VP debate highlights from the Walz-Vance 2024 election showdown

The debate got started just after 9 p.m. with both candidates taking their place at their podiums. 

Walz walked out first, followed by Vance. The two shook hands before Vance took his place at his lectern, and both began taking notes on the pen and paper that was provided.

Walz is behind the lectern on viewers’ right, and Vance to the left. They shook hands again after being introduced.

Walz fielded the first question on whether he would support a preemptive strike by Israel on Iran. He answered by highlighting his support for Israel before pivoting to criticizing Trump and his foreign policy.

Walz insisted “Israel’s ability to defend itself is absolutely fundamental” following Hamas’ Oct. 7 attack on Israel. 

But Walz insisted Trump’s own national security advisers have said it’s dangerous for Trump to be in charge and denounced Trump’s foreign policy. 

“When our allies see Donald Trump turn towards Vladimir Putin, turn towards North Korea, when we start to see that type of fickleness about holding the coalitions together — we will stay committed,” Walz said.

Vance was asked the same question about whether he would support or oppose a preemptive strike by Israel on Iran and began by providing viewers with an introduction of himself, detailing his background and resume.

He then praised Trump for “delivering stability” in the world through a policy of deterrence.

Getting to the heart of the question, Vance said it’s up to Israel to decide what it needs to do.

He said Trump “consistently made the world more secure.”

Walz: “And when Iranian missiles did fall near U.S. troops, and they received traumatic brain injuries, Donald Trump wrote it off as headaches.”

Mostly true

Details: Iran carried out a missile strike on Iraq’s al-Asad air base on Jan. 8, 2020, days after the Trump administration ordered a lethal drone strike on IRGC commander Qassem Soleimani on Jan. 3, 2020, near Baghdad International Airport.

On Jan.17, U.S. Central Command said 11 service members were transported out of al-Asad after being screened for traumatic brain injury. Then-President Trump at first said there were no injuries related to the strike, then later referred to “headaches and a couple other things” that were later confirmed by the Pentagon to be incidents of traumatic brain injury. In the same remarks, on Jan. 22, 2020, he said he didn’t consider the injuries to be “serious.”

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention says TBI is “a major cause of death and disability.”

When asked what responsibility the Trump administration would have to reduce the impact of climate change, Vance said he and the former president “support clean air, clean water.” 

“We want the environment to be cleaner and safer,” Vance said, arguing that Democratic policies have led to more energy production in China. “If we actually care about getting cleaner air and cleaner water, the best thing to do is to double down and invest in American workers and the American people.” 

Vance did not answer when asked whether he agreed with Trump that climate change is a hoax. 

“If you really want to make the environment cleaner, you’ve got to invest in more energy production,” he said. 

U.S. energy production has reached all-time highs in recent years, after a dip during the COVID-19 pandemic, government figures show.

Walz praised the Biden administration for the Inflation Reduction Act, which provided billions of dollars  to combat climate change. He criticized Trump for calling climate change a “hoax” and joking that it would lead to more waterfront properties.

“My farmers know climate change is real,” he said, praising them for adapting to the changing environment.

Walz pointed to Hurricane Helene as evidence of more extreme weather events that have become more frequent in recent years, saying it “roared onto the scene faster and stronger than anyone has ever seen.”

The Minnesota governor said the Biden administration has taken steps to help states and cities mitigate the effects of climate change.

“To call it a hoax and to take the oil company executives to Mar-a-Lago, say, give me money from my campaign and I’ll let you do whatever you want, we can be smarter about that and an all-above energy policy is exactly what she’s doing, creating those jobs right here,” he said.

Walz: “Sen. Vance said there’s a climate problem in the past. Donald Trump called it a hoax and then joked that these things would make more beachfront property to be able to invest in.”

True

Details: Former President Donald Trump has described global warming or climate change as a “hoax” on multiple occasions. “The global warming hoax, it just never ends,” Trump said during a March 2022 speech in New Orleans, the Washington Post reported. “To which I say, great, we have more waterfront property.”

