At the first and only debate Oct. 1 between Gov. Tim Walz, D-Minn., and Sen. JD Vance, R-Ohio, the vice presidential nominees of their respective parties, the candidates sparred with each other on topics including abortion, immigration, gun policy relating to preventing school shootings, and democracy, with each one all the while seeking to defend his own running mate while critiquing his opponent's.
The debate schedule was atypical in 2024, after President Joe Biden chose not to seek reelection after a disastrous debate performance in June. Typically, the vice presidential debate is not the final debate of the cycle, but former President Donald Trump, the Republican presidential nominee, declined to debate Vice President Kamala Harris, the Democratic presidential nominee, a second time.
When asked by the CBS moderators about the conflict in the Middle East, Walz said, "Our allies understand that Donald Trump is fickle," adding that "we need the steady leadership that Kamala Harris is providing."
Vance said, "Effective, smart diplomacy and peace through strength is how you bring stability back to a very broken world."
Asked about Trump's call for mass deportations, Vance replied, "The gross majority of what we need to do at the southern border is just empowering law enforcement to do their job."
Vance argued that deportations should begin with those who have committed crimes other than illegally crossing the border, but did not specify whether he would support separating families.
Trump's call for mass deportations runs contrary to the Second Vatican Council's teaching in "Gaudium et Spes" condemning "deportation" among other actions, such as abortion, that "poison human society," a teaching St. John Paul II affirmed in two encyclicals on moral truth and the life issues.
Walz hit Republicans for rejecting a bipartisan border security bill following months of high-level negotiations after Trump urged them not to pass the bill before the election, noting that the conservative Sen. James Lankford, R-Okla., was one of the key negotiators of that bill.
"I don't talk about my faith a lot, but Matthew 25:40 talks about 'to the least amongst us, you do unto me,'" said Walz, who is Lutheran but was raised Catholic. "I think that's true of most Americans. They simply want order to it. This bill does it. It's funded. It's supported by the people who do it, and it lets us keep our dignity about how we treat other people."
On abortion, Walz argued that "Donald Trump put this all into motion" by appointing Supreme Court justices who later overturned Roe v. Wade, leading to disproportionate laws in different states that he argued can make pregnancy outcomes "determined on geography."
Walz rejected the label "pro-abortion," arguing, "that's not the case at all. We're pro-freedom for women to make their choices."
Vance, a convert to Catholicism, argued that he did not support a federal abortion ban but said, "I want us, as a Republican Party, to be pro-family in the fullest sense of the word."
"I want us to support fertility treatments," Vance said. "I want us to make it easier for moms to afford to have babies. I want it to make it easier for young families to afford a home so they can afford a place to raise that family. I think there's so much that we can do on the public policy front just to give women more options."
Vance pressed Walz on his and Harris' record on abortion, asking, "Do you want to force Catholic hospitals to perform abortions against their will?"
But Walz argued that a bill he signed to broaden a right to abortion was being "misread," disputing an argument he supports abortion in the ninth month.
The Catholic Church teaches that all human life is sacred from conception to natural death, and, as such, opposes direct abortion. After the Dobbs decision overturning Roe, Church officials in the U.S. have reiterated the Church's concern for both mother and child and called to strengthen available support for those living in poverty or facing other circumstances that can push women toward having an abortion.
Asked about how to prevent school shootings, Vance argued, "I say this not loving the answer, because I don't want my kids to go to school and a school that feels unsafe or where there are visible signs of security, but 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," Vance added. "So 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."
Walz argued that policies enhancing red flag laws and background checks would help prevent gun violence without infringing on the Second Amendment.
"I think there's a capacity to find solutions on this that work, protect the Second Amendment, protect our children," Walz said.
In one of the more cordial moments of the debate, after Walz said his 17-year-old son witnessed a shooting at a community center, Vance expressed concern, responding, "First of all, I didn't know that your 17-year-old witnessed the shooting. And I'm sorry about that. Christ have mercy. It is awful."
One of the more contentious moments of the debate was when the pair was asked about threats to democracy. Vance sought to defend Trump on his actions surrounding his claims that the 2020 election was stolen from him and the Jan. 6, 2021, riot at the U.S. Capitol building – the day 2,000 supporters of then-President Trump attempted to block Congress’s certification of Biden's 2020 election victory. Vance argued a peaceful transfer of power ultimately took place on Jan. 20.
Walz pushed Vance to answer whether he agrees with Trump's claims about the 2020 election, but the senator did not directly answer, saying instead, "Tim, I'm focused on the future."
"When Mike Pence made that decision to certify that election, that's why Mike Pence isn't on this stage," Walz argued, in reference to former Vice President Mike Pence, Trump's running mate in the 2016 and 2020 elections who later broke with him by rejecting Trump's unfounded claims of a stolen election and certifying Biden's victory.
Election Day is Nov. 5.
