Live Updates: Vance and Walz prepare for the first and only vice presidential debate

The duel may not have the same stakes as the former president's Sept. 10 debate Donald Trump and vice president Kamala Harrisbut it offers her top lieutenants a new opportunity to introduce themselves, vouch for their superiors and fulfill the time-honored role of a vice president: attack dog.

It will include the largest television and online audience watching No. 2 before Election Day.

Walz, the 60-year-old governor of Minnesota, and Vance, a 40-year-old US senator from Ohio, have been eyeing possible approaches for weeks. Before Harris picked him, Walz was the Democrat who picked him coined by “strange” as a derogatory slur for the Republican ticket. Vance criticizes the governor's progressive record as evidence that Democrats are too far left for voters.

Vance has made fun of his comrade's military service. Walz criticizes Vance's opposition to abortion rights and his views on family life. Both men have demonstrated their credentials as small-town, middle-America residents — in contrast to Trump, the billionaire New Yorker, and Harris, a California native from the Bay Area.

▶ Read more about the dynamics to be taken into account when the rivals meet in person for the first time