Tim Walz and JD Vance met for their first and possibly only vice presidential debate on Tuesday in what could have been the last debate for both campaigns to argue their case before the election.
The debate in New York hosted by CBS News gave Mr Vance, a Republican freshman senator from Ohio, and Mr Walz, a two-term Democratic governor of Minnesota, the chance to introduce themselves, make the case for their running mates, and go on the attack against the opposing ticket.
Each man pointed to the crises of the day as reasons for voters to choose their respective running mates for president, opening their vice presidential debate by addressing the growing fears of a regional war in the Middle East and a natural disaster that has ravaged the southeastern US.
Mr Walz, answering a question on whether he would support a pre-emptive strike on Iran as it has launched missiles into Israel, quickly pivoted to painting Donald Trump as too dangerous for the country and the world in an unstable moment.
“What’s fundamental here is that steady leadership is going to matter,” said Mr Walz, the Democratic governor of Minnesota.
“And the world saw it on that debate stage a few weeks ago, a nearly 80-year-old Donald Trump talking about crowd sizes is not what we need in this moment.”
Mr Vance, in his reply, argued that Mr Trump is an intimidating figure whose presence on the international stage is its own deterrent.
“Donald Trump actually delivered stability,” he said.
Both men found unity on Hurricane Helene, which has devastated several states and caused massive flooding in North Carolina in particular.
Mr Walz mentioned the storm’s devastation and talked about working with governors across the country, saying they do not let politics get in the way of collaborating.
Mr Vance said: “I’m sure governor Walz joins me in saying our hearts go out to those innocent people.”
Mr Walz accused Mr Vance and Mr Trump of villainising legal immigrants in Mr Vance’s home state.
He pointed to the fact that Republican Ohio governor Mike DeWine had to send in extra law enforcement to provide security to the city’s schools after Mr Vance tweeted about and Mr Trump amplified false claims about Haitians eating pets.
“This is what happens when you don’t want to solve it, you demonise it,” Mr Walz said, saying not doing so would allow people to “come together”.
Mr Vance said the 15,000 Haitians in the city had caused housing, economic and other issues that the Biden-Harris administration was ignoring.
When the debate moderators pointed out that the Haitians living there had legal status, Mr Vance protested that CBS News had said its moderators would not be fact-checking, leaving the onus to the candidates.
As Mr Vance continued and the moderators tried to move on, his microphone was cut and neither man could be heard.
The two Midwesterners struck a noticeably friendlier tone than the matchup between Mr Trump and Ms Harris — or, earlier this year, Mr Trump and Mr Biden before he dropped out of the race.
When they first turned to immigration and the influx of migrants coming over the US-Mexico border, one of the most heated topics of the campaign, the two men credited each other with having good intentions.
Mr Walz said: “I believe Senator Vance wants to solve this, but by standing with Donald Trump and not working together to find a solution, it becomes a talking point and when it becomes a talking point like this, we dehumanise and villainise other human beings.”
Mr Vance echoed the sentiment, saying: “I think you want to solve this problem, but I don’t think that Kamala Harris does.”
Despite the milder tone of the debate, there were still glimpses of the political fractures that threaten American democracy.
Mr Vance papered over the January 6 attack on the US Capitol and echoed Mr Trump’s election denial by refusing to acknowledge that Mr Biden won the race in 2020.
The real threat to democracy, Mr Vance claimed, was censorship of the opposition.
“We ought to debate our differences. We ought to argue about them. Kamala Harris is engaged in censorship on an industrial scale,” Mr Vance said.
Mr Walz said Mr Vance was helping to deny “the first time in American history that a president or anyone tried to overturn a fair election and the peaceful transfer of power”.
He also asked Mr Vance if Mr Trump won the election in 2020.
“I’m focused on the future,” Mr Vance responded.
“That is a damning non-answer,” Mr Walz said.
Both men admitted missteps and vulnerabilities on Tuesday.
Mr Vance was asked to address his past biting criticisms of the former president, including once suggesting Mr Trump would be “America’s Hitler”.
“When you get something wrong and you change your mind, you ought to be honest with the American people,” he said.
Mr Walz, meanwhile, was pressed on his misleading claim, which was investigated this week by Minnesota Public Radio and other outlets, that he was in Hong Kong during the turbulence surrounding the 1989 Tiananmen Square massacre, part of a broader pattern of inaccuracies that Republicans hope to exploit.
Confronted with his misstatements about his travels to China years ago, Mr Walz defended himself by saying: “I’ve not been perfect.” In fact, he said: “I’m a knucklehead at times.” Eventually, he acknowledged he misspoke about his history.
Aside from the contentious exchange surrounding the attack on the Capitol, the debate featured more moments of good feeling than might have been expected.
Mr Walz said he had “enjoyed tonight’s debate, and I think there was a lot of commonality here” before noting that he is “sympathetic to misspeaking on things and I think I might have with the senator”.
“Me too, man,” Mr Vance responded.
