JD Vance's MAGA-Moderate Tightrope Walk | TIME

JD Vance had an assignment. The Republican vice presidential nominee has been dogged by controversy for months, from the resurfacing of his three-year-old comments complaining about “childless cat ladies” to the spread of baseless claims that Haitian migrants eat other people's pets. Vance's deliberate provocations endeared him to Donald Trump, but showed no signs of finding favor with the non-MAGA portion of the electorate. He is currently polling the worst of the four main candidates.

When Vance faced off against Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz in Tuesday night's vice presidential debate, he tried to change the narrative by dropping his inflammatory role. On stage he rarely threw broadsides at his counterpart. Instead, Vance took on the role of Trump's “political attack dog” — as the campaign called him — against Vice President Kamala Harris.

The strategy became clear early on when Walz accused Trump of enabling Tehran's march toward a nuclear weapon by withdrawing from the Iran nuclear deal; The time before the Iranian regime can develop weapons-grade uranium for a bomb is only a matter of weeks away. “Who has been vice president for the last three and a half years?” Vance shot back. “The answer is your vice president, not mine.” On the border crisis, he told Walz: “I think you want to solve this problem, but I don't think Kamala Harris does.”

Vance, a Yale-educated lawyer, largely followed the guidelines. He spent more time lambasting Harris' record and proposals than confronting Walz about them. Sources close to Vance say this was because voters rarely cast their votes with the vice president in mind. It was also due to the fundamental dynamics of the 2024 race. While voters already have strong views on Trump, Harris is less of a known commodity. To that end, both sides are scrambling to define it for persuasive voters in battleground states.

Vance's turning point was an unspoken rejoinder to Walz, who called him “weird,” and to Democrats' attacks on him over his far-right podcast commentary. This required some rhetorical acrobatics when it came to issues like abortion. He denied ever supporting a national abortion ban; In 2022, he said on a podcast: “I would definitely like abortion to be illegal on a national level.” However, on Tuesday evening he criticized his own party. “I want us as the Republican Party to be pro-family in the truest sense of the word,” he said. “We have to do a better job of regaining people’s trust.”

All night long, Vance tried to sound human. He talked about his roots as a worker in southern Ohio and talked about a friend who had to carry an unwanted pregnancy to term. When Walz said his son witnessed a shooting, Vance said, “I'm sorry…God have mercy.”

Since becoming Trump's running mate, Vance has appealed to different voters in different settings. On the trail, Vance has traveled most often to the blue wall states of Pennsylvania, Michigan and Wisconsin, where the campaign believes he resonates with Rust Belt voters. Online, his vicious fistfights make him the darling of the MAGA base. In the debate phase, Vance tried to attract moderates while remaining true to the “America First” creed. On the explosive immigration issue, he defended Trump's mass deportation plan, but deflected when asked whether a Trump-Vance administration would separate children from their families.

Walz, for his part, maintained his folksy Midwestern style and was less aggressive than Democrats expected him to be. He made a shocking faux pas when he said, “I've become friends with school shooters.” But he successfully set a trap. The Minnesota governor delivered a powerful line when he bluntly asked Vance whether Trump lost the 2020 election. “Tim, I’m focused on the future,” Vance said. “Did Kamala Harris stop Americans from expressing their opinions in the wake of the 2020 COVID situation?” Walz, who otherwise seemed unable to land a punch all night, interrupted. “That’s a fucking non-answer.”

It was a moment that reflected Vance's complicated campaign challenge: simultaneously appeasing swing voters and energizing the MAGA base without angering his boss.