Vice Presidential nominees James D. Vance and Tim Waltz faced off in a Vice Presidential debate featuring policy-heavy, professional, and civilized discussions.
JD Vance demonstrated his oratory superiority as a US Senator for Ohio as he spoke directly to voters, focused on policy, and poignantly criticized Vice President Kamala Harris.
The two candidates sparred on myriad issues including immigration, abortion, and the economy.
The debate began with the unfolding crisis in the middle east. Vance credited the Biden-Harris administration for Iran’s recent belligerent acts against Israel.
“Iran, which launched this attack, has received over $100 billion in unfrozen assets thanks to the Kamala Harris administration,” said Vance. “What do they use that money for? They use it to buy weapons that they're now launching against our allies and, God forbid, potentially launching against the United States as well.”
Throughout the night, Vance harnessed issues such as the immigration crisis to shift blame towards Vice President Harris and President Joe Biden’s administration.
“We have a historic immigration crisis because Kamala Harris started and said that she wanted to undo all of Donald Trump's border policies,” said Vance. “Ninety-four executive orders suspending deportations, decriminalizing illegal aliens, massively increasing the asylum fraud that exists in our system, that has opened the floodgates.”
Vance continued, claiming the current immigration crisis occurred after Harris rescinded many of former President Donald Trump’s immigration policies.
Senator JD Vance: "For three years Kamala Harris went out bragging that she was going to undo Donald Trump's border policies. She did exactly that. We had a record number of illegal crossings. We had a record number of fentanyl coming into our country, and now that she's running… pic.twitter.com/bqPxwiFH1J
— JD Vance (@JDVance) October 2, 2024
On the economy, Walz criticized Trump’s proposed tax cuts, alleging these would disproportionately benefit the wealthy.
Walz claimed Trump “gave the tax cuts that predominantly went to the top caste. What happened there was an $8 trillion increase in the national debt, the largest ever. Now he's proposing a 20% consumption or sales tax on everything we bring in.”
“Everyone agrees,” continued Walz, “including businesses. It would be destabilizing it. It would increase inflation and potentially lead to a recession.”
Trump passed the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act (TCJA), a major tax reform law, in 2017.
The TCJA mainly reduced personal income and corporate taxes among other regulatory tax reforms. However, the TCJA is set to expire in 2025 absent an extension.
Vice President Kamala Harris has promised she would allow the tax cuts to expire, raising them from 21% to 28%.
Abortion was also discussed, with Vance denying claims a future Trump administration would approve a national abortion ban and Walz asserting a Harris-Walz administration would codify Roe v Wade.
“So many young women also see an unplanned pregnancy as something that's going to destroy their livelihood, destroy their education, destroy their relationships. And we have got to earn people's trust back,” said Vance. “And that's why Donald Trump and I are committed to pursuing pro-family policies. Making childcare more accessible, making fertility treatments more accessible, because we've got to do a better job at that. And that's what real leadership is.”
