Reactions roll in for VP debate as critics give Vance a win over Walz

Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz has made it a point multiple times to remind Americans that he was once an assistant high school football coach since being selected as Vice President Kamala Harris' running mate. 

However, during the vice presidential debate Tuesday night, he let everyone in on the details of another sport he engaged in after practice when he worked at Mankato West High School. 

During a segment on gun control policies, Walz claimed that when he worked as a football coach at Mankato West, he kept a shotgun in his car so he could hunt pheasants after practice. 

"I’m of an age where my shotgun was in my car so I could pheasant hunt after football practice," Walz said. 

The statement came when Walz was asked if he would support an assault weapons ban after previously opposing such a measure. Walz, who was previously an NRA ally, said his stance on gun control changed after meeting the parents of Sandy Hook victims and befriending school shooters. 

"Yeah, I sat in that office with those Sandy Hook parents. I’ve become friends with school shooters. I’ve seen it. Look, the NRA, I was NRA guy for a long time. They used to teach gun safety," Walz said. 

Walz's hobby of hunting pheasants is something he has spoken and bragged about in the past. In July, Walz bragged that his pheasant-shooting skills were superior to Vance during an interview on "Anderson Cooper 360."

"That’s what JD Vance’s stick is, talking about guns. I guarantee you he can’t shoot pheasants like I can," Walz said. 

Walz is also one of the main organizers of his state's Governor’s Pheasant Hunting Opener. He celebrated the 2023 event last October, when he declared himself a life-long pheasant hunter. 

This is an excerpt from an article by Fox News' Jackson Thompson

Ohio Sen. JD Vance’s argument that the U.S. needed to "stop the bleeding" at the border during Tuesday’s debate elicited a mixed response from voters.

"Before we talk about deportations, we have to stop the bleeding," Vance argued during Tuesday’s debate. "We have a historic immigration crisis because Kamala Harris started and said that she wanted to undo all of Donald Trump’s border policies."

According to Fox News debate dials, which measure how Republican, Democrat, and independent voters are responding to particular answers by candidates during the debate, the response by Vance received mixed responses.

While Republican views of Vance’s answers had an immediate positive response, Democratic viewers of the debate went in an opposite direction, the dials showed. Independents, meanwhile, hovered around 50% approval with Vance’s answer.

Voters began to see Vance’s response in a more positive light when he touched on former President Donald Trump’s border policies, arguing that the next administration should return to handling the border similar to how Trump did during his four years in office.

House Speaker Mike Johnson slammed the CBS News Vice Presidential Debate moderators for their "shameless" fact-checking of Sen. JD Vance, calling them out for having anti-conservative bias on "open display."

"It's just shameless," Johnson said during "Fox & Friends" on Wednesday. "Their bias, their disdain for any Republican candidate is just on open display. Everybody can see that… It was three against one and JD still won."

Despite CBS announcing that it would not allow live fact-checking during the debate, moderator Margaret Brennan interjected to correct Vance after he suggested that illegal immigrants are overwhelming resources in Springfield, Ohio.

"Just to clarify for our viewers, Springfield, Ohio does have a large number of Haitian migrants who have legal status, temporary protected status," Brennan said.

When Vance tried to push back on the fact-check, Brennan and her co-moderator Norah O'Donnell attempted to speak over Vance, insisting that they had to move on to the next question.

"The rules were that you guys weren't going to fact-check," Vance reminded them. "And since you are fact-checking me, I think it's important to say what's actually going on."

While explaining the process of obtaining legal status and tying it to a Harris-backed immigration policy, the moderators again spoke over Vance, thanking him for "describing the legal process" before they cut off his microphone as Democratic Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz attempted to argue with him.

"Senator, we have so much we have to get to, thank you so much for explaining the legal process," Brennan said before urging O'Donnell again to move on to the next question.

"The audience can't hear you because your mics are cut," she added when Vance continued to respond.

This is an excerpt from an article by Fox News' Bailee Hill

One of Republican vice presidential candidate JD Vance's biggest debate moments was when he explained his complete reversal of feelings about his running mate.

Vance was asked at the CBS News Vice Presidential Debate on Tuesday how he went from calling Trump potentially "America's Hitler" and an "idiot" to joining the former president's 2024 ticket.