Prior to his election to the Senate, Vance said in a 2020 speech at Ohio State University, “We, of course, have a climate problem in our society.”

Vance was asked about the Trump-Vance pledge to implement the largest mass deportation in American history, and whether he would separate migrants from their U.S.-born children. 

Vance said the first thing that needs to be done is to stem migration. 

“We have to stop the bleeding,” Vance said, claiming the U.S. has an immigration crisis because Harris wanted to undo Trump’s border policies. 

Vance said the U.S. should first deport “criminal migrants.” He also blamed Harris for children who crossed the southern border into the U.S. with drug mules. 

“My point is we already have massive child separations” because of Harris’ policies, Vance said. 

In response to Vance’s claims, Walz said all stakeholders want to find a solution to address high rates of migrants illegally crossing the southern border, with the exception of Trump.

“We all want to solve this, most of us want to solve this,” he said, noting, “that’s why we had the fairest and the toughest bill on immigration that this nation’s seen.”

Walz then criticized Trump for derailing a legislative package negotiated by Republicans and Democrats and said enacting it into law would rob him of a critical campaign issue.

“What would Donald Trump talk about if we actually did some of these things?” he said, noting that Trump had four years in office to address the situation at the U.S.-Mexico border and promising to build a border wall, a fraction of which was completed.

“Pass the bill. She’ll sign it,” he said, referring to Harris.

He then said migrants have been “dehumanized” and “vilified,” and knocked Vance for pushing false narratives about the Haitian population in Springfield, Ohio.

“There’s consequences for this,” he said.

Walz: “It’s those that were closest to Donald Trump that understand how dangerous he is when the world is this dangerous. His chief of staff, John Kelly, said that he was the most flawed human being he ever met.”

True

Details: John Kelly, a retired Marine general and one of Trump’s chiefs of staff in the White House, told those close to him in 2020 that Trump “is the most flawed person” he’s ever known, according to CNN. 

Kelly confirmed to CNN several stories that leaked out of the Trump administration during his presidency, including Trump’s inflammatory comments about some service members, whom he called “losers” and “suckers.” Kelly said, “A person that thinks those who defend their country in uniform, or are shot down or seriously wounded in combat, or spend years being tortured as POWs are all ‘suckers’ because ‘there is nothing in it for them.'”

Trump denies making the comments. 

Walz was the first to mention Springfield, Ohio, in reference to Trump and Vance spreading false claims about Haitian immigrants eating people’s pets. 

“This is what happens when you don’t want to solve it,” Walz said when talking about immigration. “You demonize it. And we saw this — Sen. Vance, and it surprises me on this, talking about and saying, ‘I will create stories to bring attention to this.’ That vilified a large number of people who worked legally in the community of Springfield.” 

Soon after, Vance referenced the issue. 

“He’s very worried about the things that I said in Springfield,” Vance said, arguing that the schools and hospitals are “overwhelmed” and housing is unaffordable “because we brought in millions of illegal immigrants to compete with Americans for scarce homes. The people that I’m most worried about in Springfield, Ohio, are the American citizens who have had their lives destroyed by Kamala Harris’ open border.” 

State and local officials have said there is no credibility to the baseless rumors, but that hasn’t stopped the Republican ticket from amplifying the claims. A majority of Haitians in Springfield are in the U.S. lawfully. 

CBS News briefly muted the microphones for both Vance and Walz as Brennan and O’Donnell moved to turn the debate to the economy.

The cross-talk began after Brennan fact checked Vance over his comments on migrants, saying Haitian immigrants who have settled in Springfield are largely here legally. 

Vance then began to describe the government-run CBP One app, which was launched to serve as a portal for migrants in Mexico to secure appointments with asylum officers at the border.

“Gentlemen, the audience can’t hear you because your mics are cut. We have so much we want to get to,” Brennan said. “Thank you for explaining the legal process.”

