The Presidential & VP Debates of 2024

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Trump says he won't do another presidential debate

Former President Trump on Thursday ruled out participating in another debate with Vice President Harris, writing on his Truth Social account that "there will be no third debate."

https://www.axios.com/2024/09/12/trump-debate-2024-harris-democrats-republicans?

 

Presidential debates

 

Former President Donald Trump announced Thursday that he would not participate in another presidential debate with Vice President Kamala Harris. "THERE WILL BE NO THIRD DEBATE!" Trump posted on Truth Social, referencing his first face-off with President Joe Biden in June and his second with Harris on Tuesday. The former president said he doesn't need a rematch because he won Tuesday night's debate — even though every major scientific poll about the debate had found that Harris won, according to a CNN Fact Check. Harris reiterated her call for another matchup during a rally in Charlotte on Thursday, saying, "I believe we owe it to the voters to have another debate because this election and what is at stake could not be more important."

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Days of preparation and one final warning. How Kamala Harris got ready for her big debate moment.

Kamala Harris spent several days at a hotel in Pittsburgh preparing for last week's debate against Donald Trump. She held mock debates with her team and honed her strategy. Then, an hour before she left, she received one of the strangest briefings of her political career. Read more.

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No, Linsey Davis Didn't Say Debate Fact-Checking Was Planned Only for Trump, Not Harris

Claim:

ABC News anchor Linsey Davis, who co-moderated the network's 2024 U.S. presidential debate with anchor David Muir, said they planned in advance only to do fact checks on former President Donald Trump's statements.

Rating:

False

https://www.snopes.com/fact-check/linsey-davis-debate-fact-check-trump/?utm_source=mail.snopes.com&utm_medium=newsletter&utm_campaign=today-trump-s-tariffs-exploding-toilet-alleged-assassination-attempt-and-another-debate-rumor&_bhlid=8fb85f83329c6064fc4a7cd6a55a6a839fd142b6

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🎭 Walz imitator

 

Not quite a spittin' image, but it's close: House GOP Whip Tom Emmer is playing the part of his fellow Minnesotan Gov. Tim Walz in GOP prep for Vance ahead of the Oct. 1 VP debate.

• Emmer has been studying up on how Walz debates, his positions and his physical mannerisms, a source familiar told us.

— Juliegrace Brufke

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Why Tuesday’s vice presidential debate could matter more than history suggests

Vice presidential picks have traditionally taken on the role of political attack dog, laying into opponents so that their running mate can appear above the political fray. That’s generally been less true since former President Donald Trump scrambled political norms. Read more.   😰 Walz's debate nerves Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz warned Kamala Harris during the VP vetting process this summer that he was a bad debater. Now, ahead of his showdown Tuesday with Sen. JD Vance, Walz privately says he's as nervous as ever — and that he's worried about letting Harris down, CNN's Edward-Isaac Dovere reports. Why it matters: It could be expectation management. But given this could be the last debate between any candidate on the two tickets, Walz appears to be feeling the unusually high stakes. Between the lines: As governor, Walz had a tendency to speak at a fast clip and trip himself up in unscripted situations, resulting in muddled answers and occasional misstatements. And the generally affable Walz can get defensive and terse when under attack, says Axios Twin Cities' Torey Van Oot, who has covered Walz for years. But allies and even past rivals say his everyman approach can neutralize the lack of polish — and turn it into an asset. 🔥 New GOP attack line: "Once you get to know the real Tim Walz, he's like Gavin Newsom in a flannel shirt," House Majority Whip Tom Emmer (R-Minn.), who's playing Vance in debate prep, told ABC's "This Week."

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🎤 Veep debate strategy

Photo illustration: Brendan Lynch/Axios. Photos: Jim Vondruska and Dia Dipasupil/Getty Images

The biggest goal for Sen. JD Vance (R-Ohio) in tomorrow night's debate against Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz (9 p.m. ET) will be to cast him as too liberal for most Americans, Axios' Sophia Cai and Torey Van Oot have learned. Walz's allies hope he'll focus on the threat of another Trump presidency, avoid getting flustered and show his folksy charm in his first extended national TV appearance. 👓 Zoom in: Vance plans to challenge Walz's moderate image by picking at his tenure as Minnesota's governor. Don't be surprised to see Vance portray Walz as weak and overwhelmed by the civil unrest in Minneapolis that followed the police killing of George Floyd in 2020. Vance also is likely to go after Walz for repeatedly misstating parts of his personal story. Vance's debate brain trust includes three of his political aides, his wife Usha Vance and Trump senior adviser Jason Miller. Cover: "The Candidate" by Malika Favre for The New Yorker, which endorses Vice President Harris. Walz is untested on the national stage, has said he's not a great debater, and even expressed anxiety about letting Harris down if he does poorly. More on the debate ...

