Vice presidential candidates Sen. JD Vance and Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz squared off in New York City Tuesday in their first and only debate.
Both candidates were chosen with an eye towards Pennsylvania’s working-class and rural voters. Vance, the Republican, hails from a neighboring state and represents a younger generation. Walz, the Democrat, grew up on a farm and has shown an ability in the past to attract Republicans to his side.
The two Midwesterners eschewed personal attacks and brought an old-fashioned civility back to the debate stage, arguing over policy but also sometimes agreeing that the other had good points and good ideas.
Here are five things from the debate that likely will likely get traction and could move the needle in the Keystone State.
ABORTION OR ‘PRO-FAMILY’ POLICY?
There was an extended back-and-forth over abortion, which may feed into a perceived “gender gap” in support for the candidates. Women tend to support Democratic candidate Kamala Harris more than Republican candidate Donald Trump and vice versa for men. Abortion has also been a strong motivating issue for Democrats turning out to vote since the Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade.
Walz emphasized that Trump had bragged about being the author of the end of federal abortion protections and outlined the human repercussions for women in states that have banned it, outlining the personal stories of women who died or had health problems because of state-imposed bans.
He said his state returned abortion rights to its citizens.
”In Minnesota, what we did was restore Roe v. Wade,” Walz said. “We made sure that we put women in charge of their health care.”
Vance acknowledged that Americans didn’t trust his party on abortion.
He admitted one of his high school friends told him she thought it would have ruined her life if she hadn’t had an abortion because she was in an abusive relationship at the time; he expressed his “love” for her, and said, “I think that what I take from that as a Republican who proudly wants to protect innocent life in this country, who proudly wants to protect the vulnerable, is that my party, we’ve got to do so much better of a job at earning the American people’s trust back on this issue where they, frankly, just don’t trust us,” Vance said.
Then he doubled down on pro-family policies, which will likely appeal to Trump’s evangelical base.
”I want us as a Republican Party to be pro-family in the fullest sense of the word. I want to support fertility treatments,” he said.
RAVAGES OF INFLATION OR AN ‘OPPORTUNITY ECONOMY’?
Polls show Pennsylvanians prefer Trump over Harris when it comes to economic issues, though the gap has narrowed. And economic issues are top of mind for many voters.
Vance spent much of the debate hammering Harris on inflation, even though the rate has declined from its peak.
Walz talked about what he and Harris have called the “opportunity economy,” including financial help to buy homes or start small businesses,
Vance asked why Harris hasn’t already done these things.
”She’s been the vice president,” Vance said. “She had the opportunity to enact all of these great policies.”
In reality, vice presidents don’t set policy, and even if they did, there has most often been unanimous Republican opposition to Biden policies in Congress.
A FIGHT OVER ENERGY
The question was about climate change, which is blamed for the increasing strength of storms like Hurricane Helene which devastated swathes of the Southeast. Former President Donald Trump has called climate change a hoax and Vance appeared to question the overwhelming scientific consensus that carbon emissions are fueling it.
”This idea that carbon emissions drives all of climate change — let’s just say that’s true, just for the sake of argument,” Vance said.
Walz said that climate change was real and that Democrats were creating a new industry in developing clean energy while increasing production of oil and natural gas.
”We’re producing more natural gas and more oil than we’ve ever have,” he said. “We’re also producing more clean energy.”
He decried the “false choice” between growing the economy and eventually moving away from fossil fuels. “You’re creating jobs all across the country,” he said.
Vance used his closing speech to underscore the need to lower prices, including energy bills.
TWO VERSIONS OF ‘PROTECTING DEMOCRACY’
Walz challenged Vance to admit that Trump lost the 2020 election, and Vance refused. “Tim, I’m focused on the future,” he replied, and then challenged Walz to deny that Harris and tech companies were engaged in censorship for opposing the spread of misinformation.
The insurrection of Jan. 6, 2021 is a motivating factor not only for Democrats but for many traditional Republicans as well, notably traditional conservatives like former Vice President Dick Cheney, who — along with his daughter former Rep. Liz Cheney — said he plans to vote for Harris.
Walz called Vance’s dodge a “damning non-answer” and said “He lost this election and he said he didn’t — This is not a debate.” It was arguably one of Walz’s strongest moments.
For his part, Vance underscored the censorship argument that does appeal to many independent types and said he welcomed the support of Robert F. Kennedy Jr., one of the leading purveyors of falsehoods about vaccines, and former Rep. Tulsi Gabbard.
”Kamala Harris is engaged in censorship on an industrial scale,” Vance said.
Walz responded: “Censorship is book banning.”
In a state where a significant number of Republicans voted for Nikki Haley in the primary even though she had already dropped out of the race and where independent and non-affiliated voters are a growing segment of the population, the moment could get traction.
IMMIGRANTS
Vance didn’t repeat his disproven claim that Haitian immigrants were eating their neighbors’ pets, but he did falsely claim that they were in Springfield, Ohio, illegally. In fact, many Haitians are in Springfield under the temporary protected status program because of problems in their home country. He also portrayed immigrants as the cause of many of the economic and social ills he sees in the country.
Springfield came up during the discussion on immigration, where Walz said Harris tried to address the issue but congressional Republicans tanked a bipartisan bill they negotiated after Trump told them to kill it.
”This is what happens when you don’t want to solve it,” Walz said. “You demonize it.”
”We could come together if we didn’t let Donald Trump continue to make this an issue,” Walz said. “I believe Sen. Vance wants to solve this, but by standing with Donald Trump, it becomes a talking point.”
Vance said that Springfield was overrun by unauthorized immigrants, who he also blamed for a shortage of housing.
”You’ve got housing that is totally unaffordable, because we have brought in millions of illegal immigrants to compete with Americans for scarce homes,” he said.
