It’s the cool thing to say that a vice presidential debate doesn’t matter in the sense that it has never changed the outcome of an election, and thus the course of history. But in an election cycle that is like none other, where the polls barely budge and the race is razor-tight, what happens on the debate stage Tuesday night could be consequential.
It has the makings of a Saturday Night Live skit: When a governor and a senator meet to trade barbs, and one has called the other “weird,” and they’re both vets, having volunteered to serve their country, yet one accuses the other of exaggerating his record, calling it “stolen valor,” a serious charge in the military.
If you’ve read this far, you know which is which, and one of them will head to the White House to serve as vice president. What they say and how they conduct themselves in Tuesday evening’s debate could help propel the ticket they’re on—or pose a speed bump in the presidential race.
The two men have never met face to face, and their animus for each other is palpable. JD Vance, in the Senate for less than two years and new to politics, didn’t appreciate being called “weird,” a label that went viral. Likewise, Tim Walz, a former public school teacher and coach with a long record of public service, didn’t appreciate being called out for exaggeration.
These are potent weapons they have deployed on the campaign trail. Will they go after each other face to face—and will it matter?
Vance enters the fray with twice as many voters who dislike him than like him. His negatives have only climbed since he was named to the ticket in July. His goal is not to win over voters for the GOP ticket but to score points against the other side by hammering Walz for the allegedly wacko liberal positions he shares with Vice President Harris.
Vance has a lot on the line as Donald Trump’s rightful heir should their ticket win in November. In addition to Trump’s advanced age, he would be term-limited, an instant lame duck with Vance in the post position for 2028.
Walz is popular, that increasingly rare politician who has more admirers than detractors. With Harris tantalizingly close to winning the presidency but having difficulty closing the sale, Walz radiates the normal guy everyday common sense that makes the Trump team’s charges of extreme liberalism fall flat. “Cares about people like me” is the category where Walz, born in West Point, Nebraska, excels in a Democratic Party needing to reach beyond the elites.
Watching these two men spar will be entertaining, and there’s nothing wrong with that. Everything doesn’t have to be about saving democracy.
And the outcome of the debate doesn’t dictate the outcome of the election. With that in mind, these are some of the memorable moments in the history of vice presidential debates.
George Bush and Geraldine Ferraro shake hands.
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1984: Vice President George H.W. Bush versus New York Rep. Geraldine Ferraro, the first woman to appear on a national party ticket. Their debate is remembered for Bush’s patronizing attitude. “Let me help you with the difference, Ms. Ferraro, between Iran and the embassy in Lebanon.”
In her response, Ferraro tried to take Bush to task, saying, “Let me just say, first of all, that I almost resent, Vice President Bush, your patronizing attitude; that you have to teach me about foreign policy.” Though her words seem mild today, they shook the political world then, prompting the veep’s outspoken wife, Barbara Bush, to declare that she’d like to call Ferraro something that “rhymes with the word rich.”
Bush then boasted at a rally, “We tried to kick a little ass last night,” kicking off a gender war that showed up in the assessment of the debate with male viewers saying Bush had won, and female viewers declaring Ferraro the winner.
1988: Democratic Sen. Lloyd Bentsen’s smackdown of Republican Sen. Dan Quayle, who liked to compare his quick ascent at a young age to that of JFK. “Senator, I knew Jack Kennedy, Jack Kennedy was a friend of mine, and you’re no Jack Kennedy.”
2004: Republican Vice President Dick Cheney versus Democrat John Edwards. The two men were seated next to each other, creating a more intimate setting when Edwards brought up the sexual orientation of one of Cheney’s daughters. It was not a secret about Mary Cheney, but the vice president was furious. In his defense, Edwards said at a news conference, “All I did was say that the vice president and his family, like millions of other families, should be applauded for embracing all their family members.”
Mary Cheney wrote in an account of the 2004 campaign in her book, Now It’s My Turn: A Daughter’s Chronicle of Political Life, published in 2006, that when she heard Edwards congratulate her parents on how they had “embraced” their daughter, all she and her mother and sister could conclude is that “he was complete and total slime.”
Sarah Palin, left, and Joe Biden (R) walk on stage following their vice presidential debate on October 2, 2008 at Washington University in St. Louis, Missouri.
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2008: Then-Sen. Joe Biden versus Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin. It was a friendly encounter with Biden, a politician with decades of experience, carefully avoiding the trap of seeming to patronize Palin and aiming most of his firepower at the top of the ticket, John McCain. Palin helped set the tone for the exchange, asking a smiling Biden at the outset, “Can I call you Joe?”
Palin did fine against Biden. It wasn’t the debate that destroyed her credibility as a running mate for McCain, whose older age was an issue against the fortysomething Barack Obama. McCain might have won that race with a more substantial VP candidate.
The fly that landed on Mike Pence in his debate against Kamala Harris in Kingsbury Hall at the University of Utah on October 7, 2020, in Salt Lake City, Utah.
Eric Baradat/AFP via Getty Images
2020: Finally, Republican Mike Pence against Kamala Harris, and a pesky fly that circled around Pence and landed in his white hair as he demonstrated the extraordinary stoicism that characterized his four years as Trump’s vice president. The fact that nobody remembers anything else from that debate should keep us all humble.
2024: With humility also comes the awareness that this is a time like no other, and these two men are stand-ins for the top of the ticket. What they say and do can sway a race that is teetering in the balance. In an outcome that will be decided by thousands, not millions, in seven states, not fifty, Walz and Vance will be talking to those voters about the American Dream, and whether it’s as dark and frayed as Trump says it is—or whether it’s within our grasp, as Harris claims, to take the country forward.
The extent to which Walz can find the words to articulate the vision Harris embodies could swing this debate in her favor. If it’s the last word, may it be the hopeful words of a coach spurring his team to victory. This is America, the best is yet to come, there’s no problem we can’t solve. Joy and optimism are the winning hand.
