In the very first vice-presidential debate on Tuesday night, the two vice-presidential candidates, Sen Jd Vance and Gov. Tim Walz exchanged views on the country's two top issues. The escalating war in the Middle East and the Hurricane Helene disaster spearheaded the debate.
On the Middle East war, moderator Margaret Brennan asked if the candidates would support or oppose the preemptive strike by Israel on Iran.
Walz started by acknowledging Israel's defensive actions as fundamental and absolute in getting its hostages back. He then delved into Kamala Harris's steady leadership to unite the coalition partners and maintain them. He also criticized Donald Trump’s approach by saying that the allies' partners saw Trump’s fickleness when he turned to North Korea to Vladimir Putin. For the preemptive war, he stressed the importance of steady leadership for handling the war.
Whereas Vance defended Trump’s foreign policy record by criticizing the Biden-Harris administration’s policies towards Iran. He claimed that the Biden-Harris administration gave over 100 billion dollars in unfrozen assets to Iran, which the latter has used to buy weapons to launch a massive missile attack today in Israel.
On October 2, in response to the ground attacks by Israel, Iran launched a missile attack on the country. The Israeli military, however, claimed that no casualties were reported.
Answering the question on preemptive strike, Vance took a straightforward stance by just saying that it is up to Israel to defend itself and it is for America to support its allies in any situation.
On the subject of the Iran nuclear deal, the candidates accused each other. Walz criticized Trump by stating how Trump’s withdrawal from the agreement without an alternative plan brought Iran closer to a nuclear weapon. Vance dismissed the allegations, saying that Iran is now closer to developing nuclear weapons than ever before under the present administration policies.
Overall, Jd Vance stressed the importance of projecting strength, diplomacy, and deterrence on the world stage, while Walz mainly focused on coalition–building and steadiness.
The Biden-Harris administration is currently monitoring the situation in Iran and Israel. Associated Press reported that Biden told its reporters that he would not support Israel’s retaliation strikes on sites related to Iran’s nuclear program.
Turning to climate change, the second moderator, Norah O’Donnell, questioned Vance about the Trump administration’s responsibility to reduce the impact of climate change. She cited scientific claims that historic rainfalls caused by climate change made hurricanes larger, stronger, and more deadly. To this day, the ongoing Hurricane Helene has claimed over 160 lives in the Southeast United States.
Both candidates expressed their sorrow over the disastrous hurricane Helene. Vance accepted the scientific consensus of climate change on hurricanes but criticized the Harris-Biden administration’s manufacturing policies, which have not stimulated U.S. manufacturing to combat climate change. In contrast, Walz focused his answer on the job-creating aspects of the Inflation Reduction Act without detailing any concrete plan.
During the debate, Vance sidestepped a question about whether he agreed with Trump’s statement that ‘climate change is a hoax’ and instead said that he and Trump support clean air and clean water. However, the reality is that, during his tenure, Trump took action to roll back environmental regulations.
Talking about democratic concerns on carbon emissions, Vance said, “This idea that carbon emissions drive all the climate change. Well, let's just say that's true, just for the sake of argument, so we're not arguing about weird science. Let's just say that's true. Well, if you believe that, […] what would you want to do?” He questioned.
In answer to this, he said “You’d want to reshore as much American manufacturing as possible, and you'd want to produce as much energy as possible in the United States of America because we're the cleanest economy in the entire world.”
He pointed out that present administration policies did the opposite. Taking a jibe at the Biden-Harris administration, he said that their policies help China as most of the materials used in renewable energy and electric vehicles are made in China and imported to the U.S.
In his rebuttal, Walz boasted about the Inflation Reduction Act, which includes the largest-ever investment in domestic clean energy production. Walz said the law has created about 200,000 jobs across the country, including in Ohio and Minnesota.
He said the administration is creating more natural gas, oil, and clean energy than it ever has. He continued, “My farmers know climate change is real. They’ve seen 500-year droughts and 500-year floods back-to-back. But what they’re doing is adapting,’’ he said.
Walz said, “The solution for us is to continue to move forward, [accept] that climate change is real,” and reduce reliance on fossil fuels. “We are seeing us becoming an energy superpower for the future, not just the current time.”
Apart from these two topics, in their potential first and last face-off, the two candidates talked about economic, border, abortion, and immigration issues. With election day a little more than a month away, this debate has served as the last one for voters to choose their candidates, as Trump has not agreed to another round of debate proposed later this month.