WASHINGTON − JD Vance and Tim Walz square off Tuesday night in New York City with more on the line than the typical vice presidential debate as the two nominees from different Midwestern states look to seize on what could be the last marquee event before Election Day. Vice presidential candidates and their debates don't usually move the political needle much. But Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump's refusal to debate Democratic rival Kamala Harris again makes the Vance-Walz showdown likely the final time the two campaigns battle each other on the same stage before a nationally televised audience.
The faceoff hosted by CBS comes 35 days before the election with Harris and Trump locked in a razor-close race that appears likely to be decided by the outcomes of seven battleground states : Arizona, Georgia, Michigan, Nevada, North Carolina, Pennsylvania and Wisconsin. More: Can Tim Walz's Midwestern charm work in Michigan? "Traditionally, VP debates aren’t very important, but there’s more at stake in this one, I would argue," said Matthew Levendusky, a political science professor at the University of Pennsylvania. "Because Harris entered the race so late, and there was only one presidential debate, people will be more attuned to this one.
" Sign-up for Your Vote: Text with the USA TODAY elections team. The debate features two men who have staked their political identities on their Midwest roots. Vance , a 40-year-old freshman U.
S. senator from Ohio, has cultivated a.