As Vance and Walz began to debate how long the nation’s asylum laws have been on the books, the microphones were muted, the first instance it occurred during the debate.

Vance: Harris “became the appointed border czar.” 

False

Details: Harris was not asked to be the administration’s “border czar” or to oversee immigration policy and enforcement at the U.S.-Mexico border. That has mainly been the responsibility of Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas and his department, which oversees the country’s main three immigration agencies, including Customs and Border Protection.

President Biden tasked Harris with leading the administration’s diplomatic campaign to address the “root causes” of migration from Guatemala, Honduras and El Salvador, including poverty, corruption and violence. The region, known as Central America’s Northern Triangle, has been one of the main sources of migration to the U.S.-Mexico border over the past decade. 

In reality, the only role close to that of a “border czar” under the Biden administration was held for only a few months by Roberta Jacobson, a longtime diplomat who served as coordinator for the Southwest border until April 2021.

Vance was asked how a Trump-Vance administration would pay for their plans, given that Trump’s economic proposals are expected to grow the deficit. 

Vance said some of what Harris proposes “even sounds pretty good.” But Vance said she’s already had the opportunity to enact those policies, and instead, according to Vance, drove the cost of food higher. 

“If Kamala Harris has such great plans … then she ought to do them now,” Vance said.

Walz: “This is a crisis is — the opioid crisis. And the good news on this is the last 12 months saw the largest decrease in opioid deaths in our nation’s history — 30% decrease in Ohio.”

Partially true

Details: Opioid deaths have fallen to the lowest levels in three years, provisional Centers for Disease Control and Prevention figures suggest, marking the first major decrease on record since deaths first began being tallied this way in 2015. 

The CDC estimates that 77,461 deaths linked to opioids like heroin and fentanyl occurred in the year ending March 2024, down 7% from a year before nationwide. 

The agency estimates 3,462 opioid deaths occurred in March 2024 — and for just Ohio, down 18% from March 2023.

The Minnesota governor went after Trump for rebuffing the expertise of economists, national security experts and scientists, and said presidents must seek advice from advisers around them.

“If you’re going to be president, you don’t have all the answers. Donald Trump believes he does,” he said. “My pro-tip is this: if you need heart surgery, listen to the people at the Mayo Clinic in Rochester, Minnesota, not Donald Trump.”

Walz then delivered an appeal to teachers, nurses, truck drivers and other Americans, and asked how it’s fair that they pay their taxes each year while Trump avoided paying income taxes for a period of 10 out of 15 years, as reported by the New York Times in 2022.

“That’s what’s wrong with the system. There’s a way around it and he’s bragged about that,” he said.

The moderators asked Walz to address a past claim that he was in Hong Kong during the Tiananmen Square massacre. The incident took place in the spring of 1989, but Walz reportedly didn’t travel to Asia until August. 

At first, Walz struggled to answer the discrepancy. Walz said he traveled to China in the summer of 1989, and eventually took young people there to learn. 

“My commitment has been from the beginning to make sure that I’m there for the people,” Walz said, adding that sometimes he talks a lot and “will get caught up in the rhetoric.” 

Walz was pressed by the moderators when he failed to directly answer the question. 

“I got there that summer and misspoke on this,” Walz said. 

In a 2014 congressional hearing, Walz said he was on his way to teach in mainland China as the crackdown on pro-democracy protests took place in 1989. He recalled meeting a crowd of people at a Hong Kong train station who were “very angry that we would still go after what had happened.” 

Walz: “All I said on this was, I got there that summer and misspoke on this. That is what I have said. So, I was in Hong Kong and China during the democracy protests, went in and from that I learned a lot of what needed to be in governance.”

False

Details: In 2014, then-Rep. Walz said he was in mainland China during the Tiananmen Square protests between April and June 1989 during a congressional hearing to mark 25 years since the massacre. According to a congressional transcript, Walz said, “As the events were unfolding, several of us went in. I still remember the train station in Hong Kong.”

