Ohio Senator J.D. Vance and Minnesota Governor Tim Walz just debated on October 1. Vance is Trump’s vice president pick, and Walz is Harris’ pick.
This debate started at 7:00 p.m. MST and ended around 8:40 p.m. MST (a total runtime of one hour and 40 minutes).
The debate focused mostly on domestic policy, aside from touching on the conflict involving Israel and Palestine at the very beginning of the debate.
Topics such as the economy, abortion, climate change, and immigration were points of focus; very similar to the presidential debate. Each candidate, of course, had similar views on these topics as their respective running mate.
Vance’s main points involved abortion being a decision left to the states, strengthening the economy (it is a main point for the Trump ticket to dig at the flaws with Biden’s economy), and that immigration is a huge issue in America. The Trump campaign finds that deporting illegal immigrants is the solution.
Walz’s main points included leaving abortion up to the individual, making the asylum process faster for immigrants (while simultaneously making sure nothing harmful, such as drugs, is getting into the country), and that a second Trump presidency would be disastrous; an overall message of the Harris campaign. It is also a main point for the Harris campaign to build up the middle class of America.
Compared to presidential debates in recent years, this debate was far more civil. Both candidates respected each others’ speaking time and stayed within the time restrictions given to them (for the most part).
There was one occasion, during the immigration segment of the debate, where Vance spoke over the moderators. One moderator, Margaret Brennan, clarified for the audience that Springfield, Ohio does have Haitian migrants, but that they do have legal status. This clarification comes from claims made by J.D. Vance and Donald Trump of there being dangerous illegal immigrants in Springfield. Following Brennan’s clarification, Vance said,
“The rules were that you guys weren’t going to fact-check. And since you’re fact-checking me, I think it’s important to say what’s going on.”
He continued to push past the moderator’s attempts to move on to the next topic and explained some of the legal immigration process. This all concluded with both candidates’ microphones being muted.
This debate let the American people see a little bit more of who the vice president nominees are and what they believe in, but it didn’t lend much new information in general about the Harris and Trump campaigns.
The election takes place on November 5, so it is just around the corner. As it still is a tight race (note: polls can inaccurately predict which candidate would win a state and/or the overall election), each party must continue to show the American people what they stand for in order to win the election.
The full debate is linked here: Vance versus Walz debate.
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