On Oct. 1, beginning at 9 p.m. EST, Ohio Senator James David “JD” Vance and Minnesota Governor Timothy “Tim” Walz faced off in the first and only vice-presidential debate of the 2024 election season. Vance is the running mate to former president Donald Trump, whereas Walz represents Vice President Kamala Harris.
The debate was hosted by CBS News and moderated by journalists Norah O’Donnell and Margaret Brennan. According to CBS, O’Donnell has nearly “three decades of experience in journalism” and has “interviewed every living president of the United States.” She is currently an anchor and managing editor for “CBS Evening News.”
Brennan is currently a moderator of “Face the Nation,” a CBS program that covers public issues and affairs. She is also the chief foreign affairs correspondent for CBS News, and has, according to CBS, covered important topics, such as the conflict in Ukraine and the standoff with North Korea.
In a similar fashion to the presidential debate, the 2024 Vice Presidential Debate had no live audience, and the two moderators asked all the questions. The microphones were to remain on for the entirety of the debate, but O’Donnell and Brennan had the ability to mute them, if necessary. Except for one incident surrounding Haitian immigrants in Springfield, Ohio, there were no other instances of fact-checking. However, CBS News did run a live report that allowed CBS writers to fact check and report on the issues at hand in real time. The candidates and their campaigns were not aware of the debate questions ahead of time, according to CBS.
The debate opened with a handshake between the two candidates, paralleling the handshake between former president Donald Trump and Vice President Kamala Harris during their Sept. 9 debate.
Brennan asked the first question of the debate about Iran, which she said the U.S. considers to be “the largest state sponsor of terrorism in the world, and it has drastically reduced the time it would take to develop a nuclear weapon.” Brennan asked Walz if he would sponsor a preemptive strike by Israel on Iran.
Although Walz and Vance both chose to attack the opposition’s running mate, they did fundamentally agree that Israel has the right to decide if it wants to make a strike against Iran. Walz noted Israel has a right to defend itself, which the United States should support, while Vance ended his turn by saying it was ultimately Israel’s decision.
Throughout the debate, Walz and Vance remained focused on the policy issues at hand, laying out their administration’s plans, should they win the election. They did not shy away from criticizing one another’s running mate when disagreements arose, but rarely criticized one another. Walz and Vance also did acknowledge times when they agreed with one another. The debate remained civil, apart from one incident.
When asked about their policies on immigration and deportation, Vance stated that in Springfield, Ohio, schools, hospitals and housing are overwhelmed by illegal immigrants who compete with Springfield residents for these assets. Shortly afterward, Brennan said “just to clarify for our viewers, Springfield, Ohio does have many Haitian migrants, who have legal status. Temporary, protected status.” This stands as the only instance of direct fact-checking by the moderators in the entirety of the debate.
Although Brennan and O’Donnell attempted to move to the next question, Vance interrupted and began talking about the process by which illegal immigrants become legal. The moderators let Vance speak for about 20 seconds before cutting him off. Walz and Vance both began talking over the moderators, who then muted their microphones and continued to the next question.
The debate continued, with topics including abortion, climate change, gun violence, the cost of housing and the events of Jan. 6, 2021. The candidates ended the night with a closing statement by Walz, followed by Vance. The order was predetermined by coin flip, which Vance won.
Walz expressed the importance of the freedom of American people to make choices, despite Trump’s desire for “American carnage.” According to Walz, Harris instead provides a new way forward, which Walz called “politics of joy.” He urges Americans to search for “a new day where everybody gets that opportunity, and everybody gets a chance to thrive.”
Vance began his closing statement by discussing the importance of American energy, stating that every American should be able to enjoy heat, food, shelter and safety, which he believes became harder due to Harris’s actions under the Biden administration. Vance argued that America needed change in the form of Trump, who had been president previously and “did it well.”
Both candidates made misinformed claims throughout the debate. For example, when discussing Israel and Iran, Vance argued that “Iran, which launched this attack, has received over $100 billion in unfrozen assets thanks to the Kamala Harris administration.”
David Rhode of NBC News called Vance’s statement “misleading.” Rhode wrote in NBC’s live fact check, “As part of the 2015 nuclear deal with Iran brokered by the Obama Administration, $50 billion in Iranian assets were unfrozen by the United States. Harris was not a member of the Obama administration.” Although the Biden administration planned to unfreeze another $6 billion, this was later blocked after Hamas’s terrorist attack on Israel on Oct. 7 of last year, according to NBC.
Walz stated that Trump had not paid any federal taxes in the past 15 years. According to CBS News, this is false. In a CBS article, senior managing editor Alain Sherter wrote, “In 2022, a release of some of Donald Trump’s tax returns by the House Ways and Means Committee showed that he filed federal income tax returns for the years 2015 through 2020. According to the report, Trump paid $641,931 in federal income tax in 2015; $750 in both 2016 and 2017; and $133,445 in 2019. He paid no federal income tax in 2020, the report found.”
O’Donnell and Brennan ended the debate by thanking the candidates and urging Americans to vote. Fact checkers can be found online, including independent website PolitiFact.