands of people. - Return to menu
Agreed, both Walz and Vance addressed each other in a respectful tone, even as they disagreed on policy issues. Their attacks were reserved much more for the top of the ticket than each other. - Return to menu
Dylan Wells and I are waiting to get into the spin room — where Vance is expected to make a stop. There’s a queue of reporters outside, probably because of enhanced security. - Return to menu
That debate was shockingly civil. Can America get more of that please? - Return to menu
I just noticed that JD Vance has been correctly pronouncing Kamala Harris’s name, which is interesting, since many Democrats see it as a sign of disrespect when Republicans mispronounce it. - Return to menu
One other really important point on the democracy front. Walz very clearly said he and Kamala Harris WILL accept the result if they lose. Neither Vance nor Trump has ever said that. “I will tell you this, that when this is over, we need to shake hands ... and the winner needs to be the winner. This has got to stop. It’s tearing our country apart,” Walz said. - Return to menu
A Democratic vice-presidential candidate name-checking Dick Cheney in a positive way? Somewhere, a time traveler from 2004 just gasped in shock. What a journey on that one. - Return to menu
Can fill in that Blank Space in your bingo board. - Return to menu
Mentions of Taylor Swift: One! - Return to menu
Mentions of Ukraine: zero
Mentions of the Mayo Clinic: two
Would not have predicted that! - Return to menu
One of the central arguments the Harris campaign has made is that the prospect of Donald Trump’s second term should frighten average Americans, because there would be “no guardrails.” Walz really hit that theme in his remarks about Jan. 6, pointing out that Vance is on stage as a replacement for Mike Pence: “Look, when Mike Pence made that decision to certify that election — that’s why Mike Pence isn’t on the stage,” Walz said. “What I’m concerned about is where is the firewall with Donald Trump? Where is the firewall?” - Return to menu
Yes. Democrats also will accurately note that one is a gaffe and one is not. - Return to menu
So it’s going to be Walz saying he was friends with school shooters vs. Vance refusing to say Trump lost four years ago. - Return to menu
If Trump’s Truth Social feed is any indication, Walz’s “friends with school shooters” gaffe is about to become a mega MAGA meme. - Return to menu
And that was a truly spectacular whitewash by Vance of how Trump tried to reverse his defeat and incited the violent attack on the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021. - Return to menu
Agree, Amy. Walz shifted the tone of much of the debate when he said, “I’m going thank Senator Vance. I think this is the conversation [voters] want to hear. But this is the one that we are miles apart on.” - Return to menu
It’s remarkable to me that the most contentious moment of the debate has centered on democracy. - Return to menu
Vance’s allegations of censorship center on things that happened when Trump was president. - Return to menu
Yasmeen, I was jarred by that answer from Vance, too.
And now Walz puts him on the spot about who won the 2020 election … and Vance very noticeably ducks. That clip is already being cut for use on social media, no doubt. - Return to menu
And Amy, Walz is the one who really pinned Vance down — forcing him to answer whether Trump lost the 2020 election. Strong Walz moment. - Return to menu
Whoa … JD Vance refuses to say that Donald Trump lost the 2020 election. - Return to menu
Walz calls out Trump and Vance’s “revisionist history” on what happened on Jan. 6. - Return to menu
This is quite the rewrite of events by Vance. He doesn’t answer the question of whether he’d certify the election, then says Trump allowed a “peaceful” transition of power on Jan. 20, 2021. Trump is still baselessly saying the 2020 election was stolen from him. - Return to menu
I also want to know about Ukraine!! - Return to menu
No questions so far on Ukraine and Russia. Saving for last? - Return to menu
Dan L., agree completely. It’s (sadly?) noteworthy, not that Vance’s deployment experience is typical, but that he hasn’t exaggerated it. - Return to menu
Vance is not incorrect here in stating that Trump’s tariff plans would raise more than enough money to pay for a national childcare plan. The problem, of course, is that those tariff plans would have drawbacks for the rest of the economy if ever implemented. And as Maeve says, it also doesn’t represent an actual plan for how to create a national childcare plan. - Return to menu
“You’ve said many things about the American family,” CBS moderator Margaret Brennan says to Vance. Vance has made a number of controversial comments about child care and women who don’t have children — most famously, his comment that the country was being run by “a bunch of childless cat ladies,” including Harris (who has stepchildren). - Return to menu
Vance is trying to explain Donald Trump’s completely indecipherable answer on what he would do to address child-care costs. - Return to menu
Still going through the transcript on health care, because so much was coming so fast. This line by Vance — “I think that Donald Trump has earned the right to put in place some better health-care policies. He’s earned it because he did it successfully the first time” — is pretty incredible. If Trump had successfully repealed the ACA, as he tried to do, Vance himselfwarned that millions of Americans would lose health coverage. Back in 2017, he called the GOP’s ACA repeal effort misguided! - Return to menu
Abigail, Vance’s service was pretty common, but I have seen no example of him exaggerating it. And it did yield a healthy discussion in the veterans community in which many said there was too much emphasis on whether someone saw combat or not. The idea being: Honorable service should be considered honorable service. - Return to menu
Listening to this exchange among others, you’d think both parties were ready to reach bipartisan agreements on paid family medical leave, child care, housing and other issues. Of course, these things are all easier to support in the abstract, on a debate stage, when difficult trade-offs are not involved; the GOP, for instance, has uniformly opposed raising new taxes to pay for national paid family medical leave. - Return to menu
That’s an interesting point, Dan. Vance’s team definitely signaled that he would go after Walz’s military record ahead of the debate. Neither vice-presidential candidate has spent much time talking about their military records. - Return to menu
Dan, I’m betting it doesn’t come up. I wonder if Vance tries not to draw attention to the details of his own military service because he never saw combat? - Return to menu
Maybe it’ll come up in these last few minutes. But I’m struck by how the Trump campaign spent major energy attacking Walz for the way he characterized his own military service (with some real falsehoods to target), and Vance hasn’t raised the issue tonight. Strategic? - Return to menu
Walz is clearly comfortable talking about health care. When Vance tried to trap him by asking if he supported the individual mandate — the provision of the ACA that requires that everyone have health insurance — Walz didn’t hesitate. He said he did, because you need to have a broad enough risk pool, meaning a mix of healthy and sick people, to make sure everyone is covered. - Return to menu
Polling shows that Harris has a nine-point edge on Trump when voters are asked who they trust more on health-care costs and prescription drug costs — and lags behind Trump by 15 points on who voters trust more to handle the economy and inflation. That’s one reason why Walz was so eager for the debate to turn to health care. - Return to menu
Second, Vance talked about the Trump administration’s record on health care. There is truth to his comments that Trump pushed on price transparency in health care — and there’s a lot of bipartisan support for that idea. But there’s ample evidence that more price transparency hasn’t accomplished very much in a very complicated, opaque system. - Return to menu
Vance says we have laws in place right now that protect people with preexisting conditions. The law in place to protect those people is … the Affordable Care Act. - Return to menu
Vance’s account of Trump’s record on Obamacare is a howler. He spent years trying to repeal it, foiled only by Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.). - Return to menu
Walz is trying to rebut Vance claiming that Trump made the Affordable Care Act better. But he missed his chance to come out of the gates strong. - Return to menu
Vance says the government is giving away free housing to “millions” of migrants. He seems to be referring to shelters in New York, Chicago and a few other northern cities. There is no free national housing program for migrants. - Return to menu
Moderator: “One of the top problems facing Americans is the high cost of health care.”
