Here are the rules for the Walz-Vance vice presidential debate
CBS has finalized the rules for Tuesday night's debate between Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz and Ohio Sen. JD Vance, in what is likely to be the last before Election Day.
The rules and guidelines for the rhetorical sparring between the two vice presidential nominees largely follows those set for the debates between former President Donald Trump and President Joe Biden and then Vice President Kamala Harris in June and September, respectively.
Both candidates will not offer any opening remarks and instead will jump straight into questions and answers with the moderators, "CBS Evening News" anchor and managing editor Norah O'Donnell and"Face the Nation" moderator and chief foreign affairs correspondent Margaret Brennan. Unlike the ABC debate, during which David Muir andLindsay Davis pushed back against some of Trump's most outlandish and easily claims, O'Donnell and Brennan will not offer fact checking of either candidate as the network encourages the pair to fact check
Walz will be at the podium on the right side of the screen (stage left) while Vance will be at the other on the left of the screen. With that placement, Walz will be introduced first. The debate will be held at the CBS Broadcast Center in New York City and will not feature a studio audience.
The two Midwestern men will have 90 minutes of debate time with two, four-minute breaks during the course of the event - granted, the Trump-Harris debate went over time by a handful of minutes last month. Each candidate will have two minutes to respond after a moderator poses them a question and then their opponent will have two minutes to respond; followed by a one-minute time for the first candidate to rebut their opponent's response. Moderators may also give either candidate another minute at their discretion to follow up on a question or statement.
Unlike the Trump-Harris debate, the candidates' microphones will not be muted when it is not their designated time to speak. As the network said in a statement, "CBS News reserves the right to mute the candidates' microphones, but otherwise, they will be hot."
Neither candidate will be allowed to bring props, notes or any other materials from backstage with them. Each will be provided a pad of paper, a pen and water. Campaign staff will also not be allowed to interact with the candidates during the commercial breaks.
While the vice presidential debate is always held during a presidential election, it has historically been a in major presidential contests. However, due to the lack of any further scheduled debates between Harris and Trump, and the high-stakes, razor-thin margin nature of the election, more voters may be looking to the contest between "Coach Walz" and the Silicon Valley venture capitalist who wrote "Hillbilly Elegy."
"This is the last chance for people to really get to the top of the ticket to say hey who are you and what are you about? So we are expecting more people than usual to watch this vice presidential debate," Jim Moore, a professor of politics at Pacific University, Monday.
"Most Americans don't know who either of these guys are, and this gives them a chance to introduce themselves," political analyst John Dedie . He added that he expects Walz to focus on his - and the Trump campaign's - record on reproductive rights while Vance will likely challenge Walz over Harris's record on the border and immigration.
