JD Vance and Tim Walz tackled divisive issues including immigration and Jan. 6 in their vice presidential debate on Tuesday, but often did so in strikingly agreeable terms. Vance was the more fluent of the two, sanding off some of the edges of his public image as he presented a case that Donald Trump deserves another four years in office.
Walz stumbled over his words at times, copped to misspeaking and being a “knucklehead,” but also delivered a sharp rebuke of Trump’s refusal to accept defeat in 2020. “I’m going to thank Senator Vance,” Walz said toward the end. “I think this is the conversation they want to hear, and I think there’s a lot of agreement.
” But when it comes to the attack on the Capitol, Walz said the two are “miles apart.” “Did he lose the 2020 election?” Walz asked. “Tim, I’m focused on the future,” Vance responded.
“That is a damning non-answer,” Walz said. For both candidates, the debate offered an opportunity to introduce themselves on the national stage. In his opening remarks, Vance described himself as the product of a working-class family.
“My mother required food assistance for periods of her life,” he said. “My grandmother required Social Security to help raise me, and she raised me in part because my mother struggled with addiction for a big chunk of my early life.” Walz appeared somewhat nervous and halting in his delivery at times.
He was asked about his claim that he had been in Hong Kong during the Tia.