Washington Post health reporter: [cracks knuckles] - Return to menu
Isaac, I think you should start these updates with: “MEANWHILE …” - Return to menu
Trump is hammering Walz for saying “I’ve become friends with school shooters,” presumably meaning survivors of school shootings or families of victims. - Return to menu
I have to say that was a refreshingly thorough exchange on the nation’s housing affordability crisis. - Return to menu
Dans (D and L), I think Vance — generally — is being pretty nice too. I can’t get over the fact that they actually look at each other when one is speaking, and they keep thoughtfully acknowledging each other’s points. There have even been a few nods. It’s like a conversation between two reasonable adults. It’s so civilized that it’s almost distracting. - Return to menu
Dan L., in terms of Walz being “too nice” — my in-laws are from Minnesota and were joking ahead of time about how their governor’s “Minnesota nice” would play on a national debate stage. - Return to menu
Tim Walz presumably misspeaking and saying he has “become friends with school shooters” already is growing legs on social media. - Return to menu
Excellent point, Nick, especially if the Trump administration follows through on its plan for mass deportations. - Return to menu
Not clear how Vance’s plan to build new homes is going to work without immigrant labor, given how many migrants come to the United States for jobs in construction. - Return to menu
Would love for one of our housing and econ experts here at The Post to weigh in on Vance’s claim that illegal immigration is one of the biggest drivers of high housing costs. - Return to menu
Walz said it’s not fair to blame immigrants for rising rent and housing costs. Vance said he wants to blame Harris for increasing migration, which he says has created housing shortages. - Return to menu
I am having a very hard time following Walz’s answer on housing. He seems to be saying his and Harris’s plan to provide first-time home buyers with a $25,000 subsidy would pay for itself by creating a more reliable tax base. I’m not 100 percent sure, but I doubt there are many economists who agree with this. - Return to menu
Very good question from the moderator about Harris’s housing policy: “The Harris campaign promises a 25,000downpayment,assistanceforfirst−timehomebuyersanda25,000 down payment, assistance for first- time home buyers and a 25,000downpayment,assistanceforfirst−timehomebuyersanda10,000 tax credit. They also promise to build 3 million new homes. Where are you building these homes? And won’t handing out that kind of money just drive up prices higher?” Walz said no, pushing back on the idea that it’s a hand-out. - Return to menu
Fred Wellman, an Army veteran who is vocally anti-Trump, just posted this on X about tonight’s debate: “I love Tim Walz and he’s being very nice to Vance. He needs to stop that.”
Curious what you all think: Is Walz pressing Vance hard enough? - Return to menu
In this section on gun violence and gun control, Walz recounted how his 17-year-old son witnessed a shooting at a community center. Before launching into his response, Vance acknowledged what Walz said: “First of all, I didn’t know that your 17-year-old witnessed the shooting. And I’m sorry about that. … Christ have mercy. It is awful.” - Return to menu
Maeve, I had “Affordable Care Act” or “Obamacare” on my personal bingo cards — so I’m a little surprised that we’ve made it an hour without the health law mentioned. Then again, the ACA didn’t really come up until about 90 minutes into the presidential debate, so… - Return to menu
Walz misspoke there, saying the reason he’s changed his position on an assault weapons ban -- he now supports it -- is because “I sat in that office with those Sandy Hook parents. I’ve become friends with school shooters. I’ve seen it.” - Return to menu
Need to fact-check something Walz said previously: that Trump only built “2 percent” of the border wall. Trump completed more than 450 miles of new border barrier, at a cost of more than $11 billion, and completed about two-thirds of what his administration set out to build. - Return to menu
Pheasant hunting was definitely on my bingo card tonight. Walz was the first to talk about it. - Return to menu
Mexico has extremely restrictive gun laws. But the cartels are moving drugs and people north, and bringing guns and cash south. - Return to menu
Vance says there’s been an increase in illegal guns trafficked by Mexican cartels. But the cartels are taking them TO MEXICO. They buy them from U.S. gun stores, where laws are far more lax. - Return to menu
Walz mentioned Hadley Duvall, a young rape victim and her “horrific” experience in Kentucky, as an example of why abortion access is important. Caroline wrote a striking profile of Hadley Duvall — and her efforts to try to help Democrats win election. - Return to menu
Trump is up in all caps on Truth Social saying he would veto a federal abortion ban and reiterating his support for exceptions for rape, incest and health. He also repeated false claims about late-term abortions and post-birth executions, which are not legal anywhere. - Return to menu
Vance has been pugnacious on the campaign trail and used his share of falsehoods. Tonight, speaking to a broader audience, he’s taking a different tack that better mirrors recollections from those who served with him in the Marine Corps. In interviews, they told Post colleague Alex Horton and me that they knew he was conservative, but found him affable even when they disagreed. Some expressed confusion about him taking on a darker tone as a politician. - Return to menu
I had to go back and read that reference to the unnamed friend again in the transcript Ashley, because it felt like Vance threw it out there and then didn’t finish the thread of what he learned from her experience. Here’s what he said: “I grew up in a working-class family in a neighborhood where I knew a lot of young women who had unplanned pregnancies and decided to terminate those pregnancies because they feel like they didn’t have any other options. And, you know … one of them is actually very dear to me. And I know she’s watching tonight, and I love you. And she told me something a couple years ago that she felt like if she hadn’t had that abortion, that it would have destroyed her life because she was in an abusive relationship.” But then he said vague things about wanting to protect innocent life in this country and at the same time wanted to protect the vulnerable. So I wasn’t really sure I followed where he was going with that. - Return to menu
