The first and only vice presidential debate has ended. The candidates shook hands and their families came to greet them post-debate.

Vance, who won the virtual coin toss and elected to speak last, thanked his opponent, CBS News, and the American public before turning his focus to energy, something that he continuously returned to throughout the debate.

In questions about the climate early in the debate, Vance advocated for the expansion of energy jobs in America to feed the clean energy economy. In his closing statement, Vance emphasized the need for more energy production to make the quality of life better in the country.

“We are a rich and prosperous enough country where every American, whether they’re rich or poor, ought to be able to channel their heat and then it’ll cold winter night. That’s gotten more difficult thanks to Kamala Harris’s energy policies,” Vance said.

The Senator continued to list off the ways in which he believes Harris has made life less affordable in America, including making housing and food more expensive, and also criticized the vice president again on border security, as he did many times throughout the debate.

“You ought to be able to live in safe neighborhoods. You ought to not have your communities flooded with fentanyl. And that too has gotten harder with Kamala because of Kamala Harris’s policies,” Vance said.

Vance again used his closing remarks to take aim at Walz’s running mate rather than the other vice presidential candidate himself, criticizing Harris for not enacting the policies she is proposing while she has held office since 2021.

Vance called America “the most beautiful country in the world,” but emphasized the need for change and the return to an experienced president like Trump.

“What [this campaign] has taught me is that we have the greatest country, the most beautiful country, the most incredible people anywhere in the world, but … they’re not able to live their American dream if we do the same thing that we’ve been doing for the last two and a half years,” he said.

Vance ended his statement by imploring voters to vote for his running mate but ultimately addressing the American people to say, “Whether you vote for me or vote for Tim Walz, I just want to say I’m so proud to be doing this, and I’m rooting for you.”

— Bryan Hecht

“I’m as surprised as anybody of this coalition that Kamala Harris has built,” Walz began. “From Bernie Sanders to Dick Cheney to Taylor Swift and a whole bunch of folks in between there. They don’t all agree on everything, but they are truly optimistic people.”

“There can be an opportunity of an economy that works for everyone, not just to get by, but to get ahead,” Walz added, reiterating one of the Harris-Walz campaign’s slogans.

He also took the opportunity to critique the opposing campaign, saying “We all know who Donald Trump is, he’s told us.”

Critiquing his opponent, Walz said, “Senator Vance tonight made it clear that he will stand with Donald Trump’s agenda. He will continue to push down that road. Kamala Harris gives us a different option.”

“I’m going to be careful about the quotes, but there’s one that Senator Vance said that sticks with me,” Walz continued. “He said, ‘Donald Trump makes the people I care about afraid.’ A lot of America feels that way. We don’t need to be afraid.”

Referencing Franklin Roosevelt, Walz said, “All we have to fear is fear itself. Kamala Harris is bringing us politics of joy. She’s bringing real solutions for the middle class, and she’s centering [Americans] at the heart of that.”

“Let’s hope for a new day, where everybody gets that opportunity and everyone gets a chance to thrive. I fully ask for your vote on Nov. 5 for Kamala Harris,” Walz concluded.

— Katie Cressman

Vance, in conversation on certification of election results in the 2024 election and Jan. 6, brought up Democrat claims of Russian collusion in the 2016 election.

“We have to remember that for years in this country, Democrats protested the results of elections,” Vance said. “Hillary Clinton in 2016 said that Donald Trump had the election stolen by Vladimir Putin because the Russians bought like, $500,000 worth of Facebook ads.”

Vance said that he is for building back public trust in election results but that it is not an effort that only must come from conservatives.

“This has been going on for a long time, and if you want to say that we need to respect the results of the election, I’m on board saying that this is just a problem that Republicans have had,”

“January 6 was not Facebook ads,” Walz said in response, calling Vance’s take “revisionist history.”

— Bryan Hecht

In response to Vance’s comments about Jan. 6, Walz said, “Senator it was adjudicated over and over and over.”

Acknowledging his time spent as a football coach, Walz talked about how elected officials should respond to a loss.

“Sometimes you really want to win, but the democracy is bigger than winning an election,” Walz said.

He continued advocating for the peaceful turning over of office, saying that candidates should “[settle] our differences in the ballot box and [shake] hands when we lose.”

Walz then turned to Vance and asked, “Did Donald Trump lose the election?”

After Vance’s response, where he referenced concerns over Russian interference in the 2016 election and Harris’ alleged censorship of Americans, Walz critiqued, “That was a damning non-answer.”

“This is not a debate,” Walz said about the results of the 2020 election. “It’s yelling ‘Fire!’ in a crowded theater,” he continued.

Walz addressed viewers of the debate, asking, “That’s what we’re asking you America, will you stand up?”

Walz spoke about the importance of democracy in America in response to Trump’s claims that he won the 2020 election. He continued addressing the audience, saying, “America, I think you’ve got a really clear choice on this election of who’s going to honor that democracy and who’s going to honor Donald Trump.”

— Katie Cressman

Vance won the virtual coin toss and elected to go last in the closing statements. The candidates were given two minutes to speak.

Vance deflected from a question about whether he would honor the results of the 2024 election if certified by all governors for Harris, by first talking about the economy.

“We need to figure out how to solve the inflation crisis caused by Kamala Harris’s policies,” Vance said.

Vance has said he would not have certified the last presidential election and would have asked the states to submit alternative electors.

“My own belief is that we should try to propose issues to face those issues peacefully in the public square. And that’s all I’ve said, and that’s all that Donald Trump has said,” Vance said as he emphasized the “peaceful transfer of power” after the 2020 election.

