VP debate live updates: Vance thrived on stage while Walz struggled to find his footing

In their closing statements, Walz maintained a positive outlook of the United States while Vance attacked Harris.

The Democratic vice presidential candidate reminded people that Harris wants to create a more affordable, accessible country for everyone. It was reminiscent of the beginning of the Harris–Walz campaign when they promoted a message of hope for a better future.

But Vance spent most of his closing statement attacking Harris and her policies – a familiar strategy that Trump invokes in his rallies and speeches.

Walz is having a notably strong moment while denouncing January 6 and confronting Vance for refusing to admit Trump lost the 2020 election.

The Democratic vice presidential candidate asked Vance if he believed Trump won the 2020 election, to which Vance said he wanted to focus on the future.

“That is a damning nonanswer,” Walz said.

The Minnesota governor is warning Americans that this discourse over January 6 and the 2020 election. “has got to stop”

“It’s tearing our country apart,” Walz said. He urged Americans to vote for the person who will uphold democracy.

When confronted about election certification and January 6, Vance immediately pivoted to inflation and later to censorship.

Vance briefly answered moderators’ question, saying the 2020 election had “problems” and defended his running mate for telling rioters to go peacefully to the Capitol on January 6.

The Republican presidential candidate tried to make the attack on the Capitol appear like a health debate. However, more than 1,200 people have been charged in connection to the violent day.

Walz is advocating for more paid family medical leave on the debate stage.

Last year, Walz signed a bill to provide paid family medical leave with partial wage replacement for 12-20 weeks of leave in a 52-week period for medical leave or family care. That kicks in January 2026.

In response to Trump and Vance potentially overturning ACA, Walz reminds people that Trump did not successfully repeal the ACA while in office and the policy preserves healthcare coverage for those with preexisting conditions.

Walz, using his hands a lot, is passionately explaining why the ACA is important.

Supporting Trump’s mass deportation policies, Vance claims that migrants are contributing to high housing costs in the U.S.

An economic study said a mass deportation of eight million immigrants would increase consumer prices.

Vance suggested that school shootings are due at least in part from “illegally obtained firearms” and guns from across the southern border, but most guns used in mass shootings were obtained legally, and guns are largely being trafficked in the other direction because they are easier to buy here.

Tender moment between Vance and Walz after the Democratic vice presidential nominee shared an emotional story about his son witnessing a mass shooting.

Vance turned to Walz to sympathize with him before addressing the cameras.

After a brief commercial break, we are back on the debate stage with moderators bringing up the topic of gun violence.

Both Vance and Walz agree that gun violence is a problem that needs to be solved but they have different ways of approaching the solution.

Vance cites mental health issues, crime rates and illegal gun ownership as the main contributors to these problems. Walz says it’s access to guns.

“We have to increase security in our schools,” Vance said. “We have to make the doors lock better, make the doors stronger, make the windows stronger.”

House Republicans voted to block the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention from funding “any firearm injury and mortality prevention research” in 2023. Only four Republicans joined every Democrat in voting against it.

A botched late-term abortion isn’t a thing, but Vance also falsely said he has “not supported a national ban.” During the Senate race, he said he supported Senator Lindsey Graham’s proposal to ban abortions at 15 weeks of pregnancy.

While Walz gets emotional discussing complicated and life-threatening pregnancies and abortion care, Vance invokes a woman who needed an abortion while skirting his support for preventing her from getting one.