Caroline, I was thinking, he’s sounding a lot more “Hillbilly Elegy” with some of these answers than Trump’s running mate. - Return to menu
It’s definitely a different tone he’s striking. I think it could potentially be effective among moderate Republican women who care about abortion rights. We’ll see. - Return to menu
One more Vance abortion point: Last year he urged the Justice Department to enforce the Comstock Act, the 151-year-old federal law that bans the mailing of abortion-related materials. Reproductive health experts have worried that a Trump administration would invoke that law to try to crack down on abortion nationwide. - Return to menu
It’s interesting that he said that, Caroline, because in his early answer in this exchange, he seemed to imply that he totally supported the decision of his unnamed friend, who got an abortion because she was in an abusive relationship, to terminate her pregnancy. Both cannot be true. - Return to menu
Harris and Walz have both spoken a few times about the story of Amber Thurman, a 28-year-old mother who died after she couldn’t access legal abortion care in her home state of Georgia. Thurman’s family joined Harris and Oprah during an event in Michigan last month. Pro Publica first reported on Thurman. - Return to menu
Vance says he never supported a national “ban” on abortion. Fact check: He backed a 15-week ban on abortion. And in 2022 Vance said: “I certainly would like abortion to be illegal nationally.” - Return to menu
I’m interested, Caroline, in whether you think this approach that Vance is taking — saying that he’s learning and that Republicans need to earn Americans’ trust on the abortion issue — is effective or not? - Return to menu
Peter’s story about Vance’s private criticisms of Trump also points to a reality about the VP candidate: He’s a millennial who likes to text and use social media; he’s spent years privately arguing policy and politics; and some of the people he swapped messages with have since gone public. Our colleague Isaac Stanley-Becker recently wrote about Vance’s texts to a far-right figure and what they revealed. - Return to menu
Worth noting that Vance in 2022 said he wanted abortion to be illegal nationwide. - Return to menu
Like Harris, when asked, Walz did not directly address the issue of abortions that occur later in pregnancy. - Return to menu
Walz, like Harris, seems most comfortable so far during the abortion section of this debate, and attacks Vance for his opposition to a congressional bill that would protected IVF. Like he has many times since he became Harris’s running mate, he spoke about how fertility treatments enabled him and his wife to have their children. - Return to menu
Walz is taking a similar approach to Harris on the abortion questions, telling specific stories about women impacted by the fall of Dobbs. Naming them: Amanda and Hadley. - Return to menu
Vance waxing nostalgic for the “secure southern border” of the Trump administration, but crossings soared during his term. Record numbers of families and children arrived in 2019 and Trump’s team stumbled through several botched policy responses, most notably the failed attempt to deter migrants by taking their children away. - Return to menu
It was probably pretty brutal for Vance to listen to that question from the moderators detailing all his past criticism of Trump — including as recently as 2020 — while knowing that the former president is watching this in real time. His most important audience tonight is probably Trump, as my colleagues Meryl Kornfield, Marianne LeVine and Tyler Pager wrote here. - Return to menu
The moderators are pressing Walz on abortions that occur later in pregnancy. Harris avoided a similar question from Trump during the last debate. - Return to menu
A nice shout-out from the debate moderators for our colleague Peter Jamison’s story this weekend about texts JD Vance sent in 2020 saying Trump, as president, “thoroughly failed to deliver.” - Return to menu
Ashley, Walz also ducked the question there about his past comments about his travel to China. He used a similar tactic when asked in his interview with CNN about his exaggerations about his military service. Glad the moderator pinned him down with a follow-up question, leading to him admitting he misspoke. - Return to menu
That was a really strong answer from Vance connecting with average Americans who are still struggling with the sting of inflation where he touched on the economic difficulties his family faced when he was a child: “I was raised by a woman who would sometimes go into medical debt so that she could put food on the table in our household. I know what it’s like to not be able to afford the things that you need to afford. We can do so much better.” - Return to menu
We’re going to need crosstab polls on the knucklehead demographic. - Return to menu
“And I’m a knucklehead at times” — most memorable line of the debate so far? I’ll vote for it. - Return to menu
A lot of the economists on both sides of the aisle I talk to are pretty bummed about this election, and that exchange really illustrated why. There seemed to be a consensus between both candidates that elite policymakers had failed the American middle class by promoting outsourcing and global trade deals — decisions many economists still defend. - Return to menu
What’s kind of stunning, in this situation, is that you have two very articulate people debating each other on the stage. It gives old-timey, not-this-campaign vibes. - Return to menu
This debate over experts — and whether or not to trust them — is fascinating. Walz is arguing for trusting the experts, whereas Vance — reflecting a growing distrust of experts and institutions across the nation, and especially in the Republican Party — is arguing against trusting the experts. - Return to menu
Mounting a defense of expertise, Walz said “if you need heart surgery, listen to the people at the Mayo Clinic in Rochester, Minnesota, not Donald Trump.”
