Vance, Walz square off in vice presidential debate with focus on the Middle East, climate change
1 of 3 | Republican vice presidential nominee JD Vance (L) and Minnesota Gov. and Democratic vice presidential nominee Tim Walz shake hands before the start of the vice presidential debate in New York on Tuesday. Photo by Sarah Yenesel/EPA-EFE
With just five weeks until Election Day, Republican Sen. JD Vance of Ohio and Democratic Gov. Tim Walz of Minnesota are squaring off in their first and only debate between the vice presidential nominees, which began with a handshake and disagreements over the Middle East, climate change and immigration.
The first question was about crises, including war in the Middle East and Iran’s missile attack Tuesday on Israel as Walz called for “steady leadership.” Advertisement
“You saw it and experienced today where you saw it with Israeli leaders and our coalition were able to stop the incoming attack. But, what’s fundamental here is that steady leadership is going to matter. 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,” said Walz, who argued Trump is “dangerous.” Advertisement
Vance responded by introducing himself and giving information on his background, before targeting the Middle East and countering Walz.
“Donald Trump actually delivered stability in the world and he did it by establishing effective deterrents. Iran, which launched this attack, has received over $100 billion in unfrozen assets, thanks to the Kamala Harris administration. They used it to buy weapons that they are now using to launch against our allies, and, God forbid, to launch against the United States, as well,” Vance said, calling for “peace through strength.”
The moderators turned to Hurricane Helene, which could become one of the deadliest storms on record, with more than 160 people dead and hundreds more missing, as the focus turned to climate change and how each administration would address it.
Vance and Walz nodded and agreed with Vance as he said their “hearts go out” to those affected by Hurricane Helene.
“I commit that when Donald Trump is president again, the government will put the citizens of this country first when they suffer from a disaster,” Vance said. “I think it’s important to say, Donald Trump and I support clean air and clean water. But, what I notice is a concern from our Democratic opponents is about carbon emissions. If that’s true, then you’d want to reshore as much American manufacturing as possible and you would want to produce as much energy as possible in the United States of America because we are the cleanest economy in the world.” Advertisement
Vance then attacked Kamala Harris’s policies of more “manufacturing overseas and more doing business in some of the dirtiest parts of the entire world.”
Walz responded by saying climate change “roared onto the scene faster and stronger than anything we’ve seen. Sen. Vance has said there is a climate problem, but Donald Trump called it a ‘hoax’ and that this thing would make ‘more beachfront property,” as Walz said the Harris administration has made “massive investments in global history in the Inflation Reduction Act.”
“We are producing more natural gas and oil at anytime than we ever have,” Walz claimed. “We’re also producing more clean energy. They solution for us is to continue to move forward.”
As the focus turned to immigration, Vance was asked about his campaign’s plan for the largest deportation in history.
“We have a historic immigration problem because Kamala Harris said she wanted to ‘undo all of Donald Trump’s border policies.’ 94 executive orders suspending deportations, decriminalizing illegal aliens,” Vance said, adding that “that has opened the flood gates and that means a lot of fentanyl is coming into the country.”
“You’ve got to stop the bleeding,” Vance added. “You’ve got to reimplement Donald Trump’s border policies, rebuild the wall, reimplement deportations.” Advertisement
With both candidates from the Midwest, the tight presidential race is focused on seven swing states that include Pennsylvania, North Carolina, Georgia, Michigan, Wisconsin, Nevada and Arizona.
According to their respective campaigns, Walz has been preparing for Tuesday night’s debate with a focus on false claims, while Vance’s preparations have targeted on handling any deflections from Walz.
The debate, which got underway at 9 p.m. EDT, is scheduled to run for 90 minutes at the CBS Broadcast Center in New York City.
“CBS Evening News” anchor Norah O’Donnell and “Face the Nation” moderator and chief foreign affairs correspondent Margaret Brennan are moderating the debate.
Walz is positioned on the left side of the stage, which is on the right on viewing screens, and Vance is on the opposite side.
The debate rules require Walz and Vance to remain behind their respective lecterns while the debate is underway with no live audience in the studio.
Because the Democratic Party is the incumbent party in the White House, O’Donnell and Brennan introduced Walz first.
Neither Walz nor Vance are making opening statements. The mics will remain open, but CBS News has the right to mute their mics if necessary.
Neither candidate received questions in advance or are privy to question topics, and campaign staffers are not allowed to communicate with either candidate during breaks. Advertisement
Neither candidate can use props or prepared notes while on the stage, but each has access to a pen, pad of paper and a water bottle while on stage.
When the moderators ask each a question, Walz and Vance each will have two minutes to answer it while the other will have two minutes to respond to the initial answer.
After the initial exchange, each also will be allowed one minute to provide rebuttals, which the moderators can extend by an additional minute as needed.
Each candidate will have lights in front of them and a countdown clock that indicate how much time remains to answer a question or provide rebuttals.
Moderators O’Donnell and Brennan are seated and are the only ones who can ask questions during the debate.
Walz and Vance each will have two minutes to make closing remarks at the end of the debate.
A coin toss determined which candidate would have the option to go first during closing remarks.
Vance won the coin toss and chose to be the last to make closing remarks.
The debate will be simulcast on C-SPAN and other news outlets.