Minnesota Public Radio first reported Walz’s exaggerated claims. A Chadron Record news report from April 1989 shows Walz would be leaving for China in August 1989. An Alliance Times-Herald news report from May 1989 shows then-Staff Sgt. Walz toured a Nebraska Army National Guard armory. The local news radio station also reported that in another Nebraska newspaper in August 1989, Walz said he would “leave Sunday en route to China.” 

As Minnesota governor, Walz has made several educational trips to China dating back to the late 1980s. In 2016, Walz claimed to have traveled to China “about 30 times” but his campaign admitted to Minnesota Public Radio it was “closer to 15.”  

Vance was asked about his criticisms of Trump before going on to vote for him for president and now serving as his running mate, and whether Americans can trust that he will give Trump the advice he needs to hear rather than wants.

“I was wrong about Donald Trump,” he said, and accused the media of spreading false stories about Trump that he believed.

Vance said he supports Trump because he “delivered for the American people,” but conceded he believes Trump’s first term could’ve been better if Republicans and Democrats in Congress focused more on governing.

“They were so obsessed with impeaching Donald Trump, they couldn’t actually govern,” he said.

Vance criticized Trump as “unfit” and said he “could be America’s Hitler” in the run-up to the 2016 election.

Vance was asked why he has seemingly softened his stance on a national abortion ban. 

Vance told the moderators he “never supported a national ban.” But in 2022, when he was running for Senate, Vance said he “certainly would like abortion to be illegal nationally.” 

The senator did acknowledge talking about setting some type of national standard in 2022. Vance mentioned that last year, Ohio voters passed an amendment protecting the right to an abortion, a position Vance opposed. Vance said that taught him that Republicans “have got to do a better job of winning back people’s trust.”

Women often see an unplanned pregnancy as something that will cripple them financially or deter their career, he said, and the Trump-Vance team wants to prove they are committed to “pro-family policies.” 

Walz was asked to respond to Trump’s claim that he supports abortion in the ninth month of pregnancy, saying the “accusation wasn’t true.”  Walz touted Minnesota codifying abortion rights in 2023 after the Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade. 

“In Minnesota, what we did was restore Roe v. Wade. We made sure that we put women in charge of their health care,” he said. 

Then he warned of what he believes will happen under a Trump presidency. 

“Project 2025 is going to have a registry of pregnancies. It’s going to get more difficult, if not impossible, to get contraception and limit access, if not eliminate access, to infertility treatments.” 

He also pushed back on the argument that Democrats are “pro-abortion,” saying they are “pro-women.” 

“We’re pro-freedom to make your own choice,” Walz said. 

In his own response on how to combat gun violence, Walz said his 17-year-old witnessed a shooting at a community center and meeting with families of the victims of the 2012 shooting in Sandy Hook Elementary School while serving in Congress.

“This is just your biggest nightmare,” he said of parents.

Walz reiterated that he is a hunter and owns guns, as does Harris.

“We understand that the Second Amendment is there but our first responsibility is to our kids to figure this out,” he said.

Walz touted his record in Minnesota on the issue of gun violence, where there are enhanced background checks and red-flag laws in place.

“There are reasonable things that we can do to make a difference,” he said. “It’s not infringing on your Second Amendment.”

Walz spoke directly to viewers to ask whether they would like schools to be hardened to resemble a fort and said the nation’s leaders owe it to American children to enact policies to combat gun violence.

“These are things that shouldn’t be that difficult, you can still keep your firearms and we can make a difference. We have to,” he said.

Vance said that in order to address mass shootings in schools, the U.S. needs to buckle down on border security, and strengthen safety in schools.

“But what do we do about the schools — what do we do to protect our kids?” Vance said. “And I think the answer is, and I say this not loving the answer, because I don’t want my kids to go to school in 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.”

