What to Expect From Tuesday Night’s VP Debate

Sen. JD Vance (R-Ohio) and Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz (D) are set to face off for their vice presidential debate on Oct. 1 in New York City, which will mark the final televised debate of this election cycle.

The match-up between Vance and Walz falls just over a month out from Election Day, while early voting has already kicked off in several states.

Neither candidate has previously participated in a nationally televised event of this nature.

While vice presidential debates rarely have a substantial impact on presidential elections, both candidates are expected to appeal to undecided voters in the final stretch of their respective campaigns.

Vance and Walz both come from the Rust Belt. During the debate, both candidates will likely appeal to blue collar workers, a key demographic that has posed challenges for the Harris campaign.

The 60-year-old Minnesota governor is expected to emphasize his working class roots by highlighting his experience as a public school teacher and football coach. Meanwhile, Vance, the 40-year-old Republican vice presidential nominee, stands out as the first millennial to run on a major party ticket. In a December 2023 interview, he described his hope to "push the Republican Party in a more pro-worker direction."

Observers will also be closely monitoring how the candidates are trying to connect with suburban women, a demographic that has proven challenging for the Trump campaign.

Abortion is a major issue for college-educated women in suburbs, according to Republican strategist Brian Seitchik.

"Republicans paid a price in 2022 for this," he told The Epoch Times. "They have somewhat lost the messaging war on this."

The vice presidential debate is being held three weeks after the presidential debate between Vice President Kamala Harris and former President Donald Trump, hosted by ABC on Sept. 10.

As with that debate, each vice presidential candidate will likely face scrutiny on the issues of inflation, border security, immigration, and abortion. The debate coincides with the intensifying war in the Middle East. Moderators may ask each candidate to share their views on the ongoing crisis.

"The vice presidential candidates can hurt a ticket, but they seldom do that much to help a ticket," Hollihan told The Epoch Times.

Seitchik believes that, as with other debates in history, the upcoming event will be quickly forgotten.

"The vice presidential debate will only have an impact in November if someone has an exceptionally poor performance," he told The Epoch Times.

He recalled the 1992 debate that featured James Stockdale, a retired Navy admiral. Stockdale was the running mate for independent presidential candidate Ross Perot.

Stockdale's opening line was: "Who am I? Why am I here?" preempting the questions that many Americans likely had about the third-party candidate. The audience and moderators laughed at the remark, recognizing the unusual nature of the Reform Party's presence on the stage.

Democrat vice president nominee Al Gore and incumbent Republican Vice President Dan Quayle engaged in a heated exchange during that debate, largely pushing Stockdale to the sideline.

The Trump–Harris debate was the most-watched network debate in 16 years, according to ABC, attracting an average of more than 67 million TV viewers.

Given the degree of interest in the first presidential debate between Trump and Harris, Democratic strategist Christopher Bruce believes that, although vice presidential debates generally receive less attention compared to showdowns at the top of the ticket, the upcoming debate could break another record.

The potential for either candidate to be just one heartbeat away from the presidency adds to the stakes, he told The Epoch Times.

"What American people want to know is, if something happens to one of these candidates, can their vice president take over and make sure the interests of the United States are protected," he said.

Meanwhile, Rep. Tom Emmer (R-Minn.) said he has been helping Vance prepare for Tuesday's debate by playing Walz.

During an interview with ABC on Sept. 29, Majority Whip Emmer said that he has known Walz for almost 20 years.

Candidates will be behind podiums during the debate. Each will receive a pen, a pad of paper, and a bottle of water. However, props or prewritten notes won't be permitted onstage.

"Candidates will not receive any questions in advance, nor will they receive any topics in advance," CBS stated.

Like the ABC debate, there will be no interaction with campaign staff during the event, including during commercial breaks.

The debate will last 90 minutes, and there will be two commercial breaks of four minutes each.

In line with previous presidential debates this year, there will be no audience in the room.

Candidates will have two minutes each for closing statements. After winning a coin toss on Sept. 26, Vance chose to go second for the closing statement, hence he will have the final word.

Unlike previous debates this year, the candidates' microphones will be hot.

Walz will be on the right side of viewers' TV screen and Vance will be on the left side.

The debate will be moderated by "CBS Evening News" anchor Norah O'Donnell and "Face the Nation" host Margaret Brennan. This will be the first female duo to moderate a vice presidential debate.

The Epoch Times will provide live blog coverage, highlighting important moments from the event.

Lawrence Wilson contributed to this report.