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Viewers expecting a tough boxing match on Tuesday were instead treated to a Midwestern bromance, as vice presidential hopefuls Tim Walz and JD Vance lived up to their roots by keeping things largely civil while discussing major differences at the top of their respective tickets.

Typically, the vice presidential debate doesn't get as much attention and is often an afterthought, but given former President Donald Trump's refusal to face Vice President Kamala Harris in another round, this conversation could be the final contrast voters need in the should consider the incredibly close phase of the 2024 presidential election campaign.

The running candidates didn't engage much with each other and were most passionate when asked about familiar campaign themes, even as moderators launched into the mounting international crises and lives lost in Hurricane Helene.

Vance in particular focused heavily on the crisis at the U.S. southern border when asked whether family separation would be on the political agenda if Trump returns to power.

“You have to stop the bleeding,” the Ohio senator said. “You have to implement Donald Trump’s border policy again, build the wall, implement deportations again.”

Similarly, Walz became agitated when the conversation turned to abortion access and reproductive rights, pointing out that the Supreme Court's decision against Roe v. Wade put women's health at risk.

While Walz and Vance argued over the issues in hopes of empowering their future bosses, the CBS News vice presidential debate also served as a personality test for the two. Both present themselves as ordinary men who represent Midwestern values ​​as the Harris and Trump campaigns look for an advantage in the widening gender gap.

Here are the key moments from Tuesday's conversation.

Tim and JD play nice together in the Midwest

The two Midwestern fathers wore their region's suave reputation on their sleeves throughout the hour-and-a-half debate, bringing out the best parts of their personalities to an audience that largely knows neither of them.

At various points, the two complimented each other as they cheered for either Harris or Trump.

When the conversation turned to gun violence and mass school shootings, the two vice presidential candidates, who are both fathers, expressed sympathy for each other as they are concerned parents.

At another point, Vance reminded the audience of Harris as sitting vice president, praising her economic agenda and saying, “Sounds pretty good,” before pointing out that she did not implement those ideas during her tenure in the White House.

“If Kamala Harris has such big plans to address the problems of the middle class, then she should implement them now, not when she asks for a promotion,” he said.

This is particularly important for Vance, who polls showed was less popular than his Democratic counterpart in Tuesday's debate.

An Associated Press-NORC Center for Public Affairs Research poll released this month found that about half of registered voters have a somewhat or very unfavorable opinion of the Ohio senator, compared with about three in 10 voters who have an unfavorable opinion about rolling.

“Knucklehead”: Rolls nervously, stumbles in Tiananmen Square

Walz's appearance on the nationally televised debate stage was uncertain.

In the opening minutes of the exchange, the Democratic vice presidential nominee's demeanor was almost unrecognizable compared to his usually optimistic and personable image of a seasoned politician, replaced by a stoic, concerned newcomer.

Walz spent the first half of the debate answering questions and neglected to introduce himself by his familiar public titles: coach, former teacher and father. The normally welcoming figure rarely spoke about personal experiences, relying on data and conversations about his vice president's record.

The 60-year-old governor has faced similar scrutiny for making misleading statements such as glossing over parts of his previous military service and facing criticism from conservatives over his handling of unrest in 2020 after George Floyd's death at the hands of police in Minneapolis was.

When he had to admit his latest faux pas, Walz was a deer in the headlights.

The moderators asked about Walz's continued claim that he was present at the Tiananmen Square pro-democracy protests in 1989. When recent reports contradict this timing, he danced around the question, calling himself a “wronghead” and saying he “wrote.”

“I get lost in the rhetoric,” he said.

Vance sells himself to the national audience

Unlike Walz, who mostly didn't talk about his backstory, Vance had some of his tumultuous childhood in southwest Ohio, which formed the starting point for his best-selling memoir “Hillbilly Elegy,” about overcoming poverty and familial addiction problems.

The Ohio senator noted his mother's recovery from a substance use disorder and shared the story of a woman he knew who sought an abortion because she was in an abusive relationship. He mentioned more than once that he grew up in a working-class family, which he hopes will resonate with voters in the Rust Belt states that are crucial to winning in November.

Vance also had to own up to his past criticism of Trump, and he did so with the ease of someone who has answered that question since the start of his 2021 Senate campaign.

“If you screw up, if you slip up, if you do something wrong and change your mind, you should be honest with the American people,” he said.

Walz promotes tragic abortion stories, Vance tries a new approach

As the discussion turned to the topic of abortion, Walz made a passionate appeal to the audience from the screen, highlighting personal stories of women dealing with the impact of the repeal of Roe v. Wade ruling and blamed Trump for the Supreme Court decision.

“Donald Trump made all of this happen. He bragged about how great it was when he turned on the judges and overturned (Roe). Then he told us, 'Oh, send it to the States, it's a beautiful thing,'” he said.

Walz brought up two women who have become the face of the national debate over reproductive rights, Amanda Zurawskia, a Texas woman who nearly died due to complications related to her 18-week pregnancy, and Hadley Duval, a woman from Kentucky, who was impregnated after sexual intercourse and attacked by her stepfather.

“This is terrible,” Walz said. “Senator Vance said two wrongs don’t make a right, that’s not right.”

Vance sought a different approach, trying to portray Republicans as more moderate than Democrats and other critics have portrayed them, even though abortion opponents have repeatedly lost ballots in the past two years.

The GOP has a trust problem when it comes to the issue of abortion, particularly among women, he acknowledged.

The Ohio senator claimed he doesn't support a nationwide abortion ban, despite supporting a “national minimum standard” as a Senate candidate. He cited the story of a woman “very close to my heart” who told him a few years ago that she felt if she hadn't had that abortion, it would have destroyed her life because she was in an abusive relationship was.”

But he emphasized how the Trump ticket does this by promoting family-friendly policies like fertility treatments and providing financial support to families. He also defended Trump's position that abortion regulation should be left to the states.

During the debate, Trump weighed in online, saying that if sent back to the White House he “would not support a federal abortion ban” and that he would veto a nationwide abortion ban if elected to a second term .

When Walz brought up the case of Amber Thurman, a Georgia woman who died long after receiving a procedure to remove fetal tissue from her body after accepting abortion bills, Vance said: “I agree with you “That Amber Thurman should still be alive.”

No pets allowed: Claims about dog and cat consumption will not be considered in the immigration dispute

Vance was not on the debate stage and claimed that Haitian migrants eat other people's dogs, which startled viewers watching the Harris-Trump debate a month ago.

But both candidates invoked Springfield, Ohio, as they argued about border security – one of the biggest issues in the presidential campaign. The city was thrust into the national immigration debate last month after Vance and Trump repeatedly made baseless claims that migrants were hurting pets and stealing waterfowl.

“I believe Senator Vance wants to solve this problem, but by standing with Donald Trump and not working together to find a solution, it becomes a talking point,” Walz said.

“When it becomes such a topic of conversation, we dehumanize and denigrate other people.”

An estimated 15,000 Haitians have come to Springfield in recent years through a federal program that provides temporary protected status to migrants fleeing violence in their home countries. The influx has strained local hospitals and schools, and Springfield officials applied for state aid earlier this year to address the housing shortage.

Vance expressed these concerns during the debate, placing the blame squarely on the Biden-Harris administration. The moderators made it clear that Springfield's Haitian population is there legally, prompting Vance to resist and causing both candidates' microphones to be muted.

“The people I am most concerned about in Springfield, Ohio are the American citizens whose lives have been destroyed by Kamala Harris’ open border,” Vance said. “It's a shame.”

On By John Fenwick

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