“We have to make the doors lock better, we have to make the doors stronger, we’ve got to make the windows stronger, and of course we’ve got to increase school resource officers,” Vance said, adding that there’s no way to wave a wand and hope bad people with guns disappear. 

Vance also said he trusts local law authorities to decide whether parents should be held responsible in certain cases where minors shoot in schools. 

“We know, unfortunately, that a lot of kids are going to experience this terrible epidemic of gun violence and of course, our hearts go out to the families that are affected by this terrible stuff, and we do have to do better,” Vance said. 

Walz said Harris’ campaign promise to give first-time homebuyers as much as $25,000 in assistance is not a hand out.

“The problem we’ve had is that we’ve got a lot of folks that see housing as another commodity. It can be bought up, it can be shifted, it can be moved around,” Walz said, noting that he’s only owned one home his entire life.

“We need to make it more affordable,” he said. “People with stable housing end up with stable jobs. People with stable housing have their kids be able to get to school, all of those things, in the long run, end up saving our money.” 

Vance claimed that migrants who are in the country unlawfully are driving up the cost of housing in the U.S. and pinned the blame on Harris.

“It’s why we have massive increases in home prices that have happened right alongside massive increases in illegal alien populations under Kamala Harris’ leadership,” he said.

Vance continued: “Kamala Harris is not running as a newcomer to politics. She is the sitting vice president. If she wants to enact all of these policies to make housing more affordable, I invite her to use the office that the American people already gave her, not sit around and campaign and do nothing while Americans find the American dream of home ownership unaffordable.”

The Ohio senator said the cost of gas has also led to an increase in prices.

“If we open up American energy, you will get immediate pricing relief for American citizens,” he said.

Vance had been asked about Trump’s plan to seize federal land in order to build more houses and where land would be taken. Asked again, the Republican candidate reiterated that there is government-owned land that is sitting unused.

“We should be opening up building in this country. We have a lot of land that could be used,” he said.

Vance: “You’ve got housing that is totally unaffordable, because we have brought in millions of illegal immigrants to compete with Americans for scarce homes.”

Partially true, needs context

Details: Research indicates that a growth in immigration under the Biden administration is one factor fueling housing demand. However, the housing shortage in the U.S. of an estimated 1.5 million to 7 million housing units has been a longstanding issue since the Great Recession, when the number of homes being built plummeted. Fewer new homes were built in the 10 years ending in 2018 than in any decade since the 1960s, according to Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac. 

Asked how a second Trump administration would protect Americans with pre-existing conditions who were able to secure health insurance coverage through the Affordable Care Act, Vance said there are laws and regulations on the books that should be kept in place. But the Republican vice presidential hopeful said the functionality of the health insurance marketplace also needs to be improved.

The Ohio senator praised Trump for preserving access to coverage for patients with pre-existing conditions and accused Democrats of making false claims about his record.

“He did his job, which is govern in a bipartisan way and get results, not just complain about problems but solve them,” he said.

The Affordable Care Act, signed into law in 2010, prohibits insurance companies from denying coverage to a patient because of a pre-existing condition. Republicans, at Trump’s behest, tried to repeal Obamacare in 2017, the first year of his presidency, but the late Sen. John McCain cast the deciding vote that killed the effort.

Vance was asked how much paid family leave should be mandated, and how a Trump-Vance administration would approach the issue. He said the nation should “have a family care model that makes choice possible.” 

The senator from Ohio said families need flexibility to receive child care from a local church, or pair up with other families. Vance said the reason child care is so expensive now is far too few people are providing the service.

Vance said he speaks about this topic “very personally” because he’s married to a “very, very brilliant corporate litigator.” She had access to paid family leave because she worked for a large company, but many don’t have the option. 

Vance said he thinks the U.S. could do a “heck of a lot better” than being the only wealthy nation without paid family leave. 

Walz said paid family leave is beneficial for families because it “gets the child off to a better start.” 

“The family works better. They stay with their employers. We get more consistency in that. So Kamala Harris has made it a priority,” he said. 

