Five takeaways from Vance-Walz VP debate

The Vice-Presidential debate between Ohio Senator J D Vance and Minnesota Governor Tim Walz was something that has become rare in modern politics. It was normal. The opponents engaged in policy-heavy discussion, in what may be the last debate of this election cycle.

Here are the five key takeaways from Tuesday’s debate hosted by CBS in New York City:

1. Springfield pet-eating claims return to the debate stage: As the two VP hopefuls sparred on immigration, Walz invoked Vance’s false claims that Haitian immigrants were eating pets in Springfield, Ohio. “There’s consequences for this,” Walz said, pointing out that Ohio Gov. Mike DeWine, a Republican, dispatched state troopers to Springfield to ensure the safety of children after a series of bomb threats. Vance responded, “The people I care most about in Springfield are the American citizens.” What Vance didn’t say was that the 12,000 to 15,000 Haitian migrants in Springfield are in the United States legally. But Walz didn’t fact-check Vance on the matter.

2. Walz says he ‘misspoke’ about his presence at Tiananmen Square: New reporting in the lead-up to Tuesday’s debate called into question Walz’s claims that he was in Hong Kong during the Tiananmen Square protests in 1989. When asked directly, Walz filibustered but then said he got caught up in the moment and “misspoke”. Vance didn’t seek to directly capitalize on Walz’s concession, but alluded to it in a different question shortly thereafter, saying, “When you misspeak, you ought to be honest with the American people about that.”

3. Abortion: Both candidates came prepared to discuss the issue, but what was striking was the clarity on both ends. Vance argued that because the US is such a diverse country in so many ways, the rulemaking should be devolved as much as possible – to the states, in his view. In one of his stronger moments of the night, Walz brought up the personal stories of women who faced health crises or died due to state abortion bans. “In Minnesota, what we did was restore Roe v. Wade,” Walz said. “We made sure that we put women in charge of their health care.”

4. Gun violence: Vance and Walz had something approaching a constructive conversation about gun violence in America, agreeing that it is bad, getting worse, and needs to be addressed. schools. When Vance pointed to mental health and drug use as another cause of gun deaths, Walz sought to refocus the conversation. “Sometimes it just is the guns,” Walz said. “It’s just the guns.” The Minnesota governor agreed that lawmakers “should look at all the issues” but added a line of caution. “This idea of stigmatizing mental health – just because you have a mental health issue doesn’t mean you’re violent,” Walz said.

5. Vance dodges question on January 6: The clearest divide of the night came when Walz put Vance on the spot during a discussion of the January 6, 2021, insurrection and Trump’s false claims that he won the 2020 election. Vance tried to sidestep the violent attack by Trump supporters on the US Capitol on the day Congress was gathering to officially count Electoral College votes and certify Joe Biden’s victory. The Ohio senator, attempting to argue that Trump’s actions in 2020 were not unusual, pointed to Democratic complaints about Russian interference in the 2016 election. “January 6 was not Facebook ads,” Walz said. Walz drilled into the details of the costs of Trump’s efforts to overturn the election results. “He lost this election, and he said he didn’t. One hundred and forty police officers were beaten at the Capitol that day, some with the American flag, and several later died,” he said. “The democracy is bigger than winning an election.”