JD Vance's latest debate opponent has a warning for Tim Walz

Ahead of tonight's vice presidential debate, the last person to stare down JD Vance on stage – former Ohio congressman Tim Ryan – gave Tim Walz some cautionary advice as he prepares to take on the Yale Law graduate.

Ryan, a Democrat who lost a 2022 Senate race against Vance by 6 points, offered a positive contrast between Vance's debate style and that of his running mate, former President Donald Trump, on the Slate podcast “What Next” today.

A key difference – which Walz needs to pay attention to – is Vance's ability to move smoothly from an awkward topic to one he can more easily talk about, Ryan said.

For example, he recalled a moment during his duel against Vance in which the two discussed abortion. Ryan mentioned the story of a 10-year-old girl from Ohio who had to travel to Indiana to get an abortion after being raped.

However, Vance shifted the focus to immigration rather than abortion by pointing out that the perpetrator of the rape was a Guatemalan who entered the United States illegally.

“This little girl was raped by an illegal immigrant,” Vance said during the debate. “And both the media and Tim Ryan need to be honest that if Tim Ryan had done his job securing the border, she would never have been raped.”

The lesson to be learned, Ryan says, is: “You have to stay informed.”

“It’s frustrating to watch someone do that,” he added. “And in a way it's very clever for him to get back to the ground where he feels comfortable. And that may be a better topic for them, but you have to bring it back, and that requires a certain level of focus and concentration. And knowing where the argument is going, I think he’s much more adept at that than Trump.”

Like Trump, however, Ryan said Vance can overheat if you hit a nerve.

For Ryan, that nerve was the discrepancy between Vance's apparent support for the racist idea that immigrants threaten to replace white Americans and the fact that his wife, Usha Vance, comes from an Indian immigrant family.

After Ryan pointed it out, “it was like a hit song,” recalled podcast host Mary Harris.

Although Ryan emphasized the need to prepare for Vance – he recommended practicing against an opponent who can “cut your nerves out” – his account of the vice presidential candidate's psychology was less than glowing.

“To me, he's just a scared little boy with a beard, and he wants everyone else to be as scared as he is,” Ryan said.