"Sometimes, of course, I've disagreed with the president, but I've also been extremely open about the fact that I was wrong about Donald Trump. I was wrong, first of all, because I believed some of the media stories that turned out to be dishonest fabrications of his record," Vance said Tuesday night. 

He continued, "But most importantly, Donald Trump delivered for the American people rising wages, rising take-home pay, an economy that worked for normal Americans, a secure southern border. A lot of things, frankly, that I didn't think he'd be able to deliver on."

Fox News' Debate Dial audience feedback system showed viewers' approval rates shooting in different directions during Vance's explanation of how he came to be a Trump supporter. 

Republican audience approval surged past 80% and at one point even over 90%, maintaining solid support throughout Vance's statement.

Meanwhile, Democratic viewers expressed discontent – ratings from Democrats fell below 40% and at one point bottomed out near 20%.

Debate Dial data showed independents were more tempered in their reactions to the segment, hovering mostly between 40% and 60% approval.

This is an excerpt from an article by Fox News' Timothy Nerozzi

Voters in Fox News Digital's debate dial group had mixed reactions in real time to VP Harris' running mate, Gov. Tim Walz's argument in favor of abortion during the CBS News Vice Presidential Debate against Sen. JD Vance.

When Walz was asked whether he supports abortion up until the ninth month supported as Minnesota is one of the least restrictive states for abortion, he responded, "That's not what the bill says."

While Republican voters dipped significantly as Walz spoke, independent and Democratic voters stayed mostly in the approval zone.

"What we did is restore Roe v. Wade, we made sure that we put women in charge of their health care," Walz said.

Independents dipped slightly in approval while Democratic voters shot up during his statement. The two eventually evened out and stayed in the approval zone. 

"This is a basic human right," he later said.

The independent voters stayed slightly under the Democratic approval line, as Republicans significantly disapproved.

Republican, Democrat and independent voters reacted differently when Republican vice presidential nominee Sen. JD Vance of Ohio, stated that he and former President Trump support "clean air, clean water" while responding to a question on the CBS News Vice Presidential Debate stage about climate change, the Fox News Debate Dial showed. 

"Look, a lot of people are justifiably worried about all these crazy weather patterns. I think it's important for us, first of all, to say, Donald Trump and I support clean air, clean water. We want the environment to be cleaner and safer," Vance said.

The Fox News Debate Dial showed support among independents and Democrats dipping downward when Vance made that statement. Support among Republicans remained fairly consistent. 

But support among independent viewers began to rise again when Vance referenced how Democrats bring up carbon emissions when discussing climate change. 

"This idea that carbon emissions drives all of the climate change. Well, let's just say that's true just for the sake of argument. So we're not arguing about weird science. Let's just say that's true," Vance said. "Well, if you believe that, what would you -- would you want to do? The answer is that you'd want to reshore as much American manufacturing as possible, and you'd want to produce as much energy as possible in the United States of America, because we're the cleanest economy in the entire world." 

The dial for independents remained flat as Vance moved into criticizing Kamala Harris on energy policy. Support among Democrats took a dive by contrast. 

"What have Kamala Harris policies actually lead to more energy production in China, more manufacturing overseas, more doing business in some of the dirtiest parts of the entire world," Vance said. "When I say that, I mean the amount of carbon emissions they're doing per unit of economic output. So, if we actually care about getting cleaner air and cleaner water, the best thing to do is to double down and invest in American workers and the American people. And unfortunately, Kamala Harris has done exactly the opposite." 

This is an excerpt from an article by Fox News' Danielle Wallace

A focus group of Republicans, Democrats and independents reacted to former President Trump's running mate Sen. JD Vance's microphone being cut off during the CBS News Vice Presidential Debate on Tuesday night.

Independent and Republican voters disapproved of the interjection, but independent voters dipped significantly when Vance began explaining his stance.

Despite CBS announcing that it would not allow live fact-checking during the debate, moderator Margaret Brennan interjected to correct Vance after he suggested that illegal immigrants are overwhelming public resources in Springfield, Ohio.

