Midwestern nice debate: Vance and Walz find surprising common ground
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The lone vice presidential debate between Sen. JD Vance (R-Ohio) and Gov. Tim Walz (D-Minn.) was substantive and unusually civil, with the candidates exchanging policy proposals on immigration, abortion and gun violence but not personal attacks.
The big picture: VP debates rarely change the trajectory of an election — but this one did appear to temper the tone, however fleetingly.
- Vance stepped out of his role as former President Trump's campaign trail attack dog. He laid out a new, more nuanced approach to "mass deportations" under a Trump-Vance administration and seemed to concede that abortion bans — which he has supported — can be harmful to some women.
- Walz, for his part, nodded along with several of Vance's answers. At one point Vance laid out a very different approach to paid family leave than the one Walz had just espoused, and the Minnesota governor said he actually agreed with many of Vance's ideas and thought they could be incorporated into Harris' plans.
That's not to say there weren't points of conflict.
- Vance repeatedly accused Vice President Harris of helping to create crises at the border and in the economy, prompting Walz to defend his running mate.
- Walz, meanwhile, denounced Vance's refusal to condemn the Jan. 6 insurrection and unwillingness to commit to recognizing the results if Trump loses this time around.
The bottom line: Toward the end of the debate, the candidates agreed they would shake hands after the election and offer the other their support, no matter who won.
- Given the tenor of this election cycle — and the last eight years — that moment was perhaps as significant as anything else either candidate said.
Editor's note: This story was previously a live blog and has been updated with rolling developments.
Trump, who is not known to admit defeat, said on Truth Social that Vance "crushed it" and called Walz a "Low IQ Disaster."
The Harris-Walz campaign in a post-debate statement said Walz would "serve and uphold the Constitution of the United States," in an apparent nod to one of Vance's weaker moments during the debate on Trump's role in Jan. 6.
- The campaign cast Vance as "on the stage for one reason," claiming he'd "put Donald Trump ahead of the Constitution and the rule of law."
Some longtime Walz observers and allies in Minnesota had worried that the governor's tendency to get defensive and terse when under attack could get the best of him on the debate stage, Axios' Torey Van Oot reports.
- While he showed some nerves at the start and made several verbal slip-ups, he largely kept his cool with a measured tone, reflecting the overall conciliatory tone of Tuesday's debate.
