Walz, Vance split on abortion, border, economic policies in issues-driven debate
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Vice presidential candidates Tim Walz and JD Vance clashed Tuesday night over their policy stances on election integrity, abortion access, border concerns and gun violence in what’s likely a final debate with the election five weeks away.
They came together in a pivotal 90-minute debate inside a CBS Broadcast Center studio in midtown Manhattan, standing at podiums with no audience in the room to react to what they said.
They remained largely cordial in the debate and steered away from personal attacks, directing barbs instead at their opponents’ running mates, Vice President Kamala Harris and former President Donald Trump.
Immigration, abortion, guns and the 2020 election
Walz and Vance split on the best approach to writing policy around immigration, reproductive health care access and limiting gun violence. At times, the candidates spoke over one another, attempting to get the last say on a topic before getting muted by moderators.
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Early on, moderators asked Vance to elaborate on Trump’s proposal to deport people in the country lacking permanent legal status.
“So you've got to stop the bleeding. You've got to reimplement Donald Trump's border policies, build the wall, reimplement deportations,” Vance said, saying Harris hadn’t succeeded in stemming the arrival of migrants at the country’s southern border.
Walz said that Congress had nearly reached a deal to address issues on the border and to speed up asylum proceedings but that it was derailed by Trump.
“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 dehumanize and villainize other human beings,” Walz said.
One of the candidates' contested exchanges came as the pair discussed reproductive freedom and access to abortion. Vance pointed to a law that Walz signed in 2023 guaranteeing abortion access in Minnesota.
"As I read the Minnesota law that you signed into into law, the statute that you signed into law, it says that a doctor who presides over an abortion where the baby survives, the doctor is under no obligation to provide life-saving care to a baby who survives a botched late term abortion," Vance said. "That is, I think ... that is fundamentally barbaric."
Walz pushed back on the characterization. "This is a very simple proposition," he said. "These are women's decisions to make about their health care decisions, and the physicians who know best when they need to do this. Trying to distort the way our law is written to try and make a point, that’s not it at all.”
Doctors and patients who sought the change in law said the rewrite doesn’t prevent providers from trying to save the life of a child. Instead, they said it would let them bypass previously required medical interventions in situations where parents want to bond with their infant born with a fetal anomaly that is typically fatal.
Later in the debate, Walz pressed Vance to acknowledge that his running mate Trump lost the 2020 election, calling denial of the result a threat to democracy.
Vance pivoted and said, “I believe that we actually do have a threat to democracy in this country, but unfortunately, it's not the threat to democracy that Kamala Harris and Tim Walz want to talk about,” he said. “It is the threat of censorship.”
Walz said that Vance’s response was a “damning” non-answer and should send a clear message to Americans.
“So America, I think you've got a really clear choice on this election of who's going to honor that democracy and who's going to honor Donald Trump,” he said.
The pair split too on the best way to address gun violence, climate change, economic issues in the country and immigration.
Vance suggested that Harris in her capacity as vice president could’ve made a meaningful dent in bringing down the cost of living and impacted border crossings but hadn’t. Walz countered that some of the country's problems stemmed from the lingering effects of Trump administration policy decisions.
No attacks around riot response, ‘cat lady’ comments
Both candidates were able to get through the debate without questions on their handling of headline-generating issues.
Moderators and Vance didn’t press Walz on his response to the 2020 riots in Minneapolis that followed George Floyd’s murder at the hands of police. Likewise he avoided questions about fraud in a federal nutrition program run during the COVID-19 pandemic.
And while Vance was asked about his comments regarding immigrant communities in Springfield, Ohio, he didn’t walk back false claims about people there eating pets. He was not asked about comments he’d made calling Democratic leaders “childless cat ladies.”
Neither candidate was asked about previous instances where they’d made false claims about their military service.
The pair did connect over their occasional instances of misspeaking — with Walz calling himself a “knucklehead” for previously saying he’d been in China on an educational trip with students during the 1989 Tiananmen Square massacre — and they expressed compassion for one another when talking about family.
Walz shared a story about his son Gus being at a St. Paul community center when a shooting took place nearby. He said the experience, along with meeting with other families affected by gun violence shaped his opinions on the topic. And he advocated for tougher restrictions.
“Well, I think all the parents watching tonight, this is your biggest nightmare. I’ve got a 17-year-old and he witnessed a shooting at a community center playing volleyball. Those things don't leave you,” Walz said.
Vance appeared surprised and sympathetic about the governor’s experience.
“I didn’t know that your 17-year-old witnessed a shooting. I’m sorry about that,” Vance said. “Christ, have mercy. That is awful.”
Vance and Walz will continue their whirlwind tour through the swing states to continue making the case for why their side of the ticket could yield the best outcome for America.