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Walz-Vance debate updates: VP candidates tangle on abortion, immigration and Jan. 6

PHOTO: Republican vice presidential candidate Sen. JD Vance and Minnesota Governor and Democratic vice presidential candidate Tim Walz participate in the Vice Presidential debate in New York City, October 1, 2024.
1:57
Matt Rourke/AP
Key moments from the Walz-Vance vice presidential debate
By Alexandra Hutzler, Ivan Pereira, Meredith Deliso, Brittany Gaddy, Tal Axelrod
Last Updated: October 2, 2024, 3:54 AM

Vice presidential candidates Gov. Tim Walz and Sen. JD Vance squared off for the first and only time this election season.

Unlike the last two presidential debates, the candidates appeared to be more cordial. However, both running mates criticized the presidential candidates on a host of issues including gun violence, reproductive rights, immigration and climate change.

Walz appeared to have nerves in the opening of debate, but went on the attack as the night went on. Vance took aim at Harris and her policies and pushed Trump's policies.

Key Headlines

  • Harris campaign says Walz won the debate
  • Biden, Trump react to debate
  • Candidates shake hand again
  • Vance attacks Harris in closing statement
  • Walz gives closing pitch
Here's how the news is developing:

Oct 02, 2024 3:54 AM

After VP debate, Trump reiterates he doesn't want another debate

After the vice-presidential debate ended, and as Harris’ campaign continues to call for another debate between Harris and Trump, the former president is reiterating that he’s not interested in doing another debate.

"I beat Biden, I then beat her, and I’m not looking to do it again, too far down the line. Votes are already cast," Trump said in the post.

-ABC News' Lalee Ibssa, Soo Rin Kim and Kelsey Walsh


Oct 02, 2024 3:40 AM

Vance says debate was chance to argue against 'caricature' of Trump

Following the debate, Vance told Fox News host Sean Hannity that he wanted to defend Trump against the “caricature" of the former president.

"One of the things I tried to do, Sean, obviously, is criticize Kamala Harris' record, but also remind the American people that Donald Trump is not the caricature that Kamala Harris and the media have made him out to be, that he was an incredibly effective president for four years in office, and he actually solved problems," Vance said.

Asked if he thought Walz looked nervous, Vance said he was nervous himself.

"It's the biggest stage of my life. So I didn't focus so much on his demeanor. I just tried to focus on what he was saying," he said. "And look, he did, to be fair to Tim Walz, he had a very tough job, and that is to defend the policies of Kamala Harris."

-ABC News' Lalee Ibssa


Oct 02, 2024 3:30 AM

Harris campaign says Walz won the debate

Jen O’Malley Dillon, the campaign chair for Vice President Kamala Harris' campaign released a statement claiming that Walz won the debate.

"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," she said.

"The Governor showed once again that he will be an experienced governing partner on day one for Vice President Harris as they work together to deliver for working families," she added.



Oct 02, 2024 3:23 AM

Walz grabs a slice of pizza after the debate

Gov. Tim Walz and his wife Gwen Walz were seen grabbing some food at a local pizzeria near CBS Studios following the debate.

Earlier in the day, the governor went for a jog in Central Park.

“I think it was a good debate, the public got to see a contrast, and I think the ending sums it up -- the democracy issue’s important," he said after several shouted questions from press about his debate performance.

Walz then did not answer two shouted questions about his answer during the debate about befriending school shooters. He also ignored a question about whether he was in Hong Kong for the Tiananmen Square massacre.

He did, however, mumble an answer about whether he would expand upon his faith.

“We’re Lutherans, we don’t talk about it,” he laughed to Gwen.

-Isabella Murray

PHOTO: Democratic vice presidential candidate Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz and his wife Gwen Walz visit Justino's Pizzeria after his debate with Republican vice presidential candidate Sen. JD Vance, October 1, 2024 in New York City.
Anna Moneymaker/Getty Images
Democratic vice presidential candidate Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz and his wife Gwen Walz visit Justino's Pizzeria after his debate with Republican vice presidential candidate Sen. JD Vance, October 1, 2024 in New York City.
Anna Moneymaker/Getty Images

Oct 02, 2024 2:04 AM

Claim: Walz was in China during the Tiananmen Square Massacre in Beijing

Fact Check: False

Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz has repeatedly claimed he was in China during the Tiananmen Square, Beijing, protests during his year-long stint as a high school teacher in the southeastern Chinese town of Foshan starting in 1989.

Tonight he admitted that was false, saying he “misspoke” earlier, though he travelled to China in the months after the protests.

The school Walz taught at was near Hong Kong. He was there as part of the WorldTeach program, a nonprofit affiliated with Harvard University. But according to local newspaper clipping obtained by ABC News, it appears he did not actually travel to the country until August 1989,

The pro-democracy protests, which led to a deadly government crackdown by the Chinese government, lasted from April 15 to June 4, 1989 — ending about two months ahead of Walz’s travel to the country.

An article in the Chadron Record in Chadron, Nebraska dated August 11, 1989, said that Walz, a graduate of Chadron State College, “will leave Sunday enroute to China, where he will teach English and American history during the next year.”

Walz has spoken about Tiananmen Square repeatedly— why he supported the protests and why he stayed to be a witness.

As recently as in February, Walz said during an episode of the podcast “Pod Save America” that he was in Hong Kong during the protests. “I was in Hong Kong when it happened – I was in Hong Kong on June 4th when Tiananmen happened … Quite a few of our folks decided not to go in,” he said, further expanding on the experience. “There was a lot of Europeans in Hong Kong [saying] don't do this, don't go, don't support them in this, and my thinking at the time was … what a golden opportunity to go tell how it was. And I did have a lot of freedom to do that, taught American history and could tell the story.”

Walz, while serving in Congress as ranking member on the Executive Commission on China, said at a 2014 congressional hearing marking 25 years since the massacre that “as the events were unfolding, several of us went in.”

“I will talk a lot,” Walz said tonight. "I will get caught up in the rhetoric. But being there, the impact it made, the difference it made in my life. I learned a lot about China.”

—Isabella Murray & Justin Fishel


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