US Elections: Vance and Walz to face off in high-stakes VP debate

• How to watch: The VP debate, hosted by CBS News, will air live on CNN at 9 p.m. ET. You can watch the debate and CNN’s special coverage of the event in the video above this page, alongside our reporters’ real-time updates and fact checks.

• Debate rules: There will be 90 minutes of debate time, and the candidate who is asked a question will have two minutes to answer and the other candidate will have two minutes to respond. The network said it “reserves the right” to mute the candidates’ microphones. See the full debate rules here.

• Middle East tensions loom over campaign: In remarks from Washington, DC, Vice President Kamala Harris said that she has been monitoring the Iranian attack against Israel from the Situation Room and that she fully supports President Joe Biden’s order to shoot down Iranian missiles. Trump, who is campaigning in Wisconsin, slammed Biden and Harris’ leadership following the attack.

Walz has a history of connecting with rural voters. Here’s what to know about the Democratic VP nominee

Democratic vice presidential nominee Tim Walz is a second-term governor who has championed several progressive legislations in Minnesota, including free lunch for public school students and a paid family and medical leave program.

Yet, Democrats think Republicans will struggle to paint Walz as an ultra-liberal – an advantage to Vice President Kamala Harris, whom the GOP ticket has gone after for her previous progressive positions.

In Congress, Walz had a moderate voting record during his 12 years as a lawmaker, where he represented a rural, red district that he managed to flip, becoming only the second Democrat in 100 years to hold the seat. He approved the Keystone XL pipeline and blocked gun control measures, although he did stand with his Democratic colleagues to support the Affordable Care Act.

Once elected as governor, however, Walz took a more progressive stance, particularly when Minnesota Democrats were able to secure the majority in both chambers in 2022. He signed protections for abortion and gender-affirming care, and enacted free college tuition for students from families who earn less than $80,000.

Yet, Walz’s supporters have told CNN that they’re excited to have someone on the ticket who personally understands the issues facing rural America.

On the campaign trail, Walz often discusses his Nebraska upbringing to connect with rural, Midwest voters, as well as his service in the Army National Guard. And he repeatedly touts that he – along with his wife, Gwen – are former educators, leaning into the “Coach Walz” persona and even approaching his remarks at the Democratic National Convention as a pep talk.

Walz has also shared his and his wife’s fertility struggles to highlight how personal reproductive rights is to the couple – their daughter was conceived through a fertility treatment – as the Democratic ticket looks to make abortion and IVF access central to their campaign.

Vance rose to national prominence by embracing Trump’s politics. Here’s what to know about the GOP VP nominee 

Ohio Sen. JD Vance had just a little over a year of experience in the Senate when he was tapped as former President Donald Trump’s running mate.

Like Trump before his first presidency, Vance is a political newcomer. He was elected to the Senate in 2022 following a career as a venture capitalist, which now allows him to bring his ties to traditionally liberal-leaning Silicon Valley to the GOP presidential ticket. He is also the author of the best-selling memoir “Hillbilly Elegy,” and a veteran, who served a tour in Iraq in 2005 as a combat correspondent. He also spent four years in the Marines.

Vance was once a fervent critic of Trump. CNN has previously reported that Vance called Trump a “moral disaster” and possibly “America’s Hitler” in private messages and publicly – in since deleted tweets – called the former president “reprehensible.”

But Vance has since risen to political stardom, largely by touting Trump’s election lies and supporting the former president’s legislative priorities as he has sought to return to the White House.

In his limited voting record in Congress, Vance opposed a Ukraine aid bill earlier this year, adopting Trump’s criticism of providing more aid. And as he eyed the vice presidential nomination, Vance sowed doubt on whether Trump’s former vice president, Mike Pence, “was ever in danger” on January 6, 2021, the day of the riot at the US Capitol.

On the campaign trail, Vance has emerged as an ardent defender of Trump – reminding voters of the years the former president was in the office and touting his tough economic and immigration stances, while attacking the Biden-Harris administration’s policies.

Vance has adopted the former president’s anti-immigrant rhetoric and has vehemently pushed the baseless claim of Haitian migrants eating pets in Springfield, Ohio, which has surged threats against the community.

And as border security emerges as a key issue in this cycle, Vance has used his wife Usha, who is the daughter of immigrants from India, to argue that only documented immigrants should be welcomed.

Vance met Usha, a trial lawyer and former judicial clerk, at Yale Law School. The couple share three young children.

Source: CNN