Editor’s Note: The views expressed in this editorial do not represent the Minnesota Daily’s newsroom and are not necessarily representative of any individual on the Opinions Desk. This piece has been agreed upon for publication by a majority vote of all members of the Daily’s Opinions Desk.
On Tuesday night, when some of us would normally have been cozied up watching “Dancing with the Stars,” we instead turned our attention to Ohio Sen. J.D. Vance and (hometown hero) Gov. Tim Walz square off.
The Opinions Desk gathered in the newsroom at the Minnesota Daily office to watch over some Domino’s pizza. While some may argue that a vice presidential debate won’t move the needle for undecided voters, the debate had its fair share of controversy regarding fact-checking, Vice President Kamala Harris’ authority during her term, and how much Vance and Walz seemed to actually agree.
Moderated by CBS News Anchors Norah O’Donnell and Margaret Brennan, the debate covered a long list of topics including immigration, healthcare, gun control, abortion rights, climate change and foreign policy.
If you missed it, here are our five main takeaways:
“The Harris-Biden Administration”
As a main argument throughout the debate, Vance consistently emphasized that, rather than being the vice president, Harris was instead the country’s leader, largely blaming her and her alone for events happening throughout her tenure as vice president. At one point, Vance referred to Joe Biden’s presidency as the “Harris-Biden Administration,” pointedly putting her name first. Although informed in decision-making, vice presidents don’t typically have a whole lot of authority in the president’s policies.
Notably, Harris has made an effort to distance herself from Biden’s leadership in her campaign, advertising herself as a “new way forward.” This has been most likely in an attempt to separate herself from any controversies surrounding Biden’s presidency and protect her individual political identity as well.
Politics without Donald Trump mean politeness
In what seems like a strong contrast to past debates between Biden and former President Donald Trump, Harris and Trump, or even Hillary Clinton and Trump, midwestern manners were on full display last night. The candidates maintained a cordial tone for most of the debate. At one point, Vance markedly empathized with Walz after learning that Walz’s teenage son witnessed a shooting during a discussion about gun control.
However, that’s not to say that there were not some tense moments. In responding to a question about deportation, both candidates’ microphones were cut after they went over their allotted times for rebuttals.
Moderator O’Donnell said, “Gentlemen, the audience can’t hear you because your mics are cut.”
There may be a strong divide in who the debate winner was, but for the Opinion’s Desk, our strongest performers were moderators O’Donnell and Brennan for keeping things under control.
After one of Vance’s interruptions, Brennan said, “Thank you, Senator, for describing the legal process. We have so much to get to.”
Vance wants to look forward
In one of those aforementioned tense moments, Walz point-blank asked Vance whether or not the 2020 election was a fair result.
In response, Vance said, “Tim, I’m focused on the future. Did Kamala Harris censor Americans from speaking their mind in the wake of the 2020 COVID situation?”
Walz then responded by saying, “That is a damning non-answer.”
Whether or not Trump and Vance can let go of the “stolen” election claims is still up for debate, they are at least focused on the future.
Minnesota Mentioned
Another notable theme of the night was how many times Walz mentioned the great state of Minnesota. According to the CBS debate transcript, it was more than 20 times. Notably, Vance mentioned Ohio less than half as much.
Again, the debate for better vice presidential candidate may not have been settled on Tuesday, but we can safely say what the better Midwestern state is.
Embracing mistakes
At the end of the debate, Walz said, “I’m sympathetic to misspeaking on things,” to which Vance replied, “Me too, man.” Both candidates had their fair share of flubs and missteps last night, humanizing the debate stage in a way we haven’t seen in the last few election cycles. Perhaps this humanity and graciousness is the marker for a new era of American politics, or maybe that’s just wishful thinking.
In light of this, we will leave you with two of our favorite worst quotes of the night.
Walz: “I’ve become friends with school shooters.”
Vance: “But look, so many of the drugs, the pharmaceuticals that we put in the bodies of our children are manufactured by nations that hate us. This has to stop, and we’re not going to stop it by listening to experts. We’re going to stop it by listening to common sense wisdom, which is what Donald Trump governed on.”
