Exactly three weeks after the tense debate between Kamala Harris and Donald Trump, it is the turn of Tim Walz and JD Vance, their lieutenants, to meet on Tuesday on a television set and to expose their antagonisms.
For the two running mates, this is undoubtedly the most important moment of this ultra-tight campaign, at the end of which only one will become vice-president.
It is also an opportunity for everyone to fill a real awareness gap, even if the names “Harris Walz” and “Trump Vance” are now systematically attached to electoral posters.
Tim Walz, governor of Minnesota, was little known outside his state when Kamala Harris chose him in August to form the Democratic “ticket” with him.
As for JD Vance, an atypical senator with a populist anti-immigration discourse, he had very little political experience before Donald Trump offered to assist him in July.
At the antipodes
Twenty years separate the two elected officials – Tim Walz is 60 years old, his rival 40 – in reverse copy of the two decades which separate Kamala Harris and Donald Trump.
But they are also poles apart on the major themes of the November 5 election, from abortion to aid to Ukraine, from firearms to energy priorities, from tax measures to the fight against inflation.
Hurricane Helene, which caused more than 130 deaths in the United States, could become part of their discussions. “Very poor response to Kamala and Joe’s hurricane! », Commented Donald Trump.
The debate will take place in New York, at the CBS Broadcast Center, the channel which organizes it.
Tim Walz and JD Vance will brawl for 90 minutes, including commercial breaks, with no audience other than the tens of millions of expected viewers. They will not be allowed to bring written notes.
Unlike the two previous presidential debates, which pitted Donald Trump successively against Joe Biden then Kamala Harris, the microphones will remain open, allowing the adversaries to cut each other off.
Their face-to-face should be tough, with the objective of convincing undecided voters who could swing one of the famous seven hotly contested key states.
The tradition of the debate between vice-presidential candidates dates back to 1976, almost half a century ago. It should allow Americans to assess the ability to govern of those concerned, the vice-president being in the United States the second in the order of succession at the top of power.
” Odd “
Tim Walz, a former teacher of rural origins, native of Nebraska, and JD Vance, who recounted in a best-selling book his difficult childhood in an America scarred by deindustrialization, have already clashed through indirect statements, in a campaign at the acidic rhetoric. Tim Walz was the first to describe the Trump-Vance tandem as “strange”, an expression that gained popularity.
For his part, JD Vance, an anti-system elected official with a unique career since he had a career in the army as well as in Silicon Valley, never stops denouncing the record of his rival governor, seeing it as an illustration of a progressive left disconnected from reality.
Mr. Walz, who took part in several school trips to China while he was a teacher, should be summoned by his rival to substantiate old statements according to which he was in May 1989 in Hong Kong during the pro-democracy movement of Tian ‘anmen, repressed in blood. Exhumed press clippings place him in Nebraska.
In the history of American presidential elections, it is generally accepted that the debates between the running mates have a relatively weak influence on the vote. But, Donald Trump having refused to face Kamala Harris again, this oratorical contest could be the finale of this campaign.
The Republican billionaire assured that the debate would be “rigged” in favor of Tim Walz, whom he described as “a complete imbecile”.
Dogs and cats
The Democratic Party plans to project quotes from JD Vance on Trump Tower in Manhattan who, before becoming an ardent Trumpist, was very critical of the former business magnate. Among the anthology are “What an idiot!” » or even “Trump is a coward”.
Still, JD Vance is less popular than Tim Walz in the polls.
The Ohio senator is one of the first Republican figures to have relayed the false theory according to which Haitian migrants eat cats and dogs. He also made fun of “childless cat ladies,” a term that shocked many.
According to Jason Miller, a close advisor to Donald Trump, the debate will revolve around Kamala Harris and Joe Biden. “Don’t forget that Tim Walz also has to defend Joe Biden’s record,” he said on Newsmax.