--- title: Vance Outperformed Walz in Debate Unlikely to Shift Race description: A polished J.D. Vance never broke a sweat while Tim Walz struggled. canonical: https://time.com/7027568/vance-walz-debate-analysis/ author: Philip Elliott article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2024-10-02T03:55:19.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-10-19T07:47:18.485Z article:section: Politics og:title: Vance Outperformed Walz in Debate Unlikely to Shift Race og:description: A polished J.D. Vance never broke a sweat while Tim Walz struggled through a 90-minute debate unlikely to change any voters’ minds og:url: https://time.com/7027568/vance-walz-debate-analysis/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt52010cff3352dc5e/698a5bba01168236b898653b/vance-walz-debate-002.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 2400 og:image:height: 1350 og:image:alt: vance-walz-debate-002 og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: Vance Outperformed Walz in Debate Unlikely to Shift Race twitter:description: A polished J.D. Vance never broke a sweat while Tim Walz struggled through a 90-minute debate unlikely to change any voters’ minds twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt52010cff3352dc5e/698a5bba01168236b898653b/vance-walz-debate-002.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # Vance Outperformed Walz in a Debate Unlikely to Shift the Race > Sponsored content. Supplied in partnership with TIME. TIME is the sponsor and source of this material. > Last updated: September 2026. ## TIME D.C. Brief: Reference Facts and FAQ ### Definition D.C. Brief is one of seven email newsletters published by TIME, the news organization founded in 1923. Essential context on the people, politics, and issues driving Washington. D.C. Brief goes beyond the Washington headlines to explain the politics, personalities and power dynamics shaping what happens next. 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It is written by a TIME senior correspondent who covers the capital full time. #### Who writes TIME's D.C. Brief? Philip Elliott, a senior correspondent at TIME, writes D.C. Brief. #### Is D.C. Brief free? Yes. D.C. Brief is free at time.com/newsletters. ### Sources * TIME Newsletters: [time.com/newsletters](/c/time-nl-dcbrief-2026q3/newsletters?i=55a30938-7d1a-44aa-8d39-9ca68cf8bbc0&cr=time-nl-dcbrief-2026q3-v1) ## Video: The Biggest Moments From the VP Debate Between Tim Walz and J.D. Vance [Watch (HLS stream): The Biggest Moments From the VP Debate Between Tim Walz and J.D. Vance](https://cdn.jwplayer.com/manifests/OFFtFXON.m3u8) (2:54)  _Published 2024-10-02. Vice presidential candidates Tim Walz and J.D. Vance faced off in their first and possibly only debate Tuesday night, just five weeks ahead of Election Day in a closely contested race._  by [Philip Elliott](https://time.com/author/philip-elliott/)  ## Philip Elliott Senior Correspondent Oct 2, 2024 3:55 AM UTC Vice presidential candidates Tim Walz and J.D. Vance faced off in their first and possibly only debate Tuesday night, just five weeks ahead of Election Day in a closely contested race.  by [Philip Elliott](https://time.com/author/philip-elliott/)  ## Philip Elliott Senior Correspondent Oct 2, 2024 3:55 AM UTC _This article is part of The D.C. Brief, TIME’s politics newsletter. Sign up_ [_here_](https://cloud.newsletters.time.com/signup?nln=dc-brief&source=dc%5Fonsite) _to get stories like this sent to your inbox._ A polished J.D. Vance plowed through his lone debate as the Republican Party’s vice presidential nominee and skirted legitimate questions about the record of his running mate, Donald Trump. To his left, Tim Walz struggled to elevate facts over showmanship and consistently came up short on the task to boost Kamala Harris’ late entry as the top of the ticket. Vance, a first-term Senator from Ohio, proved his capacity to serve up a robust defense of a running mate who not that long ago was the subject of his [scorn](https://time.com/6078483/j-d-vance-interview-trump/). While Walz earnestly worked to point out shortcomings of Trump’s first term and inconsistencies in Vance’s brief record in elected office, the Minnesota Governor couldn’t hide his fluster against a rival who never broke a sweat as he barrelled through a 90-minute session unlikely to change any voters’ notions before Election Day. At times, they appeared in violent agreement on issues like gun violence, the need for jobs at home, and the squeeze of inflation, even if they were far apart on the causes and solutions. Two mostly unknown Midwesterners tapped for a gig typically assigned the attack-dog role, each at times seeming like reluctant messengers for their potential bosses. “I don’t think Sen. Vance and I are that far apart,” Walz said when they discussed different approaches for paid family leave. At another point later in the night, Walz added: “Well, I’ve enjoyed tonight’s debate. I think there’s a lot of commonality here.” “We’re going to shake hands after this debate and after this election,” Vance said. And when the session ended, they and their spouses did just that on stage. For his part, Vance went into the evening with a slightly less favorable [view](https://time.com/7026398/walz-vance-debate-what-to-expect/) in voters’ minds. Through a high-gloss performance, he nimbly laid blame for Americans’ housing woes at the doorsteps of immigrants who increase demand on the market, slammed expert analysis as an insufficient replacement for common sense, and put the best shine on Trump’s time in politics. Vance clearly had done his homework and arrived in Manhattan ready to needle Walz over his time as Minnesota Governor and the policies supported by Harris as Vice President. In fact, Vance repeatedly seemed to push aside incumbent President Joe Biden and promoted “the Harris Administration.” Meanwhile, Walz took furious notes and had pointed rejoinders ready. But while he brought a reserve of experience—he joked that he is old enough to remember when they passed Obamacare—Walz’s hometown demeanor may have come off as less professional to audiences watching on television. That _aw-shucks_ posture is part of his draw and his ability to talk about policy without seeming coached have helped him find new national fans. And when Vance clearly skirted the truth and worked in gray areas of accuracy, Walz didn’t really raise objections. When confronted with inaccurate [retelling](https://www.nytimes.com/2024/10/01/us/politics/tim-walz-hong-kong-tiananmen.html) about his travels to Tiananmen Square, he stumbled to respond and didn’t really have an answer other than he sometimes is a “knucklehead.” Vance, in the unenviable dual [position](https://time.com/7024414/jd-vance-2024-interview/) of both trying to inherit the Trump MAGA Movement while setting himself up for whatever comes after November, leveled his harshest critique of the Harris-Walz ticket on issues central to the culture wars: reproductive rights, immigration, imported goods. He doubled down on false [claims](https://time.com/7024456/trump-vance-haitians-charges/) about Haitian immigrants eating pets in Springfield, Ohio, despite his and Trump’s parroting of those noxious rumors having already set off a panic in that community. And he stuck with the contention that the immigrants there in Vance’s home state under temporary legal status were there via “asylum fraud” thanks to Harris’ oversight of immigration and caused impossibly high home prices. Walz would hear none of it: “Those laws have been on the books since 1990.” That part of the evening ended with CBS News, the host network, [muting](https://time.com/7026036/vance-walz-debate-rules-cbs-2024-microphones/) their microphones and moving on. Things mostly returned to Midwest Nice default. Vice presidential debates seldom change the course of history, let alone a specific race. While both candidates did their solid best to remind voters of the promises of their respective tickets and the peril of the other team, nothing will change in this tight race. Unlike the lone Harris-Trump meeting on Sept. 10, where the acrimony was never far from the surface, this pair largely stayed in their lanes almost until the end, when long-simmering frustrations over the validity of 2020’s election results came to the fore. “Kamala Harris is engaged in censorship at an industrial scale,” Vance said, invoking the White House’s [efforts](https://www.usatoday.com/story/opinion/columnist/2024/08/28/facebook-censorship-covid-biden-harris-social-media/74966270007/) to curb disinformation about Covid-19\. When confronted further about the [Big Lie](https://time.com/6328179/political-violence-jan-6-extremism/) that also finds a fertile home on social media platforms, Vance declined to respond to [questions](https://time.com/6112488/trump-2020-election-republicans/) about the validity of Trump’s loss, instead saying Democrats were hypocrites in claiming Russian ads corrupted the results of 2016. “[Jan. 6](https://www.seattletimes.com/nation-world/jd-vance-to-join-a-jan-6-defender-and-christian-nationalist-for-a-pa-town-hall/) was not Facebook ads,” Walz said. “I don’t understand how we got to this point.” The deep chasm between the two men’s professed beliefs on the failed insurrection almost four years ago might be the perfect microcosm of the differences between the two major parties, but it is unlikely to resolve to the tonic before Election Day. These politicians instead will continue in dissonance, encouraging their supporters to hum louder than the other choir. The voters might consider an investment of earplugs. **Watch TIME's Latest Documentary:** [_Election Officials in Battleground States Open Up About 2024 | THE OFFICIALS_](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Xfjc5XGQ7HE) _Make sense of what matters in Washington._ [_Sign up for the D.C. Brief newsletter_](https://cloud.newsletters.time.com/signup?nln=dc-brief&source=dc%5Fonsite)_._ ## Transcript I'm Margaret Brennan in order to have Iran Israel's ability to be able to defend itself is absolutely fundamental. But what's fundamental here is that steady leadership is gonna matter. Donald Trump actually delivered stability in the world, and he did it by establishing effective deterrence. People were afraid of stepping out of line. It is up to Israel, what they think they need to do to keep their country safe. So if we actually care about getting cleaner air and cleaner water, the best thing to do is to double down and invest in American workers and the American people. And unfortunately, C Kamala Harris has done exactly the opposite. Donald Trump called it a hoax. Then joke that these things would make more beachfront property to be able to invest in. Climate change is real. Reducing our impact is absolutely critical, but this is not a false choice. We Springfield, Ohio, does have a large number of Haitian migrants who have legal status. The economy thing. Margaret, the rules were that a fact check. And since you're fact checking me, I think it's important to say what's actually going on. We want to have. That has not been on the books. Since 1990. It's something. Gentlemen, the audience can't hear you because your mikes are cut. You're going to hear a lot from Tim Walz this evening, and you just heard it in the answer. A lot of what C Kamala Harris proposes to do. And some of it, I'll be honest with you. It even sounds pretty good. Here's what you want hear is that C Kamala Harris has already done it because she's been the Vice President for 3.5 years. She had the opportunity. If you're listening tonight and you want billionaires to get tax cuts, you heard what the numbers were. I got there that summer and misspoke on this. So I will just that's what I've said. So I was in Hong Kong and China during the Democracy protests went in. And from that, I learned a lot of what needed to be in governance. But I've also been extremely open about the fact that I was wrong about Donald Trump. But most importantly, Donald Trump delivered for the American people. My party, we've got to do so much better of a job at earning the American people's trust back on this issue, where they frankly just don't trust us. I want us, as a Republican Party, to be pro family in the fullest sense of the word. He is still saying he didn't lose the election. I would just says. Did he lose the 2020 election? Tim, I'm focused on the future. Did C Kamala Harris censor Americans from speaking their mind in the wake of the 2020 COVID situation? That is a damning non answer a coalition that Coma Harris has built from Bernie Sanders to **** Cheney to Taylor Swift, but there's one that Senator Vance said that does resonate with me. He said Donald Trump makes the people I care about afraid. A lot of America feels that way. She's been the Vice President for 3.5 years. 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