The vice presidential candidates offered starkly different visions for the country on Tuesday and argued over their qualifications in their first and only debate before Election Day.
Ohio Republican Sen. J.D. Vance, who is with former President Donald Trump, and Democratic Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz, an aide to Vice President Kamala Harris, stuck to their practiced, scripted remarks to answer many questions, though they veered away from discussing issues more than once.
Here are 10 telling moments from vice presidential debatemoderated by “CBS Evening News” anchor Norah O’Donnell and “Face the Nation” moderator Margaret Brennan at CBS studios in New York:
Vance on his previous negative comments about Trump: “When you screw up, when you say something wrong, when you make a mistake and change your mind, you should be honest with the American people about it. Margaret, one of the reasons I’ve done so many interviews is because I think it’s important to really explain to the American people where I’m coming from on these issues and what’s changed.”
“I have been incredibly consistent in saying that I thought there were a lot of things we could have done better in the Trump administration in the first round if Congress had done its job.”
Walz on bipartisan immigration bill and threats against Haitian immigrants: “We could come together and solve this problem if we didn’t let Donald Trump continue to make it an issue. The consequence of this in Springfield (Ohio) was that the governor had to send state law enforcement to escort the kindergartners to school.”
Vance in the legislative branch: “Congress is not just a high-class debating society. This is not just a forum where senators and congressmen can complain about problems. This is a forum for governing. So there were a lot of things on the border, like tariffs, that I think we could have done a lot more on if the Republican Congress and the Democrats in the Congress had been a little bit better about how they run the country. “
Walz on access to infertility treatment: “Infertility treatment is the reason I’m having a baby. It’s not anyone else’s business.
Vance on reproductive rights: “I want us as the Republican Party to be pro-family in the fullest sense of the word. I want us to support infertility treatment. I want us to make it easier for mothers to have children. I want it to be easier for newborn families to afford a house, so they can afford a place to raise their family. “I think we can do a lot in public policy to give women more opportunities.”
Walz on trade and tariffs: “Look, I’m a union member on this. I’m not a guy who wants to ship things overseas. But I get it, look, we produce soybeans and corn; we must have truthful trading partners. It’s something we believe in. “I think what worries me most about this issue is that Donald Trump was the person who created the largest trade deficit in American history with China.”
Vance on the national health policy debate: “You are not going to propose a 900-page bill standing on a debate stage. It would bore everyone to tears and it wouldn’t really matter because bilateral negotiations are part of it.
Walz on previously saying he was in China during the Tiananmen Square massacre: “Sometimes I’m a fool.”
Vance on housing shortages: “Donald Trump said we have a lot of federal land that is not being used for anything, is not being used for a national park… and could be places where we build a lot of housing. And I really think we should open up to building in this country.
Walz on the peaceful transfer of power after the elections: “So America, I think you have a really clear choice in this election, who will honor this democracy and who will honor Donald Trump.”
