1. Walz floundered and failed to attack Vance. Vance was polished and played nicely

Walz won his place in Harris’ campaign in part because of his spirited and energetic attacks on Vance, whom he accused of being a bogus supporter of struggling rural Americans and of simply being “weird.”

But in the days before this debate, Walz also tried to temper expectations about his confrontation with Walz, with news media running stories about Walz’s nerves and his belief that he was a bad debater.

And in fact, Walz seemed anxious and uncomfortable in his debate with Vance. Rather than mocking or attacking Trump’s unpopular vice presidential pick, Walz seemed to work hard to land his prepared talking points, while a more relaxed Vance maneuvered around him with ease.

Walz admitted he was mistaken in earlier comments when he repeatedly recalled being in Hong Kong during the Tiananmen Square massacre, although news outlets found evidence he could not have been there at that exact time. Walz also said in a garbled commentary on gun violence that “he befriended mass shooters,” a gaffe now widely circulated in conservative media.

Vance, who has faced intense criticism for spreading racist disinformation about Haitian immigrants in Ohio and has refused to apologize, appeared to want to present both himself and Trump as genial and affable moderates, describing Trump, for example, as the savior of Obamacare. , although fact-checkers noted that Trump consistently attacked and undermined Obamacare.

Towards the end of the debate, both candidates seemed to make some effort to be cordial with each other, noting moments of agreement with each other, as if trying to win points for “civility.”

2. Vance declined to say whether Donald Trump lost the 2020 election

In one of Walz’s stronger moments, he asked Vance to clearly state whether Trump lost the 2020 election, which Trump still denies.

Vance would not say whether Trump won or lost.

“Tim, I’m focused on the future,” Vance said, attempting to accuse Harris of censoring Americans.

“That’s a damn non-answer,” Walz said.

When questioned about the threats to democracy on January 6, Vance responded by painting a false equivalence between a violent mob that stormed the Capitol, forcing members of Congress to flee and hide, and Democrats who protested and complained after previous presidential elections. Vance argued that it was unfair for Democrats to characterize Trump’s refusal to concede he lost the 2020 election as an undermining of democracy, saying the claim “that this is just a problem that the Republicans have had – I don’t believe that.”

“January 6 was not Facebook ads,” Walz responded, referring to Democrats’ claims that Russia’s ad buying influenced the 2016 election. “I think there is a revisionist history about this – look, I don’t understand how we got to this point, but the problem was, that happened.”

3. Vance blamed a host of problems, from school shootings to the housing crisis, on undocumented immigrants and U.S. border policies.

Is there a social problem in America that, according to J.D. Vance, cannot be traced back to Harris’ supposed failure to secure the U.S.-Mexico border?

Vance claimed that the US housing crisis was the result of undocumented immigrants competing with US citizens for homes, and suggested that Trump’s promise to carry out mass deportations of undocumented immigrants in the US would lower rents and housing costs , a repeated suggestion that caught the attention of many commentators. equally disturbing.

“Twenty-five million illegal aliens competing with Americans for scarce housing is one of the most important factors affecting home prices in the country. That is why we have a huge increase in housing prices, which has been accompanied by a huge increase in illegal alien populations led by Kamala Harris,” Vance said.

“We should kick out illegal immigrants who are competing for those homes, and we should build more homes for the American citizens who deserve to be here,” he said at another point.

The Associated Press fact-checkers noted that “most economists blame a long-term decline in housing supply for the steady rise in home prices” and that “homebuilders say they need the immigrants to build the homes,” meaning that mass deportations of workers would not take place. essentially increasing the supply of housing in the US.

When asked about school shootings and his opposition to gun control laws, Vance endorsed adding more security measures to schools. In response to gunmen opening fire on schools, Vance said: “We need to make the doors stronger. We need to make the windows stronger.”

But he also pointed the finger at Mexico, claiming that most gun violence in the US is committed with illegally acquired firearms and linking the “open border” with Mexico to an increase in illegal guns in the US.

There is official data showing that an increasing number of weapons used in crimes have crossed the US-Mexico border in recent years. But it’s not Mexico sending guns to the US: it’s guns from the US fueling crime and violence in Mexico. As Reuters reported last year, “The vast majority of illegal guns in Mexico come from the United States, Mexican and U.S. authorities say,” noting that: “Mexico, a country of 127 million people, has strict gun laws – and only one gun shop, located on a military base.”

4. Vance talked a lot about the Republican Party’s need to regain women’s trust in abortion policy

Vance combined a lot of soft rhetoric recognizing American women’s concerns about the Republican Party’s extreme anti-abortion policies with a reiteration of his support for leaving abortion law to the states, many of which have passed laws that prohibit women seeking abortions seeking, and criminalizing medical providers who seek help. them.

He opened his remarks about abortion by talking about a friend who, years after having an abortion as a young woman, told him that her ability to have that abortion had been crucial to her life and had allowed her to escape an abusive relationship.

He also said that the 2023 Ohio referendum that enshrined access to abortion as a right in the state constitution, when “the people of Ohio overwhelmingly voted against my position,” taught him “that we better do our best to regain people’s trust. ”.

When Walz mentioned one of the Georgia women who died of what an investigation found to be a “preventable” death that experts linked to a state law that criminalizes abortion procedures, Vance agreed with Walz: “Amber Thurman should still be alive.”

But leaving abortion law to the states, of course, resulted in the Georgia law that Thurman’s family, as well as experts, blame for her death.

Thurman’s family was having none of Vance’s rhetoric. In a comment shared after the debate, they praised Walz for defending women’s rights and criticized Republican policies.

5. There was only one question about the Middle East, which is on the eve of a regional war

Iran launched a major missile attack on Israel on Tuesday. Israel has promised revenge. On Tuesday evening, as Israeli missiles struck neighborhoods in Beirut and Israel warned Lebanese citizens to flee their homes at 3 a.m., the US vice presidential debate largely ignored the escalating global crisis, instead focusing on questions about the economy and priorities of American consumers. .

Vance and Walz faced a single opening question about the Middle East: Would they support a preemptive U.S. strike on Iran? Both candidates more or less dodged the question while emphasizing that they supported Israel. Walz added that Trump’s own defense advisers had decided he was unfit for office, and that the US needed a “stable” leader like Kamala Harris. Vance said it is up to Israel to decide the best way to keep itself safe, and: “We must support our allies wherever they are as they fight the bad guys.”