"Just to clarify for our viewers, Springfield, Ohio does have a large number of Haitian migrants who have legal status, temporary protected status," Brennan said.

"The rules were that you guys weren't going to fact-check," Vance reminded them. "And since you are fact-checking me, I think it's important to say what's actually going on."

When Walz tried interjecting, independent approval also decreased for a brief moment. 

While explaining the process of obtaining legal status and tying it to a Harris-backed immigration policy, the moderators again spoke over Vance, thanking him for "describing the legal process" before they cut off his microphone as Democratic Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz attempted to argue with him.

A focus group of Democrats, independents and Republicans reacted to the moment when Gov. Tim Walz called himself a "knucklehead" for claiming to have been in Hong Kong during the Tiananmen Square massacre.

Moderators confronted Walz on the claim during the CBS News Vice Presidential Debate Tuesday night. Walz admitted that he only traveled to Asia in August 1989, several months after the April 15 massacre. The focus group found that voters were initially skeptical of Walz's answer, but he eventually recovered.

"Can you explain that discrepancy?" a moderator asked, as the focus group remained neutral.

"Look, I grew up in small rural Nebraska, a town of 400. A town that you rode your bikes with your buddies until the streetlights come on, and I'm proud of that service. I joined the national guard at 17, worked on family farms, and then I used the GI bill to become a teacher. Passionate about it. Young teacher. My first year out, I got the opportunity in the summer of '89 to travel to China--35 years ago, to be able to do that," Walz said.

"I came back home and started a program to take young people there. We would take basketball teams, we would take baseball teams, we would take dancers, and we would go back and forth to China," he added.

The focus group showed support from Republicans, independents and Democrats all going down for Walz during the first portion of his response.

However, Walz recovered among independents and Democrats when he went on to admit that he can be "a knucklehead at times."

Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz was not asked about several highly talked about news stories in the first and only vice presidential debate on Tuesday, including his military service, which Walz did not strongly invoke either. 

The CBS Vice Presidential Debate in New York City showcased the Republican and Democrat candidates answering questions on a variety of issues, but Walz's military service, which he has faced sharp criticism from Republicans and some veterans for allegedly embellishing, was not asked about.

Walz only briefly mentioned his military service during the debate when he was forced to correct the record on whether he was in China for the Tiananmen Square protests.

At another point in the debate, Walz referred to himself as a "good soldier."

Walz was also not asked during the debate about how many times he has visited China.

In the past, Walz has claimed he went "dozens of times" and once claimed he went "about 30 times." This week, the Harris-Walz campaign walked that back and said the actual number is "closer to 15 times."

Other questions Walz was not asked during the debate include his disputed claims about his wife's IVF treatment and his claim that he carried weapons "in war."

Despite CBS announcing that it would not allow live fact-checking during the debate, moderator Margaret Brennan interjected to correct Vance after he suggested that illegal immigrants are overwhelming resources in Springfield, Ohio.

This is an excerpt from an article by Fox News' Andrew Mark Miller

Members of the legacy media appear to agree that Democratic Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz underperformed at the CBS News Vice Presidential debate. 

"I think there was a clear lack of preparation and execution on Walz's part," CNN anchor Abby Phillip said. 

ABC News' Linsey Davis called out Walz's "uncomfortable, cringey moments," linking his debate performance to President Biden's disastrous showing at the CNN debate.

"It kind of reminded me of the June 27 debate when Kamala Harris said that night of Joe Biden ‘It was a slow start but a strong finish.’ And that's how I felt that Tim Walz kind of did tonight," Davis said. 

"Dems are fortunate presidential debates tend to matter a lot more than VP debates," Cook Political Report senior editor Dave Wasserman reacted on X.

"Where is the Tim Walz who went viral going after 'weird' Republicans? Not showing up on that debate stage so far tonight..." New Yorker staff writer Susan Glasser posted. 

"Gov. Walz is not prosecuting the case rather its a nicefest. If you agree with Vance on so much then why should we vote for you?" MSNBC host Symone Sanders Townsend asked the governor.  "Sen. Vance is giving revisionist history on Trump's agenda & what they would do & b/c the moderators are not fact checking...it sounds sane."

