With just over a month until the 2024 presidential election, the first (and only) race between Democratic Governor Tim Walz of Minnesota and Republican Senator J.D. Vance of Ohio has a lot at stake in the first vice presidential debate. No, the face-off between the two vice presidential candidates will never have as big an impact on politics as the one between Kamala and Trump, but there were still some key takeaways from Tuesday’s meeting. Below, learn the five biggest takeaways from the Walz vs. Vance debate.
mute button is in use
While Walz’s confrontation with Vance was much more stilted than the debate between Harris and Trump last month, it saw two women — in this case, CBS hosts Norah O’Donnell and Ma Gerrit Brennan — still satisfied when both hit the mute button.
Both Vance and Walz have been held accountable for past mistakes
While Walz faced some fresh backlash for claiming he was in Hong Kong during the 1989 Tiananmen Square protests, Vance was asked about comparing Trump to an “American Hitler.” Later, Walz asked Vance directly if Trump would lose the 2020 election, and the senator could only respond with “no answer.”
Walz (wisely) cited the state’s post-Roe record on restoring abortion rights
“There’s a reason we’re No. 1 in health care. We trust women; we trust doctors,” Walz said of Minnesota, citing stories from abortion rights activists like Hadley Duvall and giving examples of cases in which they were denied basic reproductive health care. Walz signed a bill to enshrine abortion rights in the Minnesota Constitution in January 2023, putting his record on reproductive rights at odds with the Trump-Vance campaign’s ridiculous claims about abortion.
Once again, the focus is on the cost of child care.
Walz and Vance agree (more or less) that working families need more and better child care solutions. Though their plans aren’t identical, it’s great to hear about America’s child care crisis — an issue that disproportionately affects women — on a national stage.
The humility of it all is almost frightening
It can be easy to forget that a debate can take place without one candidate calling the other “retarded,” but Vance’s artful take on Trump’s agenda is still…that same agenda.
