2024 VP debate live updates: What to expect from Vance and Walz

JD Vance and Tim Walz meet Tuesday night in the first and only vice presidential debate of the 2024 campaign.

Historically, the face-off between running mates hasn’t mattered in terms of the outcome in November. Nevertheless, vice presidential debates have yielded some of the most memorable political moments in recent history.

For many, the evening will serve as an introduction to Ohio Sen. Vance and Minnesota Gov. Walz. In a recent survey by the Pew Research Center, roughly a quarter of those polled said they had never heard of the two men.

Los Angeles Times columnists Lorraine Ali, Mark Z. Barabak, Anita Chabria and Doyle McManus will be watching the debate live, discussing the highlights and lowlights as they happen.

How to watch the debate| Debate moderators| What to know

5:45 p.m.: Can JD Vance feign normalcy for 90 minutes? What will it take for Tim Walz to appear more folksy than he already does? Coveralls? A wrench in one hand, and a Farmer’s Almanac in the other?

So many deep questions heading into tonight’s debate between the senator from Ohio and the Minnesota governor. The name of the game is appealing to working-class voters in the “blue wall” states of Pennsylvania, Michigan and Wisconsin (the rest of us are superfluous), but what that looks like depends on the candidate. Is it about demonizing immigrants or big business? Lamenting abortion bans or the high price of eggs and milk?

Breaking news also presents challenges. Who will dare to go near the expanding war in the Middle East, where Israel just launched a ground invasion into Lebanon and Iran launched missiles toward Israel? Gaza has been a hot potato on the campaign trail, and this is a conflict that the winning party will inherit.

And remember, this is a VP debate so the potential is high for it to be about as exciting as watching your dog sleep. Consider memorable outtakes of past VP debates: Former Wisconsin Rep. Paul Ryan nervously drinking copious amounts of water during his debate with VP incumbent Joe Biden in 2012 (see the “SNL” sketch), or the fly that lodged itself in former Vice President Mike Pence’s hair as he sparred with Harris in 2020 (see the “SNL” sketch).

But with an incredibly tight election on the horizon, this could be the rare VP debate that makes an impact — or lends itself to another great “SNL” sketch.

—Lorraine Ali

5:30 p.m.: In the battle of Midwestern dads, I think we’ll see each one try to steal a little mojo from the other. JD Vance will try to come across as amiable and reasonable (a ginormous stretch after his Springfield rants) while Tim Walz will try to go tougher and throw some not-so-pleasant-guy punches against Vance, and Donald Trump.

How that switch lands with viewers will determine the winner. Do we like a bully who can play nice, or a nice guy who can take on a bully? I’ll let you figure out who is who.

Along with the usual topics — immigration, abortion and the economy — current events, including Tuesday’s attack on Israel by Iran and the federal response to the devastation of Hurricane Helene, will likely pop up.

But enough guessing, here we go.

—Anita Chabria

5:20: p.m.: The most important thing to remember about a vice presidential debate is that the two candidates onstage aren’t really running against each other. They’re just surrogates (OK, super-surrogates). Their main job is to represent the candidates at the top of the tickets.

That’s why Lloyd Bentsen’s “Jack Kennedy” line, while brilliant, didn’t affect the election of 1988. It’s why campaign insiders consider Joe Biden’s solid 2012 performance against Paul Ryan a model to emulate, even though it didn’t feature any memorable quips. Biden made a better case for his boss, then-President Barack Obama, than Obama had made in his lackluster first debate against Mitt Romney

So Tim Walz’s main mission is to make the most effective case he can for a Harris presidency, and remind voters of everything they dislike about Donald Trump. JD Vance’s mission is to make the case for a Trump presidency and reinforce undecided voters’ doubts about Harris.

I’d expect Vance to spend most of his time talking up Trump’s first-term economy and attacking both Harris and Vance as “dangerously liberal.” Polls suggest those have been the Trump campaign’s most effective messages to the few remaining undecided voters.

And I’d expect Walz to deliver a folksy explanation of Harris’ economic plan and a middle-class attack on Trump’s economic proposals (tax cuts for corporations, high tariffs that would push prices up).

Wild Card: Will Walz remind voters that Trump is 78 years old (in contrast to Harris’ youthful-by-current-standards 59), making it more possible that Vance, with his weird views on childless cat ladies, could end up in the Oval Office?

—Doyle McManus

5:10 p.m.: Allow me to kick things off with some thoughts on what I’ll be watching for, then you all can chime in.

As noted, it’s virtually certain that nothing said or done at CBS News headquarters in New York will matter a whole lot once the studio lights fade. Recall, from 1988, Dan Quayle and the infamous “You’re no Jack Kennedy” rejoinder, which Democrat Lloyd Bentsen leveled after the youthful Quayle compared himself to the youthful president. The gibe blew Quayle off the debate stage; then, just a few weeks later, Republicans won the White House in a landslide.

That said, it could be an interesting and, dare I say, entertaining evening — depending on your tastes in entertainment. Tim Walz and JD Vance share a Midwestern pedigree and that’s pretty much it.

Walz is all avuncular, with his can-I-help-shovel-your-walk approachability and good cheer. His attacks — “They’re weird!” — tend to singe, not burn. Will he take a more aggressive tack tonight?

Vance has certainly given him plenty to work with, whether it’s his denigrating remarks about “childless cat ladies” or the phony horror stories he’s conjured about supposedly pet-eating Haitian immigrants in Springfield, Ohio.

Vance, who’s approached his understudy role with fists up and teeth bared, seems to have the tougher challenge of the two, making himself appear more likable while taking on Walz and, especially, Kamala Harris.
But maybe Vance doesn’t care about his popularity with voters beyond the MAGA base. He may simply play to an audience of one, Donald Trump, who only has one mode and one method: attack, attack, attack.

—Mark Z. Barabak