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VP debate

 

Vice presidential nominees Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz and Ohio Sen. JD Vance are gearing up for a high-stakes debate on Tuesday — five weeks before Election Day. The Walz-Vance matchup may be the last debate of the 2024 election, unprecedented in modern presidential campaigns, with former President Donald Trump rejecting calls from Vice President Kamala Harris to agree to a second meeting, including one proposed by CNN for October 23. With a tight race entering the closing stretch and early voting underway in several states, the running mates' showdown Tuesday in New York presents one of the last major opportunities to make the case for their respective tickets. The debate will be hosted by CBS and will begin at 9 p.m. ET.

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Walz and Vance will meet in their first and possibly only vice presidential debate The debate offers former President Donald Trump and Vice President Kamala Harris' top lieutenants a fresh opportunity to introduce themselves, vouch for their bosses and fulfill a time-honored role of a running mate: attack dog. Read more.

What to know: The two will likely talk up their middle-America roots. Both men are a part of a more traditional political family than those of the presidential nominees. Expect both running mates, even as they try to keep the spotlight on their bosses, to highlight their own stories.   Abortion rights and views on family will feature prominently. Democrats believe reproductive health care will motivate their core voters and sway swing voters. And Tim Walz has already mixed his own story into the conversation. JD Vance and Trump, on the other hand, have struggled for a consistent message on abortion rights — a reflection of how fraught the issue is for Republicans as support for abortion access has increased.   Vance often offers clearer arguments than Trump about boosting American manufacturing, helping workers and punishing corporations, and he regularly attacks the Biden-Harris administration over inflation. If there’s a broad topic where Vance wants to put Walz on the defensive and tether the Democratic ticket to President Joe Biden, it’s the economy.

RELATED COVERAGE ➤ CBS News says it will be up to Vance and Walz to fact-check each other in veep debate   Vance exuded calm during a tense debate stage moment. Can he keep it up when he faces Walz?   Walz has experience on a debate stage pinning down an abortion opponent’s shifting positions

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VP debate

 

Democrat Tim Walz and Republican JD Vance will face off tonight in their first and only scheduled vice presidential debate of the 2024 election. The matchup, hosted by CBS News, will air live on CNN at 9 p.m. ET, alongside special coverage. It coincides with huge news stories unfolding at home and abroad, including Hurricane Helene recovery efforts and rapidly escalating tensions in the Middle East. Vice presidential nominees traditionally play the role of attack dog for the top of their tickets — in this case, Democratic Vice President Kamala Harris and Republican former President Donald Trump. Harris earlier this month accepted an invitation from CNN to again debate Trump on October 23, but the former president has reiterated he thinks it's "too late" because many Americans will have begun casting their ballots.

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Fact-Checking Walz-Vance VP Debate

Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz and Ohio Sen. JD Vance faced each other for their first (and potentially only) 2024 vice presidential debate Tuesday night.

https://www.snopes.com/live/walz-vance-debate-live-updates/?

🎤 Debate night

Members of the press wait to bring equipment into the CBS Broadcast Center in New York ahead of tonight's vice presidential debate. (90 mins., moderated by CBS News' Norah O'Donnell and Margaret Brennan, 9 p.m. ET on all major networks.)

