Self-reflecting and nice: VP hopefuls try to move dial stuck on division

Washington: In boxing, the undercard bout is designed to give the crowd a chance to see lesser-known fighters, but it generally has little bearing on the main match.

But in a US presidential election like this one – set against the backdrop of two assassination attempts, an ageing Republican candidate facing a potential jail sentence, and polls showing a neck-and-neck race – the undercard debate between vice presidential hopefuls Tim Walz and J.D. Vance was as high-stakes as they come.

Civil: The Republican vice presidential nominee J.D. Vance with his Democratic rival, Tim Walz, after their debate hosted by CBS News.Credit: AP

Over 90 minutes, the pair sparred on everything from immigration and the economy to abortion and the Middle East, in a contest that was policy heavy but far more civil than last month’s verbal stoush between presidential hopefuls Donald Trump and Kamala Harris.

And unlike that debate – in which Harris baited Trump over his crowd sizes, resulting in the former president constantly looking like an angry old man yelling at clouds – there were no real knock-out blows.

In fact, the candidates were so polite and agreeable that it felt at times like a mutual appreciation club.

“I’ve enjoyed tonight’s debate, and I think there was a lot of commonality here,” Democrat Walz said while answering a question about the threat to democracy under Trump.

Soon after, Republican Vance replied: “I hope that we win, and I think we’re going to win, but if Tim Walz is the next vice president, he’ll have my prayers, he’ll have my best wishes, and he’ll have my help whenever he wants it.”

Vance and Walz chat with their partners at the end of the debate.Credit: AP

The pleasantries were somewhat surprising: after all, Vance and Walz have been sniping at each other from afar for weeks, with Vance branding Walz a “dangerous liberal” and Walz portraying Vance as a “weird” extremist.

Polls suggest Vance is one of the least liked vice presidential candidates in recent history, thanks in part to his combative style and incendiary views, such as his previous comments about America being run by miserable “childless cat ladies”.

To that end, the debate was a chance for the 40-year-old Ohio senator to rebrand himself to a prime-time audience – and to some extent he did, coming across as less MAGA and more statesmanlike: smart, confident, and mild-mannered.

Donald Trump and Kamala Harris during their combative debate.Credit: Bloomberg

Walz, meanwhile, also entered the debate with his share of baggage. The 60-year-old Minnesota governor is known for his folksy Midwest charm, but he’s also come under scrutiny in recent months for embellishing his background.

He claimed, for instance, that his wife underwent IVF (when she used other fertility treatments) and that he carried weapons in war (he served in the National Guard, but his only wartime deployment was to Italy in 2003 backfilling troops who were deploying to Afghanistan).

More recently, he was caught falsely claiming he was in China during the violent 1989 Tiananmen Square crackdown.

“I’m a knucklehead at times,” he said, when asked to explain himself. “I got there that summer and misspoke on this.”

Vance also had a moment of self-reflection when asked about his past criticisms of Trump, including a suggestion that he could be “America’s Hitler”.

“Sometimes, of course, I disagree with the president, but I’ve also been extremely open about the fact that I was wrong about Donald Trump,” he said. “I was wrong, first of all because I believed some of the media stories that turned out to be dishonest fabrications of his record.”

The debate came amid crises at home and abroad, from the devastation of Hurricane Helene to the escalating wars in the Middle East.

Indeed, as Vance and Walz were doing their last few hours of debate prep, President Joe Biden and Harris were in Washington being briefed on Iran’s ballistic missile attack on Israel.

Asked about it at the start of the debate, a visibly nervous Walz accused Trump of being too “fickle” to handle the growing conflict, while Vance replied: “Who has been the vice president for the last 3½ years? And the answer is your running mate, not mine. Donald Trump consistently made the world more secure.”

On immigration, Vance was able to avoid doubling down on the debunked claims he and Trump have previously made about Haitian immigrants eating people’s pets in Springfield, Ohio, an area he represents.

He did, however, reassert that residents there “have had their lives destroyed by Kamala Harris’ open border” policies.

“Look, in Springfield, Ohio, and in communities all across this country, you’ve got schools that are overwhelmed, you’ve got hospitals that are overwhelmed, you’ve got housing that is totally unaffordable” he said.

Walz had his best moment towards the end, when both candidates were asked a question over whether Trump’s failure to cede power after losing the 2020 election was a threat to democracy.

While Vance fumbled, refusing to say if Trump actually lost to Biden, the governor said any attempt to deny what happened at the January 6 Capitol attack was serious and unacceptable.

“This has got to stop,” he said. “It’s tearing our country apart.”

The conventional wisdom is that vice presidential debates don’t really shift the political needle much, but given Trump is yet to commit to a second presidential debate, this showdown could end up being the last time the two campaigns battle each other in front of a prime-time audience before the November 5 election.

Vance was more polished and won the debate. But if the job of a running mate is to “do no harm” while defending their political masters, both candidates can walk away from here knowing they achieved their objectives.

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