The vice presidential debate is set to take place Tuesday, marking what will be the first, and perhaps only, time Tim Walz and JD Vance face off before the election.
The highly anticipated evening event will be nationally televised and streamed.
The debate in New York hosted by CBS News will give Vance, a freshman Republican senator from Ohio, and Walz, a two-term Democratic governor of Minnesota, the opportunity to introduce themselves, make their case for their running mates and continue their campaign. attack against the opposing ticket.
Here’s what you need to know:
What time is the debate tonight?
The 90-minute debate begins at 8 p.m. CST on Tuesday, October 1.
It will be hosted by Norah O’Donnell, anchor of “CBS Evening News,” and Margaret Brennan of CBS’ “Face the Nation.”
Where to watch the VP debate: channel, streaming and more
NBC 5 will offer a live broadcast of the debate both in the player above and also on-air Tuesday evening starting at 8 p.m.
NBC News will broadcast the entire debate live and provide extensive prime-time coverage of the event.
Viewers can watch the debate live on their local NBC station or via the NBC 5 Chicago streaming channel, available 24/7 for free on nearly all online video platforms, including Peacock, YouTube, Samsung TV Plus and on smartphones and smart devices. Televisions.
Where is the debate?
The vice presidential debate will take place in New York.
Often the site of fundraising events for candidates of both parties, New York is considered a reliably Democratic state in general elections. But Trump, a New York native, insisted he had a chance to put him in the Republican column this year, despite losing the state in his two previous presidential bids, and held events in the South Bronx and Long Island.
Vice-presidential debate rules: will there be fact-checking?
CBS announced Friday that it would be up to the candidates to remain honest with each other during Tuesday’s debate — a sticking point from previous debates this year.
During the June debate between Trump and Biden, CNN’s Jake Tapper and Dana Bash limited follow-up questions and did not fact-check either participant. During the September debate between Trump and Harris, ABC’s David Muir and Linsey Davis weighed in with factual corrections to some of Trump’s most egregious inaccuracies.
The two campaigns agreed to a 90-minute debate with two four-minute commercial breaks, according to the CBS host. No audience will be present and there will be no opening statements.
According to CBS, contestants, who will not be allowed to bring pre-written notes or props on stage, will have two minutes to answer a question and two minutes to answer it. They will have one minute to refute.
At the moderators’ discretion, candidates may be given an additional minute to continue a discussion, CBS said.
What you need to know about the candidates
Walz, the 60-year-old governor of Minnesota, and Vance, a 40-year-old U.S. senator from Ohio, have been considering potential approaches for weeks. Walz, before Harris chose him, was the Democrat who called “weird” an essential pejorative for the Republican ticket. Vance attacks the governor’s progressive record as proof that Democrats are too far left for voters.
A vice presidential candidate’s role is typically to serve as an attack dog for the person at the top of the ticket, arguing against the opposing presidential candidate and their proxy on stage. Both Vance and Walz took on this role.
Vance’s sometimes confrontational interviews and appearances on the campaign trail have underscored why Trump chose him for the Republican ticket despite his past harsh criticism of the former president, including once suggesting that Trump would be “the America’s Hitler.”
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Walz, meanwhile, catapulted himself onto Harris’ campaign by calling Trump and Republicans “just weird,” creating a line of attack for Democrats seeking to argue that Republicans are out of touch with the American people.
Vance, speaking to reporters last week, said he didn’t “need a lot of preparation” for the debate because he had “well-developed views on public policy.”
But Vance participated in debate preparation sessions in which he was joined by his wife, Usha Vance, Miller, Vance’s top aides and Rep. Tom Emmer, R-Minn., who played Walz, according to a person familiar with his preparations who requested anonymity to discuss strategy. The moderator for their mock debates was Monica Crowley, who served in the Trump administration, hosts a podcast and contributed to Project 2025, a conservative plan to remake the government that Trump claims he “knows nothing about.”
Walz’s debate preparation included sessions at a Minneapolis hotel, with Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg replacing Vance, according to a person familiar with the process who requested anonymity to discuss the internal dynamics of the campaign. Others who helped with preparations included Rob Friedlander and Zayn Siddique, who helped Harris prepare for her debate with Trump, as well as other Walz and campaign aides.
Potential impacts of the debate
Tuesday’s game could have an outsized impact.
Polls showed that Vice President Kamala Harris and former President Donald Trump faced off in a tight race, giving added weight to anything that can influence voters at the margins, including the impression left by vice-presidential candidates. It could also be the final debate of the campaign, with the Harris and Trump teams unable to agree on another meeting.
A new AP-NORC poll found that Walz is more well-liked than Vance, which could give the Republican an additional challenge.
Before the debate, allies of both men were lowering their expectations for a decisive performance from their candidate.
Sen. Amy Klobuchar, D-Minn., called Vance an “accomplished debater” and compared that to Walz, saying he was “not the lawyer-debate type.” Klobuchar said Walz spent his time thinking about football, not debating.
Jason Miller, a senior adviser to Trump, portrayed Walz very differently from Klobuchar.
“Tim Walz is very good in debates, really good. He has been a politician for almost 20 years. He’ll be very well prepared for tomorrow night,” Miller told reporters Monday. He predicted that Minnesota’s Democratic governor would be much more “closed-up” than he is on the campaign trail and ready to defend his record, but he added: “That doesn’t mean JD Vance won’t be ready tomorrow, or that he’s not up to the challenge in any way.
Klobuchar said Walz will show the American people “a real person” who brings “vibrancy” and positivity to the debate stage that will contrast with Vance, but “he won’t shy away from highlighting the issues.”
“Just because he’s upbeat and positive doesn’t mean he’s a pushover,” she said.
“JD Vance is ready to wipe the floor with Tim Walz and expose him for the radical liberal that he is,” Emmer told reporters Monday.
