4 takeaways from the VP debate

policy

WASHINGTON (AP) — Vice presidential contenders Tim Walz and JD Vance squared off Tuesday night in what could possibly be the ultimate debate of the 2024 presidential campaign. It was the primary meeting between Minnesota's Democratic governor and Ohio's Republican senator following a debate last month between their front-runners, Vice President Kamala Harris and former President Donald Trump.

There aren’t any more debates on the political calendar before Election Day. Tuesday's confrontation got here as the worldwide stakes of the competition rose again as Iran fired missiles at Israel. The vice presidential candidates clashed over violence within the Middle East, climate change and immigration. Here are some takeaways from Tuesday's debate.

With the Middle East in turmoil, Walz guarantees “stable leadership” and Vance offers “peace through strength.”

Iran's missile attack on Israel on Tuesday sparked a contrast between Democratic and Republican foreign policy views: Walz promised “stable leadership” under Harris, while Vance promised a return to “peace through strength” if Trump returns to the White House.

The different ideas about what American leadership should appear to be overshadowed the stark policy differences between the 2 parties.

The Iranian threat to the region and U.S. interests around the globe opened the talk, with Walz pivoting the subject to criticism of Trump.

“The fundamental thing here is that stable leadership is what matters,” Walz said, then referred to “almost 80-year-old Donald Trump, who speaks to crowds” and responds to global crises via tweet.

Vance, for his part, promised a return to “effective deterrence” under Trump against Iran and dismissed Walz's criticism of Trump by attacking Harris and her role within the Biden administration.

“Who has been vice president for the last three and a half years and the answer is your vice president, not mine,” he said. He specifically noted that the Hamas attacks on Israel on October 7, 2023 occurred “during the administration of Kamala Harris.”

Vance and Walz punch one another as an alternative of attacking one another

Vance and Walz directed most of their attacks not at their rival on stage, but at their competitors who weren’t within the room.

Both vice presidential candidates tried to project a friendly face as they criticized Harris and Trump, respectively.

This reflected the indisputable fact that most voters don’t solid their votes based on the vp, nor on the historical role of a vice presidential candidate acting as an attack dog for his fellow running mates.

Walz specifically attacked Trump for reneging on his promise to construct a physical barrier across the complete U.S.-Mexico border on the expense of the country's southern neighbor.

“Less than 2% of this wall has been built and Mexico hasn’t paid a dime,” Walz said.

During a back-and-forth over immigration, Vance underscored the concentrate on the highest of the ticket, telling his opponent: “I think you want to solve this problem, but I don't think Kamala Harris does.”

Both candidates give climate change a domestic political touch

After the devastating impact of Hurricane Helene, Vance answered a matter about climate change and gave a solution about jobs and manufacturing, taking a detour from Trump's previous claims that global warming is a “hoax.”

Vance claimed the perfect option to combat climate change is to maneuver more manufacturing to the United States, because the country has the cleanest energy economy on the planet. It was clearly a domestic variant of a worldwide crisis, especially after Trump withdrew the US from the international Paris climate accords during his time in office.

Walz also continued to concentrate on climate change domestically, praising the Biden administration's investments in renewable energy and record levels of oil and natural gas production. “You can imagine that we will become an energy superpower in the future,” Walz said.

It was a decidedly optimistic view of a pervasive and grim global problem.

Walz and Vance each blame the opposing presidential candidate for the immigration stalemate

The two vice presidents agreed that the variety of illegal immigrants within the United States is an issue. But everyone blamed the opposing presidential candidate.

Vance joined Trump in repeatedly calling Harris a “border czar” and suggesting that, as vp, she single-handedly rolled back immigration restrictions that Trump imposed as president. The result, Vance said, is an uncontrolled flow of fentanyl, a strain on state and native resources and rising real estate prices across the country.

Harris was never appointed “border czar” and was never explicitly given responsibility for border security. She was appointed by Biden in March 2021 to deal with the “root causes” of migration from the Central American countries of Honduras, Guatemala and El Salvador and to press leaders there and in Mexico to implement immigration laws. Harris didn’t have the authority to set U.S. immigration policy – only the president can sign executive orders, and Harris didn’t have the authority to be Biden's deputy in negotiations with Congress over immigration laws.

Walz advanced Democrats' arguments that Trump single-handedly defeated a bipartisan Senate agreement to tighten border security and improve the processing system for immigrants and asylum seekers. Walz noted that Republicans only abandoned the deal after Trump said it wasn't adequate.