This feels like a good moment to share my story about Walz’s complicated relationship with the Mayo Clinic — he was critical of the sprawling hospital system when he was a congressman representing the district where Mayo was headquartered, but as Minnesota governor, he bowed to their pressure last year in a way that upset some of his allies in the legislature and advocates. - Return to menu
It’s interesting to see Vance really crystallize something that was mostly vibes-based under Trump — the rejection of the bipartisan economic establishment, which many on both the left and right blame for outsourcing American manufacturing to China and elsewhere. Biden has shared this critique, but it’s striking to hear it articulated by a Republican politician in a more coherent and fleshed-out way than we typically hear from Trump. - Return to menu
These moments where Walz is going after Trump are clearly more fluid for him, way more in his comfort zone, and you can see him hitting his stride in real time. - Return to menu
Vance spent time bashing economists who have criticized Trump’s tariff proposals, pointing to a robust record of economic growth under his first administration. Trump, however, is calling for more than a 10-fold expansion of tariffs compared to his first term — trillions more in import duties than under his first term. So it’s a bit of apples and oranges. - Return to menu
Yasmeen, to your point about their (shocking?) civility, Vance has now used “admirably” to describe Walz’s choice to make some point, multiple times. - Return to menu
Walz is correct in saying that the federal debt rose by $8 trillion under Trump. (Though he may have said “deficit,” instead of debt — I’m not sure I heard correctly.) He incorrectly attributed this to the Trump tax cuts. The debt increase under Trump was more due to emergency coronavirus spending. - Return to menu
Last time the Wharton School, the business school of the University of Pennsylvania, was mentioned in a debate, Trump became a little erratic, taking umbrage that his alma mater was used to deploy a fact he didn’t like. Suffice it to say, neither Vance nor Walz had a similarly personal reaction to the business school mention tonight. (Also: Go Quakers!) - Return to menu
Walz trying to steer questions about the economy (which polls show is a topic that favors the GOP) to specific issues like health care costs and Democrats’ efforts to lower the price of medicines (which polls show is a topic that favors the Democrats). - Return to menu
Walz’s answer on taxes and the deficit was his most fluid so far. - Return to menu
Asked how he’d pay for trillions of dollars in new spending plans, Tim Walz said he and Harris “do believe in the middle class.” At least so far, he’s not answering the questions. Harris has said she supports Biden’s tax plan, which raises $5 trillion in taxes on the rich and corporations over 10 years. - Return to menu
Ashley, Vance and Walz have been — dare I say — strangely courteous to each other at a couple points throughout this debate so far. It’s an interesting tactic to try to offer backhanded compliments to the person they’re debating, and an acknowledgment that this race is ultimately about Trump and Harris. - Return to menu
Vance interrupting to come back to the “CBP One” app, which allows migrants to make an appointment to seek asylum at a U.S. port of entry - Return to menu
They just muted Vance’s mic as he continued to talk over the moderators. - Return to menu
The moderators were denied their attempts to turn the debate to the economy, disappointing me personally. - Return to menu
As usual, Vance called Kamala Harris the “border czar.” She was never given that job. She was tasked by Biden with working with three Central American countries to improve living conditions and lower odds that migrants would leave. You can read more about what Harris did and did not accomplish in this piece by our colleagues Toluse Olorunnipa and Maria Sacchetti. - Return to menu
Vance is going out of his way to pick a fight with the moderators so he can talk more about Springfield. - Return to menu
A 2023 analysis by the nonpartisan Migration Policy Institute found Haitians are more likely to become naturalized U.S. citizens than other immigrant groups. - Return to menu
This is by far a more substantive policy discussion on immigration than we saw from the “pet eating” debate last time. - Return to menu
On immigration, both Vance and Walz seem to be in agreement on one thing: They both claim that they genuinely believe the other wants to solve the problem — but it’s their running-mate who won’t let them compromise and work across the aisle. - Return to menu
Many Haitians living and working in places like Springfield, Ohio, are in the United States legally. Some have Temporary Protected Status, a form of provisional residency. Others have been granted temporary “parole” to live and work in the United States. Plenty of others are permanent residents and citizens. - Return to menu
And where he’s asked whether he believes that Congress controls the purse strings. Kind of put him on the spot about the fact that he and other Republicans sank a fairly conservative bipartisan border bill, while arguing that the president could solve the border through executive action. - Return to menu
Walz talked about the recent decline in opioid deaths in America, acknowledging “there’s more work to do.” That’s true — on both counts. Opioid overdose deaths are at their lowest levels in three years, but it’s still a major public health crisis, with about 200 people dying per day. - Return to menu
Vance says fixing the border is about “empowering” U.S. border agents. The bipartisan bill Trump opposed would have hired 1,500 more agents. - Return to menu
Interesting moment where Tim Walz suggests JD Vance would be a more willing partner in bipartisan solutions if he weren’t tethered to Donald Trump. - Return to menu
Isaac, it’s interesting to see where Trump and Vance don’t appear to be fully aligned. Vance dodging the question on whether he’d support bringing back family separation, and Trump in the last debate dismissing Vance’s statement that Trump would veto a national abortion ban. - Return to menu
While talking about climate change, Walz accused Trump of asking oil executives for campaign contributions while promising to reverse regulations they don’t like. Walz’s source for that charge was the reporting from our colleagues Josh Dawsey and Maxine Joselow. You can read more about what Trump promised if those oil executives raised $1 billion for him in our exclusive report here. - Return to menu
Walz says shifting American attitudes in favor of mass deportations are the result of Trump demonizing immigrants. “We could come together and solve this,” he says. - Return to menu
Illegal crossings at the U.S.-Mexico border fell to about 54,000 people in September. That’s the lowest level in four years and lower than Trump’s final months in office. It’s a 78 percent decline from December 2023, when there were 250,000 crossings, the highest one-month total ever. - Return to menu
For the record, Trump has already repeatedly said he’s open to bringing back family separation. - Return to menu
Vance again dodges the question on bringing back family separation - Return to menu
Vance’s claim about 300,000 “lost” children is common for him, Trump and other Republicans. It’s not true. He’s referring to a report from the Department of Homeland Security watchdog saying that about that many unaccompanied minors had not been ordered to appear in court. The report said those children were at greater risk of exploitation, but it did not suggest, as Trump often claims, that they have all been trafficked or killed. - Return to menu
Walz is referring to Trump’s opposition to the bipartisan border bill that would have boosted spending on border security by $20 billion. Harris has said she’ll work to pass the bill if elected. - Return to menu
Vance characterized Trump’s plans for major deportations as a boon for U.S. workers. Economists are divided on that question, as my colleague Rachel Siegel catalogued, with many experts warning that such a major reduction in the labor market could slow the economy’s growth. - Return to menu
Mexican cartels do hire U.S. high school kids to smuggle drugs across the border — especially if they’re U.S. citizens. They’re often recruited on social media. - Return to menu
Now a question about Trump’s key promise to carry out mass deportations. Vance is blaming the Biden administration for “opening the flood gates” at the southern border.