🤝 America's debate time machine

Sen. JD Vance and Gov. Tim Walz shake hands before the debate at the CBS Broadcast Center in Manhattan. Photo: Anna Moneymaker/Getty Images For 90 minutes, American politics was unrecognizable: Two candidates, diametrically opposed on the issues, engaging in a friendly, respectful, substantive debate about the future of a country they love, Axios' Zachary Basu writes. To cap it off: a handshake and some light chit-chat between spouses. Why it matters: For all the nasty attacks exchanged on the campaign trail, the VP debate between Sen. JD Vance (R-Ohio) and Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz offered a rare lesson in civility — a reminder of what politics used to be, and what it hopefully still can be. At least a half-dozen times, Vance and Walz surprised viewers by expressing agreement on America's root problems — and more remarkably, on the potential solutions. As CBS News' John Dickerson put it as he began the network's postgame analysis: "It was a cordial debate, of the kind that people mostly say they want." Zoom in: In one especially poignant exchange on gun violence, Walz shared that his teenage son had personally witnessed a shooting at a community center. "I 100% believe Sen. Vance hates [gun violence]. It's abhorrent and it breaks your heart," Walz said, turning to his opponent. Vance responded: "Tim, first of all, I didn't know that your 17-year-old witnessed a shooting. And I'm sorry about that and I hope he's doing OK. Christ have mercy, it is awful." Story continues below. 🎤 5 debate takeaways   JD Vance and his wife, Usha Vance, greet Tim Walz and Gwen Walz after the debate. Photo: Kenny Holston/The New York Times 1. JD Vance wins style points. It was clear from the jump that Vance, a 40-year-old Yale-educated senator who relishes adversarial interviews, would be a far slicker, more polished debater than Tim Walz, Axios' Zachary Basu writes. It's one of the main reasons former President Trump chose Vance — and it paid off, as he repeatedly hammered Walz with messages that Donald Trump was unable to articulate in his debate against Vice President Harris. Vance's camp tells us he did only four prep sessions: two hour-long Zoom murder boards, one in-person murder-board session and one formal mock debate. N.Y. Times columnist Ross Douthat declared: "Vance's Dominant Debate Performance Shows Why He's Trump's Running Mate" (gift link). 2. Vance launders Trump's positions — and his own. With his slick debating style, Vance made a forceful, intellectual case for Trumpism that — like his running mate — sometimes relied on falsehoods and mischaracterizations. Vance falsely claimed Trump "salvaged" the Affordable Care Act. In fact, the former president spent much of his first term trying to repeal Obamacare. 3. Walz's "knucklehead" moment. Walz, who acknowledged to Harris during the VP vetting process that he wasn't a strong debater, got off to a nervous and rocky start — often speaking so fast that his answers devolved into word salad. In his worst moment of the night, Walz struggled to answer a question about why he had claimed to be in Hong Kong during the 1989 Tiananmen Square protests — eventually saying he "misspoke." Still, the Harris campaign sees Walz's unfiltered, everyman demeanor as core to his appeal: "I'm a knucklehead at times," the former high school teacher admitted. MSNBC's Jen Psaki tweeted: "More Walz talking directly to people at home — like it." 4. Trump screams from sidelines. Trump seemed intent on counter-programming his own running mate's big night, reminding America who tops the ticket with live, all-caps screeds on Truth Social throughout the debate. 5. Walz roasts Vance on Jan. 6. In a night that largely belonged to Vance, Walz finished strong — and gave Democrats a viral clip for their pro-democracy message — by asking his opponent whether Trump lost the 2020 election. "Tim, I'm focused on the future," Vance responded. "That is a damning non-answer," Walz shot back, before twisting the knife with a reference to Vance's predecessor: "Mike Pence made that decision to certify that election. That's why Mike Pence isn't on this stage." Top 12 debate quotes ...

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Takeaways from the vice presidential debate Vice presidential hopefuls Tim Walz and JD Vance focused their criticism on the top of the ticket as they engaged in a policy-heavy discussion that may be the last debate of the 2024 presidential campaign. Read more.

Key takeaways: Iran’s ballistic missile attack on Israel on Tuesday elicited a contrast between the Democratic and Republican tickets on foreign policy. Walz promised “steady leadership” under Harris while Vance pledged a return to “peace through strength” if Trump is returned to the White House.   Walz pounced on Vance repeatedly over abortion access and reproductive rights as the Ohio senator tried to argue that a state-by-state matrix of abortion laws is the ideal approach for the United States. Walz countered that a “basic right” for a woman should not be determined “by geography.”   Walz had several verbal stumbles on a night in which he admitted to “misspeaking” often. He confused Iran and Israel when discussing the Middle East, at one point said he had “become friends with school shooters,” and he stumbled through an explanation of inaccurate remarks about whether he was in Hong Kong during the 1989 Tiananmen Square massacre.

RELATED COVERAGE ➤ FACT FOCUS: A look at false and misleading claims during the vice presidential debate   Walz misleadingly claims to have been in Hong Kong during period tied to Tiananmen Square massacre   CBS News cuts candidates’ mics after JD Vance objects to a moderator’s correction

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Debate takeaways

 

Sen. JD Vance and Gov. Tim Walz faced off Tuesday in their first and only vice presidential debate of the 2024 campaign. It was a civil and policy-focused showdown where both were asked about escalating tensions in the Middle East, immigration, inflation, health care, abortion and other key issues for American voters. The two largely focused on substance rather than personal attacks, but they did trade barbs on a host of topics before ending with a tense exchange over January 6, 2021, and the future of democracy. The mics were cut during a contentious back-and-forth over Vance's false claims about Haitian immigrants eating the pets of residents in Springfield, Ohio. Overall, analysts say the debate is unlikely to change the trajectory of the presidential race. A CNN Instant Poll also found no clear winner in the matchup.

