US election: Vice presidential nominees Tim Walz and JD Vance set to spar

By Steve Holland and Stephanie Kelly, Reuters

Democrat Tim Walz and Republican JD Vance, US politicians whose histories and rhetoric have amassed more headlines than many past No 2 candidates, will go head-to-head on Wednesday (NZT) at the only vice presidential debate before the November election.

Walz, 60, a liberal governor and former high school teacher, and Vance, 40, a bestselling author and conservative firebrand senator, will portray themselves as sons of America's Midwestern heartland but polar opposites on the issues gripping the US Walz has called his Republican opponents "weird," and Vance came under fire for past comments disparaging some Democrats as "childless cat ladies."

Aides to the two men expect fireworks during the 90-minute debate at the CBS Broadcast Center in New York as they defend themselves and speak up for the candidates at the top of each ticket, Democratic Vice President Kamala Harris and Republican former President Donald Trump.

Harris and Trump are expected to watch the televised debate, which begins at 2pm NZT on Wednesday, and Trump said he would offer a play-by-play commentary of the event on social media.

Harris was widely viewed as the winner of her sole debate with Trump on 10 September in Philadelphia, which was watched by an estimated 67 million people. That square-off did little to change the trajectory of an extremely close election battle. While Harris has edged ahead in national polls of the electorate, most surveys show voters remain fairly evenly divided in the seven states that will decide the November election.

Political analysts say vice presidential debates can be fiery but generally do not alter the outcome of an election. The main takeaway from the last VP debate, the 2020 encounter between then-Senator Harris and then-Vice President Mike Pence, was a fly that landed on Pence's head unbeknownst to Pence himself.

"I can't think of any of them that seemed to have made a real difference in the election," said presidential historian Thomas Alan Schwartz of Vanderbilt University.

With no more debates planned, however, the stand-off will allow Walz and Vance to make closing arguments on behalf of their campaigns - just as early voting ramps up across the country.

Mud-slinging

Each will fling mud.

Walz, who has sought to cultivate a homespun image as a former high school football coach, is expected to get Vance to defend his 2021 comments criticising Harris and other Democrats as "a bunch of childless cat ladies who are miserable at their own lives".

Walz is also likely to go after Vance for spreading a fictional story of Haitian immigrants eating household pets in Springfield, Ohio, a false claim that Trump has repeated and that local officials say has drawn bomb threats.

The Democrat will seek to introduce himself to US voters who may not be familiar with him, while aiming to keep the conversation focused on Harris' agenda, said a Walz adviser who asked to remain anonymous to discuss strategy. Trump advisers said Vance can be expected to try to force Walz to defend the Biden-Harris administration's policies on immigration and the economy, as well his own handling of the riots in Minneapolis in 2020 after the death of George Floyd, a Black man, at the hands of a white policeman.

Vance will also bring up questions about Walz's military service, said Tom Behrends, a retired command sergeant major who joined a Trump campaign call about the debate.

Republicans have accused Walz of exaggerating his final rank in the Army National Guard, where he served for 24 years. Walz has in the past described himself as a retired command sergeant major, one of the highest non-commissioned officer positions in the Army. While he achieved that rank, he did not meet the requirements to retire with that title.

The Harris campaign says Walz "misspoke" in 2018 during his gubernatorial campaign in Minnesota when he referred to "weapons of war, that I carried in war". Walz was never deployed to a war zone.

Vance is a former marine who served as a military journalist. He was deployed to Iraq but never saw combat.

Walz has been preparing for the debate with US Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg, who has stood in for Vance. Buttigieg, a Midwesterner like Vance, has worn a red tie to mimic the Ohio senator's attire.

"It's about the governor being the governor and staying true to who he is, not turning him into a slick debater like Vance," the adviser said of the debate prep.

Vance tapped Tom Emmer, a US congressman from Minnesota, to stand in for Walz during mock debates, according to a source with direct knowledge of the matter.

Despite Vance's having written Hillbilly Elegy, a popular 2016 memoir, US voters have a negative view of him, Reuters/Ipsos polling shows, with 51 percent of registered voters saying they view him unfavourably, compared with 39 percent who view him favourably. That's a contrast with Walz, who 44 percent of registered voters view favourably, with 43 percent reporting an unfavourable view in the 20-23 September poll.

- Reuters