Fentanyl smuggling at the border increased throughout Trump’s presidency. Seizures have started to level off this year. - Return to menu
I think that’s true, Yasmeen. This debate already feels much more wonky than the Trump-Harris matchup, which was more a show of a personalities. - Return to menu
Yes, to Maeve’s point, our colleagues Sabrina Rodriguez and Isaac Arnsdorf just posted a fantastic piece on Trump’s rambling, off-topic and, frankly, downright confusing remarks earlier this evening. Vance, meanwhile, is proving a far more streamlined and seamless messenger than his running-mate. - Return to menu
Vance has two audiences tonight: the American public and Donald Trump. So far, Trump has said he is pleased with Vance’s defense of his record. - Return to menu
Complicated exchange there in which J.D. Vance downplayed the amount of new solar panel production in the U.S., saying most of it was occurring in China. The latest data, though, suggest that U.S. solar panel manufacturing has increased by four-fold since passage of Democrats’ Inflation Reduction Act in 2022. - Return to menu
Trump criticized Walz for taking notes. - Return to menu
Maybe others will have a different recollection, but I don’t remember Trump and Harris talking in this level of detail — or anywhere close to it, for that matter — about policy. - Return to menu
Walz fact-checks JD Vance in real time after Vance claims solar panels are made in China. He notes that they are being made in Minnesota, his home state. - Return to menu
Vance sometimes shows himself to be a more effective messenger than his running mate. This was on display in how he spoke with empathy and the need for a robust federal response for those who were in the path of the hurricane. He also talked about his connection to those communities. - Return to menu
The Trump-Vance campaign and allies have been repeating this claim -- that no new wars, or sometimes they just say no wars at all, occurred while Trump was in office. That’s ... simply not true, at least in the sense that they’re trying to contrast it with the Biden administration. There have been no new U.S. wars started under Trump or Biden. But have there been other foreign wars, or pre-existing U.S.-involved wars? Yes. The U.S. war in Afghanistan raged throughout Trump’s administration, and into the Biden administration. (Biden withdrew all U.S. troops in 2021.) New wars started under Biden: Ukraine, Israel-Gaza. But these do not involve U.S. troops. - Return to menu
Walz just mentioned the “Harris administration” as though it’s in office now. Then he caught himself on the next reference with the “Biden-Harris administration.” - Return to menu
Since we’re talking about Hurricane Helene, I’ll note there is also a political component to the storm’s devastation, which my colleague Colby Itkowitz and I documented this week. In North Carolina, Postal Service is suspended for more than 1 million residents, and untold polling locations have been damaged or destroyed. How that affects the outcome in a critical swing state will be important to watch. - Return to menu
In terms of how Walz answered (or didn’t answer) that first question about Iran and Israel … I have to imagine that today’s breaking news about the Middle East — famously one of the most complicated places in the world — was an 11th hour complication as Walz was doing debate prep. It’s also not an issue that the Minnesota governor had to think much about in recent years, at least before joining the ticket. - Return to menu
The first use of the term “weird” comes from JD Vance, referring to science. - Return to menu
It’s also worth noting that Vance, who has hardly won over huge swaths of voters so far, has been doing a ton of interviews, and regularly taking questions from the media — which likely helped prepare him for tonight. Meanwhile, Walz — who actually has a fairly appealing Everyman schtick — has largely run a bubble-wrapped campaign, as my colleague Dylan Wells masterfully captured today. - Return to menu
As Vance makes the case that the world was safer under Trump, I’m struck by how close we came to a shooting war with Iran after the death of Qasem Soleimani. Iranian forces launched ballistic missiles not long after against U.S. forces in Iraq. It was somewhat miraculous that no one was killed. - Return to menu
Walz has used the word “fickle” at least twice to describe Donald Trump’s leadership: “Look, our allies understand that Donald Trump is fickle. He will go to whoever has the most flattery or where it makes sense to him.” - Return to menu
Walz just mentioned Iran shooting down a U.S. aircraft during the Trump administration. That happened. But he left out that it was a surveillance drone, rather than a manned aircraft. Big difference between the two. - Return to menu
Walz criticized Trump for dismissing traumatic brain injuries suffered by U.S. forces under Iranian bombardent as “headaches.” Trump did say that at the time in 2020 — and he repeated it again in a press conference earlier today. - Return to menu
“It is up to Israel, what they think they need to do to keep their country safe, and we should support our allies wherever they are when they’re fighting the bad guys” — Vance’s answer, ultimately, to the Iran question. But oh boy, this does set him up for a similar question on Ukraine, where he has supported negotiating with Russia rather than sending more aid to Ukraine. - Return to menu
Walz’s message: “Steady leadership” from Biden administration, and you’ll get steady leadership from Harris. Trump = chaos, he said. - Return to menu
I agree, Ashley. It’s worth remembering that Vance ran in a very crowded Republican primary for his Ohio Senate seat two years ago, and he seems more comfortable on a debate stage. - Return to menu
An old tactic in debates and press conferences alike! If you don’t like the question, answer the one you wish you got instead. - Return to menu
I just had to rewind for a moment because I got confused. JD Vance was asked the same question about Iran and he started talking about growing up in a working-class family. - Return to menu
Vance is also not answering the question directly, much like Walz. - Return to menu
JD Vance also drops a reference to his own service in the military in his first answer. - Return to menu
JD Vance in this first answer is a lot more fluid than Tim Walz was, at least stylistically. - Return to menu
Walz is factually accurate here, but viewers likely would have benefited from some name checks: Mattis, Esper. McMaster. He did mention John Kelly by name. - Return to menu
Here we go, starting off with the Middle East. And Walz is in the hot seat, asked whether he would support or oppose a preemptive strike on Iran. He didn’t really answer. We got a contrast: “A nearly 80-year-old Donald Trump talking about crowd sizes” vs. steady leadership by Biden. That’s what we need, he said. - Return to menu
Vance going full politician with thanking everyone for being here and not answering the question. - Return to menu
In his first answer, Tim Walz is adopting Kamala Harris’s strategy — take the question and just criticize Donald Trump. It worked for Harris — we’ll see if it works for her running mate. - Return to menu
Walz was asked what he would advise if he were the last voice in the Situation Room. Instead, he’s pivoted to attacking Donald Trump as chaotic and dangerous when “the world is this dangerous,” rather than engaging with the question of whether he’d support a preemptive strike on Iran by Israel. - Return to menu
Walz seems a little halting and nervous in this first answer. When Harris was considering him as VP, he told her team he was not good at debates. And he’s off to … an okay start. - Return to menu
Before this thing has even started, Donald Trump’s rapid response team is setting the tone for the evening blasting out an email calling Tim Walz “a radical left LUNATIC.” - Return to menu
Trump’s first post is to criticize the moderators, calling them “young ladies.” - Return to menu
The Middle East first. Hard to ignore that after today’s action in Israel. - Return to menu
I guess we’ll find out in a moment, but I’m very curious to see whether the moderators open the debate with a focus on the escalating Middle East conflict or the hurricane fallout closer to home. - Return to menu
I see a lot of Walz-Vance debate bingo cards floating around on the internet tonight. I’m just hoping that Tim Walz talks about his favorite hot dish. Here at the Post, we’re a full service operation, so if you’re in the mood for tater tots, we have the recipe for you here. - Return to menu
Trump just posted a video from his plane as he leaves Milwaukee for Houston. He called Walz “very underrated” and said he would call the debate “very straight.”
