Tensions and mics were heated Tuesday night as vice presidential candidates Sen. JD Vance of Ohio and Gov. Tim Walz of Minnesota went head-to-head during the only vice presidential debate of this election. The night was spent exchanging attacks on the other’s running mates, presenting contrasting proposed policies and offering their opponent civility and respect.
The 90-minute debate hosted by CBS and moderated by Norah O’Donnell and Margaret Brennan comes as there’s less than five weeks until the election and will possibly be the last event between the two campaigns.
While Vice President Kamala Harris has a slight advantage over former President Donald Trump in national polls, the margins are slim and reveal a very tight race. The debate between the Ohio senator and Minnesota governor was a distinctly different environment from the Harris-Trump debate earlier in September.
Here are five takeaways from the debate.
Vance and Walz keep civility between each other
Both candidates have campaigned on very different policies and messages, however throughout the night, both were mostly polite with few interruptions while the other was speaking even with the mics being unmuted.
This was a drastically different dynamic compared to both the Biden-Trump debate and the Harris-Trump debate, where both candidates spoke over each other and were visibly frustrated throughout the night.
There was even a tender moment from Vance after Walz shared that his son witnessed a shooting at a community center.
“Tim, first of all, I didn’t know that your 17-year-old witnessed the shooting,” Vance said. “And I’m sorry about that.”
Both attack and defend their running mates
Despite their absence, both Harris and Trump were referenced extensively throughout the night with both debaters playing offense and defense.
Vance attacked Harris on her handling of the Southern border and referred to her as the “border czar,” a label given to Harris by Trump. Vance said Harris’ handling of the border has led to a record number of fentanyl entering the U.S.
Walz responded by claiming that Trump was the one standing in the way of solving the border crisis.
“I believe Senator Vance wants to solve this,” Walz said. “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.”
Vance interjects after a fact check by moderator
Continuing the heated debate about immigration, Vance brought up Springfield, Ohio, and blamed undocumented immigrants for high housing prices and overwhelmed schools and hospitals.
Moderator Brennan fact checked Vance’s claim.
“To clarify for our viewers, Springfield, Ohio does have a large number of Haitian migrants who have legal status. Temporary protected status.”
What was supposed to be the end of the discussion about immigration caused Vance to interrupt the moderators and was frustrated that he was fact checked.
“The rules were that you guys weren’t going to fact check, and since you’re fact checking me, I think it’s important to say what’s actually going on,” Vance said, talking over the moderators.
As Vance continued to interrupt the moderators to explain himself and Walz also attempted to intervene, both candidates’ mics were cut.
Walz capitalizes on abortion issue
In the days leading up to the debate, Walz told people close to him that he was nervous and told Harris that he was a bad debater. Walz appeared nervous at the beginning of the debate, but as the debate continued, he became more confident and made his strongest arguments when the issue of abortion came up.
Walz shared detailed stories of three different women who he used to argue the harmful and deadly impacts brought by the overturning of Roe v. Wade by the Supreme Court.
“This is basic human right,” Walz said. “We have seen maternal mortality skyrocket in Texas, outpacing many other countries in the world. This is about health care. In Minnesota, we are ranked first in health care for a reason. We trust women. We trust doctors.”
Vance, on the other hand, called on the Republican party to work towards regaining the trust of voters on the issue, saying he and Trump are striving to achieve that.
“I want us, as a Republican Party, to be pro-family in the fullest sense of the word,” Vance said. “I want us to support fertility treatments. I want us to make it easier for moms to afford to have babies.”
During the debate, Trump said he would veto a federal abortion ban via an all-caps post across social media platforms. Though this is the first time Trump has taken a definitive stance on vetoing a federal ban, both he and Vance have highlighted their views of reproductive rights being left up to the states.
Vance and his “damning non-answer” about the 2020 election
Near the end of the debate, on the topic of protecting democracy, Vance was asked whether or not he would challenge this year’s election results even if every Governor certifies the results. He failed to answer the question directly and said censorship was the larger threat to democracy.
Walz criticized Trump’s refusal to acknowledge his loss of the 2020 election, and called for a peaceful transfer of power regardless of who wins. Walz later directly asked Vance if Trump lost the election to which Vance responded “Tim, I’m focused on the future.”
“That is a damning non answer,” said Walz. “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.”