Vice Presidential Debate Between Tim Walz and JD Vance: What You Should Know

In a few days, Donald Trump and Kamala Harris’s two vice presidential candidates, Ohio Senator JD Vance and Minnesota Governor Tim Walz, will take the stage for their debate, while in some states voters are already casting their votes in the neck-and-neck presidential race.

The vice presidential candidates have a lot at stake in the debate scheduled for Tuesday, October 1, and they will present to undecided voters in swing states – albeit from the Democratic stronghold of New York City – issues that have shaped the 2020 campaign, including the economy, immigration and reproductive rights.

It happened just weeks after the first and probably only debate between Trump and Harris in Philadelphia. Harris was widely seen as the winner of the debate and had a small lead in the polls. But the race remains close, with only razor-thin differences separating the two candidates in the swing states.

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How are Vance and Walz preparing for the debate?

Vance and Walz are expected to spend this week preparing for the debate.

Vance has asked Representative Tom Emmer of Minnesota to step in as Walz while he prepares for the debate. The New York Times was reported on Monday.

Meanwhile, Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg is representing Vance in preparation for Walz’s debate in Minneapolis, ABC News reported.

Who moderates the VP debate?

The debate will be broadcast on television by CBS News. The show is hosted by Norah O’Donnell, CBS Evening News Moderator and Editor-in-Chief, and Margaret Brennan, Face the nation Moderator and foreign correspondent, the network announced in a press release.

It is scheduled to begin at 9 p.m. and can be streamed live on “all platforms where CBS News 24/7 and Paramount+ are available,” according to the press release. Further details on the format and specifics are expected to be announced in the coming days.

What to look out for during the Walz-Vance debate

Vance and Walz will compete to win over undecided voters, a crucial voting bloc, just about a month before Election Day. Both will emphasize their Midwestern roots to appeal to voters in the three Rust Belt swing states – Michigan, Pennsylvania and Wisconsin – where the election is likely to be decided.

Vance will likely try to connect Walz with the more progressive wing of the Democratic Party that has pushed Harris to choose him over other potential candidates. He will likely attack Walz on issues like inflation and immigration, which are sore spots for Democrats.

Walz, meanwhile, is likely to draw attention to Vance’s statements on cultural issues such as abortion and LGBTQ+ rights. Reproductive rights in particular have proven to be a major issue for Democrats, and Vance’s anti-abortion position could alienate swing voters, Democrats believe.

In particular, Walz is credited with crafting a key attack that Democrats used against the Trump campaign.

The governor called Vance and Trump “weird” during an appearance on MSNBC in early August, a refrain that quickly proved hot among Democrats and has since been repeated frequently. The attack underscores a key attempt by Democrats to portray the Trump campaign as out of touch on social issues, as polls suggest most voters broadly support LGBTQ+ and abortion rights, with some qualifications.

Newsweek has emailed Harris and Trump’s campaign teams for comment.

What do the polls say before the debate?

Just a week before the debate, Harris was leading Trump in the polls by a razor-thin margin.

As of Monday, Harris was only 2.8 percentage points ahead of Trump, according to FiveThirtyEight poll results. Harris was even closer in Michigan, Nevada, Pennsylvania and Wisconsin, while Trump was ahead on average in Arizona, Georgia and North Carolina.

A New York Times/A Siena College poll released Sunday showed Trump leading among likely voters in three key Sunbelt and Southern states, with a 5-point lead in Arizona (48 percent to 43 percent), a 3-point lead in Georgia (47 percent to 44 percent) and a 2-point lead in North Carolina (47 percent to 45 percent).

The poll was conducted September 17-21 among 713 likely voters in Arizona, 682 likely voters in Georgia and 682 likely voters in North Carolina.

A YouGov/CBS News poll showed Harris leading Trump by 4 percentage points nationally (52 percent to 48 percent). 3,129 likely voters were surveyed from September 18-20. An Emerson College/The Hill According to a poll of 1,000 likely voters conducted September 15-18, Harris is ahead by one percentage point nationwide (50 percent to 49 percent).

Will there be further debates?

There has been only one debate between the presidential candidates of both parties so far in the election cycle, fewer than in any other election in recent history, sparking calls for another debate between Trump and Harris.

Harris has committed to a CNN debate against Trump on October 23, but Trump has signaled that he is not interested in another debate. At a rally in Wilmington, North Carolina, he told his supporters that it was “simply too late” and that “voting has already begun.”

Early voting has already begun in several states, including Minnesota, South Dakota, Vermont and Virginia, and will begin in Illinois this week.