The Fighting Dog and the Folk Hero: Vance and Walz Prepare for Debate Showdown | US elections 2024

Tim Walz and JD Vance, the US Democratic and Republican candidates for vice president, will face off on Tuesday in what is likely to be the last debate on the two parties' electoral maps before Election Day in exactly five weeks.

The couple, who have had strong words for each other from a distance, will engage in a verbal melee at a CBS-hosted event in New York. Kamala Harris and Donald Trump are on a knife edge.

As Trump, the Republican nominee, continues to reject calls from his Democratic opponent Harris for a second presidential debate, much could depend on how the conflict between Walz and Vance develops.

The 90-minute duel comes with added poignancy after Walz, the 60-year-old governor of Minnesota, memorably called Vance “strange” while calling him a key architect of Project 2025, a conservative blueprint for a radical overhaul of American government and Society would aggressively crack down on immigration, eliminate LGBTQ+ and abortion rights, weaken environmental protections, reshape fiscal policy and take aggressive action against China.

Vance, 40, an Ohio senator who has reinvented himself as a political attack dog for Trump despite denigrating him before he entered politics, hit back by portraying his opponent as a far-left liberal and accusing him of ignoring aspects of his military service having repeatedly misrepresented the National Guard.

He also leveled the “weird” ridicule at Walz after the Democratic vice presidential nominee said his children were born using artificial insemination – which Vance once voted against as a senator – before it emerged that he and his wife had done so has used another form of fertility treatment.

The potential for fireworks could be heightened by the fact that CBS's rules of engagement prohibit moderators Norah O'Donnell and Margaret Brennan from fact-checking candidates in real time – as they did last month at ABC's debate between Harris and Trump in 2011 was the case in Philadelphia. Instead, the two men are expected to check each other out.

Vance enters the debate with arguably more to gain. Since his election as Trump's running mate, his approval ratings have been consistently negative, amid a series of revelations about derogatory comments about childless women, whom he branded as “childless cat ladies.”

He also drew criticism for his role in spreading a debunked rumor about pet consumption by Haitian immigrants in Springfield, Ohio, before later telling CNN – without any apology – that the story had been “created.” to draw attention to “the suffering of the American people.”

Amid the opprobrium, the Yale-educated Vance – who prepared for the debate by holding rehearsals with a small team that included House Republican leader Tom Emmer, who plays the role of Walz, and his wife Usha , who serves as an adviser, rose to prominence by taking on the role of articulator of Trump's highly anti-immigrant “America First” populism.

In contrast, Walz has polled more positively but has taken a cautious stance since Harris chose him as her running mate after she was promoted to the top of the Democratic ticket following Joe Biden's decision to step down in July.

He has given few media interviews and had settled for a lower profile after the sharp attacks on Vance and other MAGA Republicans that first drew national attention over the summer – prompting Harris to select him.

Walz, who projects a folksy image, has admitted he was nervous about Tuesday's debate as he prepared with help from Pete Buttigieg, the transportation secretary. He expressed fears to his staff that he would let Harris down and reportedly warned her when she chose him that he was a poor debater.

While there is little historical evidence that vice-presidential debates have influenced the outcome of presidential elections, previous encounters have been notable for producing memorable moments and quotes.

In 2020, Harris herself was the source of such a problem when she told Mike Pence – Vance's predecessor as Trump's running mate and then vice president – about it after he interrupted her. She said, “Mr. Vice President, I’m speaking.”

In the 1988 vice presidential debate, Democratic presidential candidate Michael Dukakis' running mate, Lloyd Bentsen, had a rejoinder ready when Dan Quayle, the Republican nominee behind George HW Bush, was questioned at age 41 – a year older than Vance. about his relative youth, responded by citing John F. Kennedy.

“Senator, I served with Jack Kennedy,” Bentsen replied. “I knew Jack Kennedy. Jack Kennedy was a friend of mine. Senator, you are no Jack Kennedy.”