“If JD makes a mistake we’re gonna say bad,” Trump said, “and if Walz does something great, we’ll say that was pretty good.” - Return to menu
Another question for tonight: How does Vance, who famously has family roots in Appalachia, frame the federal response there to Hurricane Helene? How does Walz respond? Trump has suggested without evidence that the Biden administration isn’t doing enough because he doesn’t want to help red state voters. Meanwhile, the federal response keeps growing, and includes 6,500 National Guard members as of today. - Return to menu
Kamala Harris got back to her residence in D.C. tonight a little after 8 p.m., presumably getting there just in time to watch her running mate’s debate. Tim Walz has said he doesn’t want to let Harris down. - Return to menu
Noted in my inbox: Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) will be campaigning later this week for Kamala Harris in Nevada, with a town hall in East Las Vegas and a canvass kickoff Friday. He could be a key force with younger voters and progressives, who were out in huge numbers Sunday night when I covered Harris’s rally in Las Vegas. - Return to menu
Hi! My name is Caroline Kitchener and I cover abortion. I’ll be watching closely to see what JD Vance says when asked about a national abortion ban. He’s said previously that Donald Trump would veto that legislation … but when pressed during the last debate, Trump wouldn’t make the same commitment — and actually suggested that Vance had said that without consulting with him. - Return to menu
Ahead of this debate, the nonprofit Iraq and Afghanistan Veterans of America released questions they hope to see asked. They include: “Can you name the places where troops are deployed today under the Authorization of Military Force (AUMF) that was passed in Congress in response to 9/11?” It’s a good reminder as U.S. troops remain under fire in the Middle East. - Return to menu
Did Pence even know it was on his head? (I once used to know the answer to this, but the years, uh, fly by.) - Return to menu
Hi! Jeff Stein here on the economics desk. I’ll be watching to see whether Tim Walz has anything to say about the ongoing ports strike that could disrupt U.S. supply chains. President Joe Biden has thoroughly backed the longshoremen’s union but — unless something’s changed since I checked social media five seconds ago — the Harris campaign has said nothing about it. - Return to menu
Dan, as the person who covered Pence very closely as vice president, I seem to recall him handling that unexpected fly landing fairly well. (And hard to blame the fly; that perfect helmet of bespoke Republican hair was hard to resist). - Return to menu
To Ashley’s point of watching for everything, I’ll also be watching for unexpected visitors to the debate studio after what happened at the last VP debate. (Do the candidates have a plan … if a fly lands on their heads? I’m curious if any campaign actually game-planned that after four years ago!) - Return to menu
Hi! I’m Abby Hauslohner. I cover national security, with a focus on Congress — where, by the way, I haven’t seen JD Vance in quite some time. And I am going to be watching tonight to see how Vance and Walz invoke the rapidly escalating crisis in the Middle East. The Middle East crisis is an obviously point of vulnerability for the Biden administration, and by proxy, for Walz tonight. That’s because: things are not going well.
That said, while Vance has voiced an isolationist streak when it comes to some foreign wars — take Ukraine, for example — he says he’s a strong supporter of Israel. And many of Vance’s and Trump’s fellow Republicans are agitating right now for a more aggressive U.S. military role in support of Israel, as things ramp up with Israel’s ground invasion of Lebanon and Iran’s barrage of ballistic missiles today.
I think — and hope — both VP contenders get asked to say what they think the U.S. should be doing in the Middle East right now. - Return to menu
Hi everyone! My name is Yasmeen Abutaleb and I’m one of the White House reporters covering Kamala Harris’s campaign. I’ll be interested to see how Tim Walz presents himself tonight in a setting where he needs to be combative and quick on his feet. He has said he’s not a great debater — we’ll find out if that’s true. As for Vance, I’m eager to see how he answers questions about some of the comments he’s made about women without children and whether he offers any new explanations about his past criticisms of Donald Trump. Some new ones have come to light recently, thanks to excellent reporting by our colleagues. - Return to menu
Hey — I’m a health reporter at The Post. One thing I’m watching for tonight: how JD Vance defends his recent proposals to overhaul the health insurance markets — potentially teeing up higher costs for sicker patients. I’m also expecting someone, whether the moderators or Vance, to try to push Tim Walz on Democrats’ past support for Medicare-for-all and single payer health care. - Return to menu
I’m Ashley Parker, and I cover national politics. I don’t want to limit myself, so I’ll be watching for...EVERYTHING. - Return to menu
Thanks for following along with us tonight. I cover the Trump campaign. The former president has said he’ll be providing real-time commentary on social media tonight, so I’ll be looking out for that and bringing you facts and context. - Return to menu
I’m Maeve Reston, a national political reporter with the Post. This is a unique cycle, because of Kamala Harris’s late entrance to the race. She is still introducing herself to many voters who know little about her — while most Americans’ opinions of Donald Trump hardened a long time ago. Part of Tim Walz’s job tonight will be to assuage the concerns of voters about her readiness for the job and her politics, which Donald Trump and JD Vance have described as “dangerously liberal.” I’m interested to see how Walz portrays his running mate tonight and how he presents her credentials to be commander-in-chief at the same time that Vance tries to undercut them. - Return to menu
I’m Nick Miroff, and I cover the Department of Homeland Security, so I am looking forward to a serious, sober debate about immigration policy. Yeah, right!
Expectations are admittedly lower. Will we hear more nonsense about migrants eating pets and voting illegally en masse? Will moderators press JD Vance on his embrace of these outlandish claims from his running mate?
