Barring a late addition to the schedule, Tuesday night’s vice presidential debate between J.D. Vance and Tim Walz could be the last debate of the 2024 campaign between the Republican and Democratic tickets.
Both Vance, a GOP senator from Ohio, and Walz, the Democratic governor of Minnesota, have embraced the traditional role of attack dog for the person at the top of the ticket. That could be on full display during the vice presidential debate in New York hosted by CBS News.
Although conventional wisdom says the matchup between the candidates with second billing on the ticket seldom have much impact, polls are so tight that it could sway voters on the margins. It also could be the last head-to-head matchup between the tickets because Vice President Kamala Harris, the Democratic presidential nominee, and former President Donald Trump, the Republican nominee, haven’t agreed to a second meeting.
A new AP-NORC poll found that Walz is better liked than Vance, potentially giving the Republican an added challenge.
Although Vance has said he didn’t “have to prepare that much” for the debate because he had “well-developed views on public policy,” he had been doing debate prep sessions with his wife, Usha Vance, senior aides, and Rep. Tom Emmer, R-Minn., who has played Walz, according to a person familiar with his preparations who requested anonymity to discuss strategy.
Walz’s debate prep included sessions hunkered down in a Minneapolis hotel, with Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg standing in for Vance, according to a person familiar with the process who requested anonymity to discuss the campaign’s internal dynamics.
Follow the AP’s Election 2024 coverage at: https://apnews.com/hub/election-2024.
Here’s the latest:
Trump campaigns in battleground Wisconsin ahead of VP debate
Trump was scheduled to speak about the economy Tuesday in the critical swing state of Wisconsin.
The former president was visiting a manufacturing facility in Waunakee, a suburb of Wisconsin’s capital city of Madison in the Democratic stronghold of Dane County. Later he planned to hold an event at a museum in the state’s largest city of Milwaukee, with hopes of reaching that city’s conservative suburbs, where his support has softened.
Dane County, the location of Trump’s first stop, is Wisconsin’s fastest-growing county and an economic engine for the state, fueled by jobs in the health care and tech industries. It is also home to the University of Wisconsin.
“President Trump’s appearance will be a big shot in the arm for demoralized conservatives here,” the Dane County Republican Party Chairman Brandon Maly posted on X, the social media platform, when the visit was announced. He has said Trump must get at least 23% of the vote in Dane County to have a chance of winning statewide.
Democratic presidential candidates have long come to Dane County to hold massive rallies to fire up the base. Harris campaigned there on Sept. 20, holding a rally in Madison that attracted more than 10,000 people.
Presidential candidates modify campaign plans due to Hurricane Helene
In the aftermath of Hurricane Helene, Harris cut short a campaign visit to Las Vegas to return to Washington for briefings while Trump headed to Georgia to see the storm’s impact.
