Minnesota Democratic Gov. Tim Walz and Republican Sen. JD Vance of Ohio faced off in the "CBS News Vice Presidential Debate" Tuesday night.
The nearly two-hour debate remained mostly cordial — with the running mates of Vice President Kamala Harris and Former President Donald Trump both agreeing on several issues. However, it was Vance's refusal to acknowledge that Trump lost the 2020 presidential election that drew the ire of Walz toward the end of the debate.
"He [Trump] is still saying he didn't lose the election ... Did he lose the 2020 election?" Walz asked Vance.
"Tim, I'm focused on the future," Vance responded.
"That is a damning non-answer," Walz interjected.
Vance followed up by saying that he and Trump think there were problems in 2020 and would be "happy to talk about it further."
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The Middle East
The debate covered a number of topics, but none more internationally pressing than Iran's missile strike on Israel.
The first question the moderators asked Walz was whether he would "support or oppose a preemptive strike by Israel on Iran."
Walz, who appeared nervous, paused a number of times, but said, "Israel's ability to defend itself is absolutely fundamental."
Walz elaborated, claiming a second Trump presidency would be a danger to the world.
"What we've seen out of Vice President Harris is steady leadership," Walz said.
"Donald Trump delivered stability in the world, and he did it by establishing effective deterrence," Vance responded.
"It is up to Israel what they think they need to do to keep their country safe, and we should support our allies wherever they are," the senator added.
Immigration
"We have to stop the bleeding," Vance said of immigration. "We have a historic immigration crisis because Kamala Harris started and said she wanted to undo all of Donald Trump's border policies."
Vance defended Trump's proposal for mass deportations.
"We start with the criminal migrants," Vance said. "You start with deportations on those folks. Then you make it harder for illegal aliens to undercut the wages of American workers."
Walz responded by accusing former President Donald Trump of working against a solution.
"We had the fairest and the toughest bill on immigration that this nation's seen," Walz said, referencing the bipartisan immigration bill that was up for consideration early in 2024. "Donald Trump said no."
"Pass the bill, [Harris] will sign it," Walz said.
Vance was pressed about Springfield, Ohio, where during the last presidential debate, Trump amplified false claims that immigrants were eating pets.
"The people that I'm most worried about in Springfield, Ohio, are the American citizens who've had their lives destroyed by Kamala Harris' open border," Vance said.
The Economy
Walz highlighted Harris' economic plans, including down payment assistance for homebuyers and reduced costs for drugs like insulin.
"Kamala Harris has said to do the things she wants to do, we'll just ask the wealthiest to pay their fair share. When you do that, our system works best, more people are participating in it and folks have the things that they need," Walz said.
Vance said Trump's historic tax cuts as president "went to giving more take home pay to middle class and working class Americans."
"That is a record I'm proud to run on, and we're going to get back to that common-sense wisdom so that you can afford to live the American dream again," Vance said.
Reproductive Rights
Walz attempted to frame a second Trump administration as extreme on abortion.
"In Minnesota, what we did was restore Roe v. Wade," Walz said, explaining that the state had ensured abortion protections for women after the Supreme Court overturned federal protections in 2024. "We made sure that we put women in charge of their healthcare."
"This is a basic human right," Walz said. "This is about healthcare."
Vance tried to offer a more nuanced position on the national stage — as Trump posted on social media that he would not sign a national abortion ban if he were elected.
"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," Sen. Vance said. "I want us as a Republican Party to be pro-family in the fullest sense of the word."
"The proper way to handle this, as messy as democracy sometimes is, is to let voters make these decisions. Let the individual states make their abortion policy," Vance said.
Gun Violence
"The gross majority of the gun violence in this country is committed with illegally obtained firearms," Vance said. "I unfortunately think that we have to increase security in our schools."
"The idea that we can magically wave a wand and take guns out of the hands of bad guys — it just doesn't fit with recent experience. We've got to make our schools safer, and I think we've got to have some common sense, bipartisan solutions for how to do that," Vance said.
"We understand that the Second Amendment is there, but our first responsibility is to our kids, to figure this out," Walz said. "There are reasonable things that we can do to make a difference."
"We have and we should look at all of the issues," Walz said. But "sometimes it just is the guns. It's just the guns."
"I think there's a capacity to find solutions on this that work — protect the Second Amendment, protect our children. That's our priority," Walz said.
The Cost of Health Care
"Of course we're going to cover Americans with pre-existing conditions," Vance said of a potential Trump administration.
Vance said Trump's record helped keep health care cost increases down and introduced better price transparency in the marketplace.
He also defended Trump's "concepts of a plan" assertion from the presidential debate.
"You're not going to propose a 900-page bill standing on a debate stage. It would bore everybody to tears," Vance said.
Gov. Walz pointed out he was present as a lawmaker during the creation of the Affordable Care Act, and said that Trump had tried to repeal the measure as president.
"What [Republicans] are saying is, 'If you're healthy, why should you be paying more?' So what they're going to do is let insurance companies pick who they insure."
Family Medical Leave and Child Care
Walz said Harris is making parental leave for new children and health care needs an administration priority.
"What we're saying is the economy works best when it works for all of us," Walz said.
"As far as child care on this, you have to take it on the supply and the demand side," he said. "We have to make it easier for folks to be able to get into that business, and then to make sure that folks are able to pay for that."
Vance recalled his wife's own experience with paid family leave.
"The cultural pressure on young families, especially on young women, makes it really hard for people to choose the family model they want," Vance said. "We should have a family care model that makes choice possible."
"We want to promote choice in how we deliver family care and how we promote child care," Vance said.
Closing Statements
"Sen. Vance made it clear, he will stand with Donald Trump's agenda. He will continue to push down that road. Kamala Harris gives us a different option," Walz said in his closing statements. "She's bringing real solutions for the middle class, and she's centering you at the heart of that."
"I've been in politics long enough to do what Kamala Harris does, when she stands before the American people and says that on day one she's going to work on all these challenges," Vance said. "She's been the vice president for three and a half years. Day one was 1,400 days ago. And her policies have made these problems worse."
"We need a new direction. We need a president who has already done this once before, and did it well," Vance said.
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