Vance-Walz VP debate live updates: Latest news and analysis

A world away from poor John, Eric Garcia watched the action in Arlington, Virginia, last night, where the mood among the Democrats surrounding him shifted from silent to celebratory as Tim Walz gradually found his feet and got in some timely jabs.

There were more fireworks in the Dirty Water bar in Washington DC last night – where the local Young Republicans chapter had gathered to watch Vance and Walz duke it out – than there were on the debate stage, writes poor old John Bowden, who had the grave misfortune to be there.

Here’s how Kamala Harris and the 46th and 44th presidents reacted to last night’s encounter in New York.

The general consensus among network pundits from both sides of the political aisle last night was that the Ohio Senator came across as more confident, polished and well-prepared than his Democratic rival.

But, according to a CBS/YouGov flash poll of 1,630 voters who tuned into the VP clash, it was an almost even match.

James Liddell has this report.

While JD Vance remained in the spin room talking to the media in the aftermath of last night’s encounter, Tim Walz and his wife Gwen huddled with their team before stepping out for pizza.

Here he is leaning into his “coach” persona to sum up the evening:

Here’s a look back at the night’s key exchanges according to JD Vance and Tim Walz themselves, judging by the excerpts they chose to post on their social media accounts.

These are the moments the Republican was most pleased with…

…and here are the Democrat’s personal favourites.

Despite making a fool of himself at his own debate against Kamala Harris in Philadelphia last month (“In Springfield, they’re eating the dawgs!”), Trump was on crowing form on Truth Social as he spent his evening posting along to the Vance-Walz showdown.

This is the sort of high-calibre meme he’s been firing out.

Other notable posts from the Republican nominee included his claim that “JD crushed it!”, his angry all-caps denial that he would support a federal abortion ban and his leaping on Walz for misspeaking about gun violence.

Here’s Mike Bedigan’s report.

In the interests of balance, here’s what the Trump campaign had to say about their man’s performance:

“Tonight, Senator JD Vance succinctly outlined the Trump-Vance plan for restoring prosperity, safety, and security to the American people after four years of destruction at the hands of Kamala Harris.

“Tampon Tim Walz, meanwhile, humiliated himself by offering the same failed, weak, radical leftism that has failed us — unable to answer the most basic question: why hasn’t Kamala done any of what she’s proposing during her 3.5 years in the White House?”

The statement goes on to list 16 bullet points of supposed Walz “fails” before concluding:

“Walz made clear why Americans will reject the Harris-Walz ticket in November: Kamala Harris has had three-and-a-half years in the White House — and Americans are worse off because of it.

“Why would Americans reward her with another term?”

Shortly after the vice presidential debate ended, the Harris–Walz campaign ‘s chair Jen O’Malley Dillon released a statement asking Donald Trump to debate Vice President Kamala Harris again:

“The choice facing the American people in November was on full display tonight: between charting a new way forward, or going backwards. Vice President Harris believes that the American people deserve to see her and Trump on the debate stage one more time. She will be in Atlanta on October 23 – Donald Trump should step up and face the voters.

“Tonight, Governor Walz showed exactly why Vice President Harris picked him: he is a leader who cares about the issues that matter most to the American people. In the debate, Americans got to see a real contrast: a straight talker focused on sharing real solutions, and a slick politician who spent the whole night defending Donald Trump’s division and failures.

“On every single issue – the economy, health care, foreign policy, reproductive freedom, gun violence – Governor Walz won. He spoke passionately about the Vice President’s vision for a new way forward for the country. And in what was the most critical moment of the entire debate, which came in its final exchange, he stood up for our Constitution, while JD Vance admitted he’d put Trump ahead of the country.”

This was Trump’s response to that on Truth Social:

If you’re just joining us, here’s a recap of what happened as the US vice presidential nominees JD Vance and Tim Walz went head-to-head on the CBS debate stage in New York City on Tuesday night.

In what was a largely cordial encounter in which actual policy discussions broke out on immigration, abortion and gun control, Vance largely got the best of Walz, delivering a smooth, calm and assured performance.

Things were so civil, in fact, that statements like this were heard as the two men found common ground while attacking each other’s respective running mates:

Walz: “I agree with a lot of what Senator Vance said about what’s happening – his running mate, though, does not. And that’s the problem.”

Vance: “Tim just mentioned a bunch of ideas. Now some of those ideas I actually think are halfway decent, and some of them I disagree with. But the most important thing here is: Kamala Harris is not running as a newcomer to politics. She is the sitting VP.”

The Republican did particularly well during a portion of the debate on gun control when he expressed genuine compassion after Walz mentioned his son witnessing a school shooting incident, responding: “I’m sorry about that and I hope he’s doing OK. Christ have mercy, it is awful.”

Walz meanwhile was more nervous and tentative but did grow into the 90-minute contest, forcing Vance into a corner over his false claim about Haitian immigrants eating residents’ pets in Springfield, Ohio, January 6 and Donald Trump’s 2020 election denialism, slamming his rival’s evasive response to that as “a damning non-answer”.

Walz was forced to admit he had been a “knucklehead” in misspeaking about having been in attendance during the Tiananmen Square protest in China in 1989 but fired back at Vance for suggesting abortion rights should be decided by the states because “California has a different viewpoint on this than Georgia”.

“The states will decide what’s right for Texas might not be right for Washington? That’s not how this works. This is basic human rights,” the Minnesota Governor shot back.

Here’s Alex Woodward’s report on a fascinating evening.