WASHINGTON – The first and only vice presidential debate between Ohio Senator JD Vance and Minnesota Governor Tim Walz featured an often orderly, policy-focused and even civil dialogue between the two men seeking to serve as the next president’s second in command.
One of the sharpest comments came from a debate moderator. Here are some of the most notable quotes from the debate:
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“Gentlemen, the audience can’t hear you because the mics are cut.”
— CBS News moderator Margaret Brennan, who intervened after a tense back and forth between the candidates over immigration. Vance protested a clarification by a moderator about the legal status of Haitian immigrants in Springfield, Ohio. “Since you’re fact checking me, I think it’s important to say what’s actually going on,” Vance said before both he and Walz's exchanges were muted.
“I actually agree with that.”
— Walz, agreeing with Vance that some regulations limit the construction of new housing units. Both candidates throughout the debate expressed agreement on some points before driving home their own messages.
“I’m sorry about that. Christ have mercy."
— Vance, after Walz noted his son had witnessed gun violence. “I appreciate that,” Walz replied.
“I’m a knucklehead at times...I misspoke on this."
— Walz, when discussing discrepancies in his travel history to Hong Kong in 1989 that have been reported by multiple news organizations.
“Kamala Harris is not running as a newcomer to politics.”
— Vance, arguing Harris could have acted as vice president to make housing more affordable. “If Kamala Harris has such great plans for how to address middle class problems, she ought to do them now,” Vance also said during the debate.
“There’s consequences for this.”
— Walz, when discussing Vance’s unfounded claims about immigrant communities in Springfield, Ohio. Walz said Vance “will create stories to bring attention to this that vilified a large number of people who were here legally in the community of Springfield. The Republican governor said, it’s not true. Don’t do it.”
“Sometimes it just is the guns. It’s just the guns.”
— Walz, discussing the high rate of gun violence in the United States compared to other rich nations. Walz cautioned against using mental illness as a “scapegoat” for the country's high levels of gun violence rather than “find solutions on this that protect the Second Amendment, protect our children, that settlement.”
“My shotgun was in my car so I could pheasant hunt after football practice.”
- Walz, noting that he is a longtime gunowner and the need to address firearm deaths by suicide and violent crime.
“I want us as a Republican Party to be pro-family in the fullest sense of the word.”
— Vance, responding to how Republicans should navigate potentially unpopular and dangerous realities that face women surrounding pregnancy. Vance, who opposes abortion, said Republicans “have got to do so much better of a job at earning the American people’s trust back on this issue, where they, frankly, just don’t trust us.”
“Donald Trump put this all into motion.”
— Walz, criticizing Trump's record on abortion. Walz said Trump “bragged” about appointing three Supreme Court justices who would go on to join a majority ruling that overturned the abortion protections in Roe v. Wade. “52 years of personal autonomy and then he tells us ‘Oh, send it to the states,’” Walz said of Trump.
“A president's words matter.”
— Walz, discussing the riot at the U.S. Capitol on January 6, 2021. Walz said Trump's rhetoric and refusal to concede defeat in the 2020 presidential election led to the riot at the U.S. Capitol and deep ensuing divisions across politics. “All of us say there's no place for this,” Walz said.
“My own belief is that we should fight about those issues, debate those issues peacefully in the public square.”
— Vance, when asked whether Trump won the 2020 presidential election and if he would support efforts to contest the election which Trump carried out that have since been deemed illegal or unconstitutional. “First of all, I think that we’re focused on the future,” Vance said. “But what President Trump has said is that there were problems in 2020, and my own belief is that we should fight about those issues, debate those issues peacefully in the public square.”