"Walz's answers are smart and substantive. But I hate to say it, the delivery is a bit off -- he's just not as engaging as he often is. Hoping he gets a little more energetic and less nervous as this goes on," liberal columnist Jill Filipovic said. 

This is an excerpt of an article by Fox News' Joseph Wulfsohn

Former Obama adviser David Axelrod called out Kamala Harris' vice presidential pick Tim Walz for dodging TV interviews, adding that he was "perplexed" as it put Walz at a disadvantage when it comes to the debate. 

The senior political commentator was asked by CNN host Jake Tapper about how Walz suddenly disappeared from television over the course of the campaign.

"I've been bewildered a little bit by the absence of both the presidential candidate and the vice presidential candidate on television since they became the nominees, because that's how people get to know you. And they haven't really spent a lot of time with either of them before now," Axelrod said.  

"He was all over before he became the nominee when he was campaigning for vice president," he added. 

Axelrod concluded that Walz put himself at a disadvantage. 

"So I also think that it may be a little bit of a problem for Waltz having not done this. Sitting with [the media] is good prep for debates. It's good batting practice for these events. Waltz has not been doing it. So I do question that," he said, "It's bewildering." 

Harris has taken heat for largely avoiding the press. For example, in the 72 days as the official Democratic nominee, she has yet to hold a single official press conference. 

This is an excerpt from an article by Fox News' Hannah Grossman

Ohio GOP Sen. JD Vance admitted to suffering from some nerves during his debate against Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz on Tuesday night.

Speaking to Fox News host Sean Hannity after the match-up, Vance brushed aside criticism of his opponent being visibly on edge, particularly at the beginning of the debate.

He also said Walz had a “tough job” having to represent Vice President Kamala Harris’ policy platform, which Republicans have painted as radically progressive.

“Honestly, I didn't notice it, man. Adrenaline's going so much, I was nervous,” Vance told Hannity when asked about Walz’s demeanor.

“Hell, like, I do a lot of these interviews, Sean, but I was nervous. It's the biggest stage of my life, so I didn't focus so much on his demeanor. I just tried to focus on what he was saying.

"And look, to be fair to Tim Walz, he had a very tough job, and that is to defend the policies of Kamala Harris.”

Sen. JD Vance, R-Ohio, cast doubt on President Biden's status as commander in chief in an interview with Sean Hannity on Fox News following the vice presidential debate on Tuesday night.

"Well, look, I think it's tough, Sean, because we don't have a president that we can actually trust," he said. "I don't even know who the president of the United States is."

"And that's one thing we didn't actually get into [at] the debate that I really wanted to hammer Kamala Harris on is that for three and a half years, America has been saddled with a president of United States who can't do the job."

He added that this is because Vice President Harris "lied and said he was up to the job of president. And of course he wasn't."

Vance debated Gov. Tim Walz, D-Minn., in their only face-off ahead of the election.

Republican lawmakers and top voices reacted as Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz and Ohio Sen. JD Vance faced-off in New York City.

"Senator JD Vance spitting the cold hard TRUTH on the debate stage," Trump 2024 national press secretary Karoline Leavitt wrote on X.

"Total domination and we are only 20 minutes in.

The debate in New York City on CBS News was Walz and Vance's only debate prior to the monumental election on Nov. 5.

"Tim Walz is as radical as they come on the issue of immigration," Rep. Tom Emmer, R-Minn., wrote on X.

"As governor of Minnesota, he supported free health care, free college tuition, and driver's licenses for illegal immigrants. Innocent Americans have been assaulted & murdered because of this border crisis."

"Tim Walz's answer on Israel was incomprehensible. Like Kamala--Walz has no idea what he is talking about," Sen. Tom Cotton, R-Ark., wrote on X.

"Kamala and Walz would make the chaos in the Middle East worse."

"Iran rained missiles down on Israel TODAY, 1,350 days into Kamala Harris’ tenure as Vice President, so naturally Tim Walz says it’s Donald Trump’s fault," Trump campaign senior adviser Tim Murtaugh wrote on X. 

Former President Trump led Republicans in congratulating Ohio GOP Sen. JD Vance’s performance in Tuesday night’s vice presidential debate.

