Takeaways from the VP debate: a muted mic, abortion and civility

On Tuesday night, JD Vance and Tim Walz launched attacks on their presidential opponents and sparred over international conflict, the US economy, immigration and abortion rights.

Despite those heated moments – and at least one muted microphone – this was perhaps the most civil debate of the 2024 election campaign. There were even points of agreement between the two men.

Here are some of the most memorable parts of the first and only scheduled TV showdown between running mates of Kamala Harris and Donald Trump.

Immigration was a key topic throughout the 90-minute head-to-head. Vance, a Republican senator from Ohio, frequently returned to the issue of the US southern border and immigration – viewed by many voters as a weakness for his opponents.

Walz, the Democratic governor of Minnesota, countered that Trump helped torpedo bipartisan legislation that would have enacted some of the most toughest immigration policy in US history.

The discussion ultimately turned tense when Vance was asked about false claims he made about Haitian migrants in Springfield, Ohio. Vance and Trump previously shared conspiracy theories that illegal migrants were eating pets in the small city.

When a CBS News moderator tried to correct Vance, the Ohio senator spoke over the hosts – who went on to mute his microphone.

Walz and Vance took the stage just hours after Iran launched a missile attack on Israel – whose prime minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, vowed retaliation.

The ongoing tensions in the Middle East formed the basis of the first question.

Appearing nervous, Walz stumbled as he repeated Harris’s promise of iron-clad support for Israel.

Vance, meanwhile, reiterated one of Trump’s main talking points: that no new world conflicts broke out during the former president’s time in office.

Neither man would say if they approved of a pre-emptive strike by Israel on Iran.

Abortion rights, a top issue in the 2024 election, sparked one of the longest and most heated exchanges of the night.

It’s an issue Democrats have used to galvanize voters, regularly framing Trump as a threat to women’s autonomy because of his role in appointing a conservative majority to the Supreme Court. The court later overturned Roe v Wade, the ruling that had protected abortion rights in the US for decades.

Walz cited the stories of Amber Thurman and Candi Miller, two women from Georgia whose deaths were connected to abortion restrictions in their home state.

Vance, meanwhile, said his opinion on the issue had changed. He previously supported some type of national restrictions on abortion, but said his position shifted when he saw the majority of Ohio voters supported access to abortion.

He also said his party had to do “so much better… at earning the American people’s trust back on this issue, where they frankly just don’t trust us”.

Just before the debate, a claim of Walz’s collapsed under scrutiny – that he had been in Hong Kong when the 1989 Tiananmen Square massacre occurred in Beijing.

“I’m a knucklehead at times,” Walz said when asked about it on Tuesday night.

The Minnesota governor clarified that he had misspoken, saying he was influenced by the events because he had arrived in China that summer.

Vance also was asked to answer for some past comments, including prior attacks on his running mate, Trump, who he once called “America’s Hitler”.

The Ohio senator said he, like many people, has made mistakes in the past. “I was wrong about Donald Trump,” he said.

In a tense moment, Vance was asked about Trump’s false claims that the 2020 election was “rigged”.

The moderators also raised Vance’s previous comments that he would not have certified the 2020 election results if he had been vice-president at the time.

Vance maintained his support for Trump, saying the former president had asked demonstrators on 6 January 2021 – the day of the Capitol riot – to protest peacefully.

He added that Walz will “have my prayers, he’ll have my best wishes and he’ll have my help” if the Democrats win the election, but maintained that there were legitimate questions to raise about voting fraud and security.

His answer was met with some scepticism from Walz, who said he and his opponent were “miles apart” on the issue of 6 January and election integrity.

The tone was in stark contrast to Kamala Harris and Donald Trump’s first encounter last month, when insults flew and interruptions were frequent.

Starting off the night with a handshake, both Vance and Walz proceeded to address each other politely and with civility. The two even exchanged smiles periodically, agreeing from time to time with what their rival had said.

They did direct some fire at the top of the ticket, however – Vance taking aim at Harris and Walz at Trump.