Tonight's clash between vice presidential candidates Tim Walz and JD Vance will likely be the last direct confrontation between the two campaigns before election day. While there will certainly be a stark contrast in style between the two men, how much impact will a VP debate have on the broader race?
A.B. Stoddard, an editor and columnist at The Bulwark, and Ryan Wiggins, chief of staff for the Lincoln Project, joined KNX News’ daily political show Countdown 2024 to preview the debate.
Listen here:
“I tend to think that this debate is not going to make a big difference,” Stoddard said. “If we look at the polls, even though it was sort of universally accepted that Harris won her debate against Trump, it didn’t seem to matter much. So I can't imagine this debate making a difference politically.”
The exception, she added, might be people who are tuning in to get a better look at former President Donald Trump’s potential successor.
“There might be people who are still deciding who are looking at Donald Trump, who is getting older and is acting older, and will swoop into this debate to take a look at his running mate to see who would become president in the end in the event of maybe a health event,” she said.
JD Vance’s favorability ratings are currently the lowest for any vice presidential pick since Sarah Palin. The senator from Ohio has attracted criticism and mockery for his bizarre comments about childless women, lies about Haitian migrants eating pets, and his infamous donut shop gaffe.
“JD Vance has done nothing but hurt that ticket, and that is the number one rule of a vice presidential nominee is to do no harm,” Wiggins said.
Can he shift that perception at Tuesday’s debate? Maybe, says Stoddard.
“It would help him if he could bring some charm,” she said. “I've just never seen him do it.”
Wiggins added that the pressure’s on, with even Trump predicting that his running mate will lose the debate.
“I think that it's gonna be kind of concerning for JD Vance that Donald Trump has said he is going to be live-tweeting the entire thing,” she said. “I think if I were JD and I had been called out from the stage by my boss at one point, I think I would be very careful on what I said on the stage.”
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KNX News will carry the Walz-Vance debate live at 6 p.m. Tuesday night.
Listen to the full episode above to hear from Republican Congressman Ken Calvert, who’s trying to hold onto his seat in one of the most expensive House races in the country. Catch new episodes live at 2:30 p.m. every weekday through Election Day.
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