As for Tim Walz, we haven’t seen much of a pro-immigration message from the Harris campaign, which has been eager to endorse tougher border restrictions and close Trump’s polling advantage on the issue. Will Walz try to strike more of a balance? - Return to menu
Hello readers. Thanks for tuning in! I’m Amy Gardner and I cover voting issues for The Post’s Democracy Team. I’ll be listening tonight for comments on election administration, fraud, voting rights, misinformation and more. I’ll try to provide context and history about former president Donald Trump’s efforts to reverse the result in 2020 and what could be coming this year if he loses again. I’m also interested to hear whether JD Vance is pressed on what he would do if Trump loses and refuses to accept his defeat — and how he responds. - Return to menu
Hi all. Dan Lamothe here. I cover national security at The Post and am coming off a long day at the Pentagon as we chased news about how Iran attacked Israel today. I have written about the military service of both Gov. Tim Walz and Sen. JD Vance, and will be paying attention tonight to how they characterize those histories. Also interested in other potential national security flash points, including the ongoing wars in Ukraine and the Middle East. - Return to menu
Tim Walz is pure shtick. A lot of it is very compelling, flannel-wearing, gutter-clearing, football-coaching Everyman shtick. I’ll be curious to see how it holds up during the scrutiny of a debate, as well as while facing an attack dog opponent, rather than a friendly rally crowd.
When I recently visited a local cat cafe, to ask the cat lovers and cat owners what they made of Vance’s “childless cat lady” comments, what surprised me was that many couldn’t even bother to muster outrage; Vance was too big of a loser, they said, to merit their energy. - Return to menu
Tim Walz tends to give lengthy answers and is more plain spoken, and his allies have been lowering expectations around his performance. But Walz also has more debate experience than JD Vance, including in competitive House races where he touted his work across the aisle — and let’s not forget one of the reasons he was chosen as Harris’s running mate was due to his viral, unscripted declaration that Republicans are “weird.” - Return to menu
During the vice-presidential debate, candidates will have two minutes to answer a question when asked, and the opposing candidate will be allowed two minutes to respond. Each candidate will then have one minute for rebuttal statements, but CBS News says “moderators may at their discretion give candidates an additional minute each to continue a topic.” Candidates will have lights indicating how much time they have left to speak, as well as a countdown clock. CBS says Trump pulled out of ‘60 Minutes’ interview
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CBS announced Tuesday that Donald Trump backed out of an interview on “60 Minutes” after previously agreeing to it, a characterization that the former president’s campaign disputed.
The network said that Trump and Vice President Kamala Harris each agreed to be interviewed for a special Monday episode about the election — and that Harris’s interview was moving forward with correspondent Bill Whitaker.
This is an excerpt from a full story.
Walz’s digs at Trump and Vance show the cutting side of ‘Minnesota nice’
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Even before Vice President Kamala Harris picked Tim Walz to be her running mate, the Minnesota governor made headlines and launched countless memes when in July he delivered a simple, yet memorable critique of former president Donald Trump and Republicans, proclaiming them to be “just weird.”
Walz has continued to deploy his folksy, Midwestern-dad approach as he has stepped into the attack dog role that vice-presidential hopefuls traditionally play in the final stretch of the campaign.
This is an excerpt from a full story.
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Donald Trump just wrapped up his remarks before reporters in Milwaukee, roughly an hour before the debate is set to start. Trump did not mention tonight’s vice-presidential debate once until he was asked directly about it toward the end of his remarks. Trump’s debate advice for Vance: ‘Have fun’
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Former president Donald Trump said his running mate, Sen. JD Vance (R-Ohio), should "have fun" at the Oct. 1 vice-presidential debate in New York. (Video: The Washington Post)
Former president Donald Trump responded with two words when asked Tuesday for his debate advice for running mate JD Vance.
“Have fun,” Trump said, before going on to praise the Ohio senator’s political skills.
Trump was speaking with reporters during a campaign stop in Wisconsin, shortly before Vance was set to participate in what is expected to be the only debate with the Democratic vice-presidential nominee, Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz.
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Donald Trump continued to stir doubt Tuesday about whether he will accept the outcome of the November presidential election. Asked in Milwaukee whether he trusts the election process, the former president told reporters, “I’ll let you know in about 33 days.”
Trump, who has repeatedly denied his 2020 reelection loss, made the comment after saying in response to a previous question that he wants a “fair, honest election.” Trump again discusses appointing Elon Musk to audit federal government
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Former president Donald Trump, during an event in Milwaukee, repeated his claim that, if elected president, he’ll appoint billionaire Elon Musk to a position leading a government efficiency commission.
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Donald Trump, speaking Tuesday in Milwaukee about education, said he wants to “take it all out of Washington” and “send it all back to the states.” The former president has long promised to shut down the Education Department if he returns to the White House. It is a proposal that is also part of Project 2025, the conservative plan for a possible Trump second term from which Trump has sought to distance himself. - Return to menu
Donald Trump, during a campaign event Tuesday in Milwaukee, continued to echo false claims that the Biden administration has freed over 13,000 immigrants who are “murderers.” Trump has based the claim on a recent letter from U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement, though a spokesperson for the Department of Homeland Security, which oversees ICE, has said the numbers are “being misinterpreted.” - Return to menu
Trump attacked Gov. Jared Polis (D-Colo.) over false claims of gangs taking over Aurora, Colo.
Correction: This post previously misidentified the governor involved as Mike DeWine (R-Ohio). Trump decries storm devastation but says Democrats are no longer talking about ‘global warming’
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MILWAUKEE — Former president Donald Trump began his remarks at an event here talking about the devastation from Hurricane Helene, calling it “one of the biggest hurricanes that anyone’s ever seen.”
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During the vice-presidential debate, candidates will have two minutes to answer a question when asked, and the opposing candidate will be allowed two minutes to respond. Each candidate will then have one minute for rebuttal statements, but CBS News says “moderators may at their discretion give candidates an additional minute each to continue a topic.” Candidates will have lights indicating how much time they have left to speak, as well as a countdown clock. Analysis: How voters view Vance and Walz, in detail
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Sen. JD Vance (R-Ohio) and Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz (D) will face off Tuesday night at a CBS News vice-presidential debate in New York. Virtually every poll suggests they go into it from very different political places. Walz is modestly popular, and Vance is quite unpopular. That’s been the case for weeks.
But that’s not the full story. So here’s a deeper dive into what the fuller numbers show.
This is an excerpt from a full story.
White House correspondents group says media doesn’t have enough access for debate
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The White House Correspondents’ Association is outlining concerns about a lack of press access to Tuesday’s vice-presidential debate, saying the limitations are “part of an alarming trend.”
WHCA President Eugene Daniels, a correspondent for Politico, wrote in a statement that CBS, the host of Tuesday night’s debate, “is only allowing one print representative, one television representative and six still photographers, who won’t be permitted to move around to take photos during the event.”
