 "Abortion, immigration and evasion… The biggest takeaways from the Vance-Walz VP debate")
It’s what many are calling the Coach vs Couch debate. US vice presidential candidates — JD Vance and Tim Walz — have squared off against one another in what could be the last debate of the 2024 campaign between the Republican and Democratic tickets.
This faceoff hosted by CBS News comes just 35 days before the election with Kamala Harris and Donald Trump locked in a razor-close race.
Many believe that this debate, unlike previous vice presidential debates, holds more significance . As Matthew Levendusky, a political science professor at the University of Pennsylvania, told USAToday, “Traditionally, VP debates aren’t very important, but there’s more at stake in this one, I would argue. Because Harris entered the race so late, and there was only one presidential debate, people will be more attuned to this one.”
We take a closer look at the debate and the main takeaways from it.
Dodge, dodge, dodge
Perhaps, the biggest takeaway from the vice-presidential debate is how both candidates — Walz and Vance — tried to dodge certain topics or questions.
For instance, the debate began on the contentious issue of the ongoing conflict in the West Asia region and what was their stance on the matter. Notably, neither candidate was eager to answer.
Tim Walz, Kamala Harris’ running mate, dodged the question, turning it into a criticism of Trump’s four years in office. “What’s fundamental here is that steady leadership is going to matter,” Walz said. “It’s clear, and the world saw it on that debate stage a few weeks ago, a nearly 80-year-old Donald Trump talking about crowd sizes is not what we need in this moment.”
Vance seized this opportunity, criticising Walz for evading the question, but also did the same. He, however, later said that a second Trump administration would support Israel’s decision on the matter.
On the topic of immigration, Vance once again chose to use the dodge technique when asked about Trump’s plan to carry out the largest mass deportations. He deflected the question, saying, “We already have massive child separations thanks to Kamala Harris’ open border.”
Walz also chose to be cagey when asked to clarify whether he was in Hong Kong during the deadly Tiananmen Square protests in the spring 1989. The question comes after Minnesota Public Radio reported that he had lied about the date of his visit. He tried to dodge the question, but the moderators refused to let him off the topic.
He finally then responded by saying, “All I said on this was as I got there that summer and misspoke on this, so I will just that’s what I’ve said. So I was in Hong Kong and China during the democracy protests.”
Vance also appeared to be hesitant to speak about accepting this year’s election results. When asked if he and his running mate, Donald Trump, would challenge the results of the polls, Vance defended Trump’s actions on January 6, 2021, saying, “Remember, [Trump] said that on January the 6th, the protesters ought to protest peacefully, and on January the 20th, what happened? Joe Biden became the president. Donald Trump left the White House.”
Immigration and Springfield pet-eating claims
It was bound to come up and it did. The moderators of the debate did raise the issue of Vance and Trump’s claims on Haitian immigrants eating pets in Springfield, Ohio.
Walz speaking on it, said, “There’s consequences for this,” with Vance hitting back and saying, “The people I care most about in Springfield are the American citizens.”
Vance added that because of an influx of migrants in the Ohio city and others like it, “you’ve got schools that are overwhelmed, you’ve got hospitals that are overwhelmed, you’ve got housing that is totally unaffordable.”
However, it’s important to note that the Haitian migrants that Vance is referring to in Springfield have entered the US legally.
At one point during this issue, the matter became so heated that the moderators stepped in and even cut off their mics, which was not to happen during the debate.
Abortion rights
A significant part of the vice-presidential debate was dedicated to abortion rights in the United States and where each of the candidates stood on the matter.
When Walz was asked whether he supports abortion in the ninth month in Minnesota, Walz said, “That’s not what the bill says,” referring to a law he signed last year. He then added that Trump, who appointed Supreme Court justices who helped overturn Roe v Wade, “put this all into motion” and then pivoted to a series of examples of women and girls being affected by abortion access limitations or sexual violence.
However, he falsely claimed that the Trump Campaign and Project 2025 would create a “registry of pregnancies.”
When Vance was asked if the Trump campaign wants to create a “federal pregnancy monitoring agency,” referencing another past claim by Walz, the Republican responded, “Certainly we won’t.” The Ohio senator also defended the repeal of federal abortion protections, pointing to a 2023 ballot initiative in his state that enshrined abortion rights in the state constitution. Vance argued that the Republican Party needs to do a better job of advancing “pro-family” policies, including access to fertility treatments and making housing more affordable.
Many poll pundits believe that on the topic of abortion and women’s reproductive rights, Walz emerged stronger as he shared examples of women and girls being affected by abortion access limitations or sexual violence.
It wasn’t about Vance and Walz, at all
While JD Vance and Tim Walz were on stage debating on topics ranging as diverse as the economy to climate change, many noted that this debate was hardly about them and more about their running mates. Both of them used questions to attack the rival.
An AFP analysis even reveals that Trump’s name came up more than 80 times — twice as many as Harris during the debate between the two vice-presidential candidates.
On almost every topic, they attacked the opponent. For instance, Walz used his first question on the Iran strikes at Israel to hit back at Trump. He said, “A nearly 80-year-old Donald Trump talking about crowd sizes is not what we need in this moment.” He went on to assail “Donald Trump’s fickle leadership” around the world.
Vance replied, “Who has been the vice president for the last three-and-a-half years? And the answer is your running mate, not mine. Donald Trump consistently made the world more secure.”
On the topic of climate change, Walz hit Trump again: “Donald Trump called it a hoax, and then joked that these things would make more beachfront property to be able to invest in.”
It was… nice
While the debate between Donald Trump and Kamala Harris on September 10 was fiery and hostile, the vice-presidential debate could be defined as nice.
The two candidates, as per many poll pundits, were agreeable on several issues and wished to convey the ‘genial men’ image. In fact, at the start of the debate, JD Vance thanked Tim Walz. And Walz actually said he agreed with Vance on some trade issues.
They even shook hands at the start and the end of the debate.
With inputs from agencies
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