When asked how long employers should be required to pay workers for parental leave, Walz said “that’s negotiable,” suggesting it could be up to Congress to decide.

Turning to the issue of democracy and whether Vance would seek to change the results of the November election, Vance said the focus needs to be on the future and making housing and groceries more affordable for the American people.

“What President Trump has said is that there were problems in 2020 and my own belief is we should fight about those issues, debate those issues peacefully in the public square,” Vance said.

The Ohio senator said Trump wanted protesters to remain peaceful on Jan. 6, 2021, when Congress convened at the U.S. Capitol to tally electoral votes and reaffirm President Biden’s win in the 2020 election.

A mob of Trump’s supporters breached the U.S. Capitol building, promoting the evacuation of lawmakers and then-Vice President Mike Pence. More than 1,400 people have been charged with federal crimes stemming from the Jan. 6 attack, and court filings indicate many carried weapons including guns, knives, stun guns and bear spray.

The Ohio senator also said Trump “peacefully” handed over the presidency to Mr. Biden. The former president did not attend the Biden inauguration on Jan. 20, 2021, becoming the first outgoing president in 150 years to skip the transfer of presidential power.

Vance said he believes the biggest threat to democracy is “the threat of censorship” and accused Harris and Walz of advocating for social media companies to censor users who spread misinformation online. 

“Let’s persuade one another. Let’s argue about ideas and then let’s come together afterwards,” he said.

Walz refuted Vance’s characterization of Jan. 6, and said challenges to the election results had been adjudicated by dozens of federal judges. Trump and Republicans were unsuccessful in all of the battleground states where they brought legal challenges.

“This one is troubling to me. We need to tell the story,” he said of Jan. 6, noting that 140 police officers were injured at the Capitol after Trump claimed the election had been stolen from him.

The Minnesota governor said democracy is “bigger than winning an election.”

“You shake hands and then you try and do everything you can to help the other side win. That’s what was at stake here,” he said, later adding that “a president’s words matter.”

Walz said the Jan. 6 attack marked the first time in U.S. history that a sitting president tried to overturn the results of an election and subvert the peaceful transfer of power, and said what transpired on Jan. 6 is an issue that he and Vance were “miles apart on.”

“This was a threat to our democracy in a way that we have not seen and it manifested itself because of Donald Trump’s inability to say — he is still saying he didn’t lose the election,” the Democratic vice presidential candidate said.

Walz asked Vance whether Trump lost the 2020 election, which his Republican opponent declined to answer directly and instead questioned whether Harris censored Americans on social media during the COVID-19 pandemic. Walz said Vance’s deflection was a “damning non-answer.”

Walz noted that Pence isn’t on the debate stage as Trump’s running mate because he bucked pressure to unilaterally toss out state electoral votes and overturn the election results.

In his closing remarks, Walz said he was “surprised as anybody” at the broad coalition of support that Harris has built, which includes progressives and Republicans. 

“Support of democracy matters,” he said “It matters that you’re here. I’m as surprised as anybody of this coalition that Kamala Harris has built, from Bernie Sanders to Dick Cheney to Taylor Swift and a whole bunch of folks in between there.” 

He said voters “know who Donald Trump is” and Vance “made it clear he will stand with Donald Trump’s agenda.” 

“Kamala Harris is bringing us a politics of joy,” he said. “She’s bringing real solutions for the middle class, and she’s centering you at the heart of that.” 

Vance began his closing statement by thanking Walz and viewers. 

The senator from Ohio said key needs like heat, housing and food have become harder to afford because of Harris’ policies. Vance said he believes the U.S. is a “rich and prosperous enough” country that people should be able to turn on the heat at night, provide a meal for their families and buy a home. 

“That’s gotten harder because of Kamala Harris’ policies,” he said. 

Vance said Harris is proposing a lot of things she wants to accomplish on day one, but “she’s been the vice president for three-and-a-half years.”

“Day one was 1,400 days ago,” Vance said.