Left: Republican vice presidential candidate Sen. JD Vance (R-Ohio) speaks during the Republican National Convention in July. Right: Democratic vice presidential nominee Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz speaks at a campaign rally at the University of Nevada, Las Vegas, in August.
Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images; Jae Hong/AP/NPR
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Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images; Jae Hong/AP/NPR
Left: Republican vice presidential candidate Sen. JD Vance (R-Ohio) speaks during the Republican National Convention in July. Right: Democratic vice presidential nominee Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz speaks at a campaign rally at the University of Nevada, Las Vegas, in August.
Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images; Jae Hong/AP/NPR
On Tuesday, two midwesterners will face off in the only vice presidential debate of the election.
Ohio Sen. J.D. Vance (R) and Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz (D) will share the stage, exactly five weeks from Election Day, in a race that’s very close.
Both candidates will likely lean on their small-town, middle-of-America credentials, Vance from Middletown, Ohio, and Walz, who grew up in Nebraska.
But they have very different ideas about what America should look like. From the border crisis, to abortion, and of course, gun laws.
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How much does it matter?
In a race where so much of the polling is within the margin of error — it seems as though any one thing could affect the outcome of the 2024 Presidential election.
But have Vice Presidential Debates made a difference in past races?
NPR’s senior White House Correspondent Tamara Keith dug into that existential… and political question.
Keith says that vice presidential debates are often forgettable, but the one in 1988 is seared in American popular culture.
Judy Woodruff of PBS did the introductions for Senator Dan Quayle, the Republican nominee, and Senator Lloyd Bentsen, the Democratic nominee.
Benson was in his late sixties while Quayle was only 41, and that dynamic led to one of the most iconic lines in debate history, as Quayle compared himself to John F. Kennedy, and Lloyd Bentsen replied:
“I served with Jack Kennedy. I knew Jack Kennedy. Jack Kennedy was a friend of mine. Senator, you’re no Jack Kennedy.”
It was a huge moment in the debate. But it ultimately had no real impact on the outcome of the race. Smackdown notwithstanding, Bentsen and his running mate, Michael Dukakis, lost in a wipe out.
A national introduction.
Joel Goldstein is an expert on the vice presidency. He argues that the VP debates do matter.
“It’s an important part of their introduction to the American people, along with the sort of the vice presidential rollout and the acceptance,” he told NPR.
And these two could use more of an introduction. J.D. Vance is a bestselling author but has only been in the Senate for two years. Governor Tim Walz served in Congress but never had a national profile until now. Goldstein says one key test is whether voters can imagine them as president.
“If somebody is not prepared to be president on day one, they’re also not likely to be the sort of person who’s going to be able to walk into the Oval Office and say no to the president or tell him or her that that the president’s wrong.”
This episode was produced by Kathryn Fink, Michael Levitt, and Alejandra Marquez Janse. It was edited by Courtney Dorning and Roberta Rampton. Our executive producer is Sami Yenigun.