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Vance's "Minnesota nice" ploy

Sen. JD Vance (R-Ohio) went into the vice-presidential debate with a plan to surprise Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz by being shockingly ... super-duper nice, Mike Allen and Jim VandeHei write in a "Behind the Curtain" column.

• Why it matters: It worked. The result was a refreshingly substantive, even cheery debate — a flashback to a less polarized America, and a preview of what's possible if the nation's current rage subsides. But it was a premeditated political maneuver to rattle Walz.

Walz was girded for war against Vance, who has spent the past 10 weeks defending past controversial remarks.

• Instead, Vance greeted Walz with a big smile, and the two shook hands warmly right off the bat. It set a very different tone than the icy encounter between the top-of-the-ticket nominees, Vice President Harris and former President Trump, when they debated last month.

💡 Inside the strategy: "We figured it would throw him off," a close Vance adviser told us. "Democrats and much of the media bought their own false caricature of JD that he was just some heartless fire-breather."

• Vance's approach was jarring compared to his attack-dog role on the campaign trail, where he said in August that Harris "can go to hell" for her criticism of a visit by Trump to Arlington National Cemetery.

"We had an intentional strategy of not being overly adversarial and aggressive and jumping down Walz's throat on every little thing," the Vance adviser added.

• "It looks petty ... Fundamentally, no one gives a s--t about the VPs. JD knew instinctively that what would actually move the ball forward is creating the contrast between Trump's successes and Kamala's failures."

Vance played into Walz's "Minnesota nice" streak. So rather than attack, Walz reverted to the folksiness that caught Harris' eye during veepstakes.

• Asked whether Walz was surprised, one of his aides told us: "We expected more MAGA mode given what [Vance has] been saying repeatedly on the stump."
• "The 'MN nice' dynamic played out more surprisingly and organically onstage than strategically, in a way maybe neither candidate expected," the Walz aide added. "It's harder to criticize the other when talking about their kids."

🎥 Behind the scenes: Walz had the more elaborate debate prep. His campaign built a replica stage, complete with cameras, at his debate camp in Harbor Springs, Mich., on the north shore of Lake Michigan's Little Traverse Bay. Transportation Secretary Peter Buttigieg played Vance.

• Vance honed his tone during a formal mock session near his home in Cincinnati, with a Minnesotan — House Republican Whip Tom Emmer — playing Walz. The Vance team set up podiums and mics, with former anchor and Trump Treasury official Monica Crowley playing moderator. The Vance camp lost power in a storm during the mock debate — but continued by using phones for timers and lanterns for light.

🎤 How it happened: During the debate, which drew 43 million viewers (compared to 67 million for the Harris-Trump debate), Vance said to Walz about the border: "I actually think I agree with you. I think you want to solve this problem, but I don't think that Kamala Harris does."

• Walz replied to Vance about bringing jobs back to the U.S.: "Much of what the senator said right there, I'm in agreement with him on this."

Column continues below.

🎤 Part 2: "Walz blitz"

JD Vance's frequent name-checking of bipartisanship during the debate "was intentional, because we knew it was a side of JD that the media has largely ignored," the Vance adviser told Mike and Jim.

• "The goal was to disarm the 'he's an extremist' B.S. by positioning him in the populist center. Democrats may have mindf---ed themselves into believing the caricature they invented."

The other side: The debate's civility also worked for Walz. Jen Psaki said on MSNBC's postgame show that it's been a mistake by the campaign to let Walz do so few interviews.

• "Coming out of it, I hope that they free Tim Walz," Psaki said.

The Harris-Walz campaign yesterday announced a "Walz blitz" of aggressive post-debate travel — including rallies, voter-engagement events, fundraisers and interviews.

• Walz is taping "60 Minutes" to air Monday, and will make his late-night debut on ABC's "Jimmy Kimmel Live!" on Monday in L.A.

🥊 Reality check: Vance made a play for moderates at the debate — after recently tripling down on debunked claims of Haitian migrants eating pets in the weeks prior to the debate.

• Vance was back in his MAGA element yesterday, mocking Walz's debate gaffe that he had "become friends with school shooters." In Michigan, Vance called that "probably only the third or fourth dumbest comment Tim Walz made that night."
• Vance again refused, as he had during the debate, to say former President Trump lost in 2020.

During the debate, "JD was very mindful about tying policy back to his own personal bio," the adviser told us. "Which is why you saw him lead with [his life story] in the first question he got, his closing remarks and multiple questions throughout — we wanted him to show off both his brain and his heart."