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Although abortion is an issue of great importance to many voters (especially women, a critical voting group) this year, it’s not one that JD Vance brings up on the campaign trail.
When he has been asked about national abortion policy in interviews or gaggles, he closely follows Donald Trump’s latest positioning: The issue is now up to states to legislate. But he has struggled to toe the line, at one point declaring that Trump would veto a national abortion ban, which the former president later said was not something he had discussed with Vance. Analysis: 24 hours of MAGA misinformation
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We’re now in the final full month of the 2024 campaign, and that means politicians and their allies are frantically seeking votes for their side. And for one side, in particular, that means an increasing onslaught of wild claims, conspiracy theories and outright falsehoods. That side, of course, is Donald Trump’s. The president who set new benchmarks for false and misleading claims — more than 30,000 of them during his term, in fact — leads a MAGA movement that increasingly shamelessly treats misinformation as a political strategy. Democrats have their faults on this front, too, but there is simply no comparison to Trump’s approach to politics, an approach that so many influential people on his side have also gradually adopted as their own.
This is an excerpt from a full story.
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The 90-minute vice-presidential debate is being held Tuesday night at CBS Broadcast Center, a television production facility in Manhattan. The debate will be moderated by Norah O’Donnell, anchor and managing editor of “CBS Evening News,” and Margaret Brennan, moderator of CBS’s “Face the Nation.” - Return to menu
Donald Trump mixed up his pronouns while attempting to blame Kamala Harris for the murder of Rachel Morin, a 37-year-old Maryland woman. The suspect is an undocumented immigrant from El Salvador. “Kamala let her in,” Trump said. “Let her in. And she murdered him. In my opinion, Kamala murdered him.” What swing-state voters are saying about the Vance-Walz VP debate
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Take a look at what swing-state voters are saying about the vice-presidential debate between Sen. JD Vance (R-Ohio) and Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz (D). The Washington Post is once again asking uncommitted, swing-state voters in real time about their reactions to Tuesday’s debate. Here are their pre-debate impressions.
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At a campaign event in Wisconsin on Tuesday, Donald Trump claimed not one American soldier was killed in 18 months under his administration, something he has suggested in the past as well. It is not true that this happened entirely under his watch — it is likely he is referring to the last 11 months of his presidency and the first seven months of President Joe Biden’s term. - Return to menu
Like in the two presidential debates this election cycle, there will be no studio audience during Tuesday’s vice-presidential debate.
Democrat Tim Walz will stand at a lectern on stage left, and Republican JD Vance will be on stage right, with each candidate remaining behind his lectern throughout the debate. Walz will be introduced first by the debate moderators.
Microphones will be live throughout the debate, but CBS News said it reserves the right to mute them. How Walz and Vance have prepared for tonight’s debate
What to know about VP debate moderators Norah O’Donnell and Margaret Brennan
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Two of CBS News’s most accomplished anchors, Norah O’Donnell and Margaret Brennan, will moderate the CBS-hosted vice-presidential debate Tuesday night between Sen. JD Vance (R-Ohio) and Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz (D).
Rather than aggressively fact-checking the candidates, the moderators are expected to focus on facilitating a debate between them, in some cases providing opportunities for the two men to correct each other.
This is an excerpt from a full story.
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Donald Trump has said he is planning to provide live commentary during the vice-presidential debate, similar to his live commentary during Vice President Kamala Harris’s speech accepting the Democratic nomination in August.
Trump has been especially defensive about Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz’s branding of Republicans as “weird” and has insisted that it’s Walz who is the weird one. What we can learn about Vance and Walz from past debate performances
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(Video: The Washington Post)
Sen. JD Vance (R-Ohio) and Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz (D) have not been in the national spotlight nearly as long as Vice President Kamala Harris and former president Donald Trump. When they face off Tuesday night, it will be the first time millions of Americanssee them debate.
It may also be the last time Americans hear from either presidential ticket on the debate stage before Election Day. Harris has proposed another debate, but Trump has said he won’t debate her again.
This is an excerpt from a full story.
Harris to survey damage from Helene in Georgia on Wednesday
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Vice President Kamala Harris will travel to Georgia on Wednesday to survey the damage from Hurricane Helene and receive updates about recovery efforts, according to the White House. Harris will also provide updates to state and local officials about federal action being taken to support recovery efforts in Georgia and other states affected by the devastating storm.
What Vance, Walz need to do to win Tuesday’s vice-presidential debate
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The first and only vice-presidential debate is Tuesday. Republican nominee Sen. JD Vance (Ohio) and Democratic nominee Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz will face off in person, and it could be the last debate before the election.
Vice-presidential candidates can make a difference in tight races, said Joel Goldstein, a vice-presidential scholar at St. Louis University. And this campaign has remained a margin-of-error race in all seven major swing states despite many twists and turns.
This is an excerpt from a full story.
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The Harris-Walz campaign has released a list of Democratic surrogates who will appear in the “spin room” following Tuesday night’s debate: Sen. Amy Klobuchar (Minn.); Sen. Mark Kelly (Ariz.); Colorado Gov. Jared Polis; Illinois Gov. JB Pritzker; Rep. Jasmine Crockett (Tex.); Democratic National Committee Chair Jaime Harrison; and Sen. Ben Ray Luján (N.M). - Return to menu
The Democratic National Committee is promoting the vice-presidential debate in New York on Tuesday with street decals and mobile billboards.
Some decals cheer Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz (D), as he prepares to face Sen. JD Vance (R-Ohio). Other decals and the mobile billboards seek to link Vance and his running mate, former president Donald Trump, with Project 2025, the 900-page conservative policy book they have tried to distance themselves from. Tim Walz’s bubble-wrapped campaign
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Tim Walz, who became Kamala Harris’s vice-presidential pick partially on the strength of a viral, unscripted cable-news appearance in which he called Donald Trump and JD Vance “weird,” is a surprisingly bubble-wrapped campaigner.
The Minnesota governor rarely interacts directly with undecided voters within view of the press. Instead,much of his independent travel involves thanking and encouraging people who already support the Democratic ticket.
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How to watch the vice-presidential debate
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The vice-presidential debate between Republican JD Vance and Democrat Tim Walz, hosted by CBS News, is scheduled for Tuesday at 9 p.m. Eastern in New York City. Live coverage from The Washington Post will begin at 8 p.m. Libby Casey will anchor coverage alongside senior politics correspondent Rhonda Colvin and Opinions columnist James Hohmann.
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