Now that the only vice-presidential debate of 2024 is over, the pundits and the public are weighing in. Republican JD Vance is getting points for civility, something that the person at the top of his ticket, Donald Trump, is incapable of. But observers are also noting his tenuous relationship with the truth and that he complained about being fact-checked. Others are saying that Democrat Tim Walz got some good lines in. Here’s a look at opinions from major news outlets.
Jamelle Bouie, New York Times columnist: “It’s a pretty straightforward verdict: Vance won this debate. It’s not hard to see why. He has spent most of his adult life selling himself to the wealthy, the powerful and the influential. He is as smooth and practiced as they come. He has no regard for the truth. He lies as easily as he breathes.”
E.J. Dionne, Washington Post columnist: “Vance got some good reviews for being more polished than Walz, but what the friendly assessments were praising was a breathtaking exercise in sane-washing a slew of unpopular right-wing positions. Why did Trump run away from the Heritage Foundation’s Project 2025 policy wish list, which was prepared by many in his orbit? For the same reason that Vance hedged so much on Tuesday: Hiding the ball is now central to the right’s political strategy.”
Scott Jennings, Los Angeles Times contributor: “The conditions existed for Ohio Senator JD Vance to stick it to the incumbent party, represented by Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz. And Vance delivered in spades. From the opening bell, Walz was nervous, overmatched and out of his depth, especially when dealing with foreign policy matters such as the ongoing attacks on Israel.”
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Dana Milbank, Washington Post columnist: “Half an hour into Tuesday night’s vice-presidential debate, JD Vance lodged a whiny protest. ‘Margaret,’ he said to moderator Margaret Brennan of CBS News, ‘the rules were that you guys weren’t going to fact-check!’ There was no ‘rule’ against fact-checking. And Vance had just told a whopper. He had alleged that, in Springfield, Ohio, ‘you’ve got schools that are overwhelmed, you’ve got hospitals that are overwhelmed, you have got housing that is totally unaffordable because we brought in millions of illegal immigrants.’”
Brian Tyler Cohen, MSNBC contributor: “Despite a somewhat slow start and an occasionally halting style, Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz produced strong answers on health care, gun violence and reproductive rights. But his standout win — and indeed one of the most compelling moments of the whole night — came at the end of the debate, when the issue of election integrity took center stage. … Walz asked Sen. JD Vance point-blank whether Trump lost to Joe Biden. It was an easy question, which Vance nonetheless whiffed. Instead of answering with a yes or a no, Vance equivocated, deflected and eventually tried to turn the issue into a confusing and nebulous referendum on ‘censorship.’ Only then did it become clear that Vance, for all his smooth talking points, is still in many ways just a vessel for Trumpism.”
Charles M. Blow, New York Times columnist: “Walz won. You could tell that he was a teacher, because he clearly did his homework. Anyone afraid that Vance would roll over him could breathe easily. Vance seemed to have been told not to come across as a condescending valedictorian. But he might have heeded that advice too well. Vance’s performance was anemic. Also, he had to contort himself to dodge Donald Trump’s statements and his own past statements.”
Chuck Todd, NBC News senior political analyst: “If Tuesday night was the last word, the good news is both VP wannabes left fairly positive impressions on voters, perhaps more positive than any of us so-called experts would have ever predicted.”
CBS News poll: “In the first — and likely only — vice-presidential debate between Tim Walz and JD Vance, voters who watched Tuesday night said it was an almost even match, and an overwhelming majority felt the tone of the debate was positive. Immediately following the debate, CBS News surveyed voters nationwide who reported watching it in order to get their reaction. Forty-two percent of debate watchers said Vance won the debate, while 41% thought Walz emerged as the winner. Seventeen percent called the debate a tie.”
