As the U.S. presidential race enters its final stretch, Tim Walz and JD Vance took to the stage for a Vice Presidential debate that offered revealing differences on abortion, school shootings and immigration.

The debate marks one of the last major milestones in the US presidential race as it came a mere five weeks before election day on November 5.

With the race hurtling towards a finish, each candidate tried to make the case for why their ticket should emerge victorious.

Vance, the running mate for Donald Trump, argued his candidate would bring “common sense” to the White House.

Meanwhile, Walz played up Democratic candidate Kamala Harris and her track record of “steady leadership”, while attacking Trump as a chaotic force.

Walz and Vance largely avoided attacks on each other, and instead concentrated their fire on each other’s running mates, focusing largely on policy differences.

Vance repeatedly hit Vice President Kamala Harris on border security, while Walz lambasted former President Donald Trump on abortion rights.

This tactic suggests a strategic decision to elevate the stakes of their candidates’ policies rather than engage in personal battles, which can often dilute the substantive discussion voters are craving.

By doing so, Walz and Vance reinforced their roles as defenders of their teams’ broader visions rather than mere politicians engaging in partisan squabbles.

Asked about immigration, Walz discussed Harris’ history in California.

“Kamala Harris was the Attorney-General of the largest border state in California. She’s the only person in this race who prosecuted transnational gangs for human trafficking and drug interventions,” Walz said.

Walz also criticized Trump and Vance for demonizing immigrants in Springfield, Ohio – the two have falsely claimed that Haitian immigrants are eating people’s pets, actions which have led to bomb threats and children in the city having to be escorted to school by police.

Vance blamed Harris for the number of people who have crossed the border under the Biden administration, which prompted Walz to raise the issue of a bipartisan border bill, endorsed by the National Border Patrol Council, which was torpedoed by Trump earlier this year.

“As soon as that was getting ready to pass and actually tackle this, Trump said ‘no’, told them to vote against it, because it gives them a campaign issue,” Walz said.

Vance Argues Security, Walz Argues Reforms

Both Walz and Vance were pressed about how they would address gun violence, particularly in the wake of yet another school shooting.

Vance suggested the best solution was to beef up security on campuses across the country.

“I unfortunately think we have to increase security in our schools. We have to make the doors lock better. We have to make the doors stronger. We’ve got to make the windows stronger. And of course, we’ve got to increase the school resource officers.”
JD Vance

Walz, meanwhile, played up his identity as a gun owner, as Harris herself has done in recent weeks, in an effort to defuse perceptions that Democrats are anti-gun.

Still, Walz argued certain gun reforms were needed to protect American children, though he remained vague on the specific actions he would advocate.

“There are reasonable things that we can do to make a difference,” Walz said.

“No one’s trying to scaremonger and say we’re taking your guns, but I ask all of you out there: Do you want your schools to be hardened to look like a fort? Is that where we have to go, when we know there are countries around the world where their children aren’t practising these kinds of [school shooting] drills?”
Tim Walz

Vice Presidential debates have typically been viewed as unimportant, and it remains to be seen how much impact this debate will have.