“GREAT JOB JD — We will MAKE AMERICA GREAT AGAIN!” Trump wrote on his Truth Social app.

He told reporters during a campaign event in Wisconsin earlier that he wanted Vance to “have fun” when asked what advice he had for his running mate.

It comes after initial doubts by some within the GOP about whether Vance and Trump would be an appealing ticket to voters in November.

But Republicans are walking away from Vance’s debate against Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz with their heads held high, praising Vance for a measured and thoughtful performance.

On the Democratic side, however, allies of Vice President Kamala Harris are lauding Walz for an authentic showing at the debate while accusing Vance of lying on multiple occasions.

At one point, Harris campaign co-chair Rep. Robert Garcia posted an image to X of the Disney character Pinocchio, jokingly referring to the cartoon as Vance. 

Former Obama advisor David Axelrod is sending tips to Gov. Tim Walz on his suggestion that people should listen to experts on the economy over the former president.

"Tip to Walz: Hanging your hat on economic experts is leading with your chin. People are pretty jaundiced about "experts." Vance didn't miss that," Axelrod said in a post on X during the debate.

Walz said during the vice presidential debate against Sen. JD Vance that people should listen to experts when looking for solutions on key issues.

"You made a question about experts said this, I made a note of this, "economists can't be trusted. Science can't be trusted. National security folks can't be trusted" - Look, if you're going to be president, you don't have all the answers. Donald Trump believes he does. My pro tip of the day is this if you need heart surgery, listen to the people at the Mayo Clinic in Rochester, Minnesota, not Donald Trump," Walz said.

Vance hit back at the comment, saying that voters should listen to "common sense wisdom" over "experts."

"You say, trust the experts. But those same experts for 40 years said that if we shipped our manufacturing base off to China, we'd get cheaper goods. They lied about that. They said if we cheap shipped our industrial base off to other countries, to Mexico and elsewhere, it would make the middle class stronger. They were wrong about that. They were wrong about the idea that if we made America less self-reliant, less productive in our own nation, that it would somehow make us better off. And they were wrong about it. And for the first time in a generation, Donald Trump had the wisdom and the courage to say to that bipartisan consensus, we're not doing it anymore," Vance said. "Look so many of the drugs, the pharmaceuticals that we put in the bodies of our children are manufactured by nations that hate us. This has to stop, and we're not going to stop it by listening to experts. We're going to stop it by listening to common sense wisdom, which is what Donald Trump government."

Both Democrat Tim Walz and Republican JD Vance promised voters a new direction for the United States in their closing remarks at the vice presidential debate.

"Kamala Harris is bringing us a new way forward," Walz said. "She's bringing us a politics of joy. She's bringing real solutions for the middle class. And she's centering you at the heart of that, all the while asking everyone, join this movement. Make your voices heard."

Vance also gave a message of change to the voters.

"We need change. We need a new direction. We need a president who has already done this once before and did it well. Please vote for Donald Trump. And whether you vote for me or vote for Tim Walz. I just want to say I'm so proud to be doing this and I'm rooting for you."

Both candidates have been seeking to win the race to be seen as the change candidate, a race in which Harris may have a particularly difficult path due to her current role as vice president in the current administration.

Democrat vice presidential nominee Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz was forced to answer questions about his controversial travel to China, and misstatements about those trips, during Tuesday night’s debate. 

Walz has said he was in Hong Kong during the deadly Tiananmen Square protests in the spring of 1989. But Minnesota Public Radio and other media outlets are now reporting that Walz actually did not travel to China until August of that year. 

CBS News moderator Margaret Brennan asked Walz to explain the discrepancy. 

Walz said that as a "passionate young teacher" he had "the opportunity in the summer of ’89 to travel to China—35 years ago." 

"I came back home and then started a program to take young people there. We would take basketball teams, we would take baseball teams, we would take dancers, and we would go back and forth to China," Walz said, noting the trips were "to try and learn."  

"Look, my community knows who I am. They saw where I was at. I will be the first to tell you I have poured my heart into my community, and I’ve tried to do the best I can, but I’ve not been perfect," Walz continued. 

This is an excerpt from an article by Fox News Digital's Brooke Singman.

"And I’m a knucklehead at times," Walz said.