“Remember, he said that on January the sixth, the protesters ought to protest peacefully, and on January the 20th, what happened? Joe Biden became the president. Donald Trump left the White House,” he added.

Vance accused Harris and Walz of engaging in censorship by labeling people as spreading misinformation which he called a bigger threat to democracy than Trump’s actions in Jan. 6 and “a much bigger threat to democracy than anything that we’ve seen in this country in the last 40 years.”

When Vance was later asked directly by Walz if Trump lost the 2020 election, he again deflected from the question, “Did Kamala Harris censor Americans from speaking their mind anyway?” he asked in response.

— Bryan Hecht

Referring to his personal experience with childcare and paternity leave, Walz said, “I had to go back to work five days after my kids were born.”

Highlighting the success of his home state, Walz said, “We in Minnesota, passed a paid family medical leave.”

Addressing concerns over a decreasing number of childcare facilities, Walz said “We have to make it easier for folks to be able to get into that business, and then to make sure folks are able to pay for that.”

He continued, saying “You can’t expect the most important people in our lives to take care of our children or our parents to get paid the least amount of money.”

Referencing the Child Tax Credit, Walz critiqued Vance’s position saying, “You’re not paying for it with tariffs.”

Walz acknowledged the current childcare crisis, saying “[The Harris-Walz campaign] will enhance our families and make it easier to have children when you want.”

Vance expressed hopes that a bipartisan solution to paid family leave and childcare would be possible.

He talked about his own marriage and kids calling being a working mom “extraordinarily difficult.”

“We should have a family care model that makes choice possible,” Vance said. “One of the biggest complaints I hear from young families … [is] they’re choosing between going to work or taking care for their kids. That is an incredible burden to put on American families. We’re the only country that does it. I think we could do a heck of a lot better.”

Vance was then asked if Trump would support the $5,000 per child tax credit that Vance has supported. He responded by defending his running mate and saying that the administration will source money for family tax cuts through tariffs.

“We’re going to be taking in a lot of money by penalizing companies for shipping jobs overseas and penalizing countries who employ slave laborers and then ship their products back into our country and American workers,” Vance said.

Vance also said “we’re going to have to spend more money,” to address federal childcare shortages.

— Bryan Hecht

Vance defended Trump’s comment during his presidential debate against Kamala Harris on Sept. 10 that he had “concepts of a plan” for American healthcare to replace the Affordable Care Act (Obamacare).

“You’re not going to propose a 900-page bill on a debate stage,” Vance said, saying that part of the political process is developing a plan over time, especially allowing for flexibility in a plan given the push and pull of bipartisan legislation.

“Donald Trump could have destroyed the program. Instead, he worked in a bipartisan way to ensure that Americans have access to affordable care,” Vance said. “It’s not perfect, of course, and there’s so much more than we can do. I think that Donald Trump has earned the right to put in place some better health care policies. He’s earned it because he did it successfully the first time.”

— Bryan Hecht

On the subject of the housing market, Vance said, “We don’t want to blame immigrants for higher housing prices, but we do want to blame Kamala Harris for letting in millions of illegal aliens … which does drive up the cost of housing.”

Vance then talked about using federal lands to build more housing and using deportation to level the housing market.

“We have a lot of federal lands that aren’t being used for anything. They’re not being used for National Parks. They’re not being used and they could be places where we build a lot of housing,” Vance said. “We should be kicking out illegal immigrants who are competing for those homes, and we should be building more homes for the American citizens who deserve to be here.”

— Bryan Hecht

Walz cited Minneapolis’ success in creating affordable housing, saying,“Minneapolis is the one city where we’ve seen the lowest inflation rates, we’ve seen a 12% increase in stock.”

He also broke down the thought process behind his stance on housing: “Here’s what we know, people with stable housing end up with stable jobs. People with stable housing are able to get their kids to school. All of these things in the long run, end up saving our money.”

“The fact of the matter is,” Walz explained, “we don’t have enough affordable housing, but we can make sure the government is there to kickstart it and create that base.”

Walz critiqued Vance’s statements regarding immigrants and housing, calling them, “Blaming and not trying to find a solution.”

“I think there’s better ways to do this,” Walz said in reference to turning federal land into housing.

Walz then took issue with Vance’s comments about current housing legislation. He said, “The Vice President is not responsible for those, Congress writes those.”

— Katie Cressman

Walz spoke about his personal experience with gun violence, saying “I got a 17-year-old and he witnessed a shooting in a community center playing volleyball. Those things don’t leave you.”

Referencing schools in Finland, Walz said that despite high levels of gun ownership, Finnish schools do not experience school shootings often.

“We know there’s countries around the world where their children aren’t practicing these kinds of drills,” Walz said.

Walz advocated for change, saying, “There are reasonable things we can do to make a difference, it’s not infringing on our Second Amendment.”

Addressing concerns of poor mental health in teenagers and access to guns, Walz said “I want to be very careful, this idea of stigmatizing mental health, just because you have a mental health issue does not mean you’re violent.”

Vance used his time to address gun violence and school shootings to talk about measures that can be taken outside of direct firearm bans in the country.

Vance said that close to 90% of gun violence in the country is committed with illegally obtained firearms and blamed the Biden-Harris administration for the influx of illegal weapons in the country.

“Thanks to Kamala Harris’s open border, we’ve seen that massive influx in the number of illegal guns run by the Mexican drug cartel,” Vance said.

In protecting students, Vance argued for re-enforced increased security in schools and more school resource officers.

“The idea that we can wave a magic wand and take guns out the hands of bad guys, it just doesn’t fit with recent experience,” Vance said.

— Bryan Hecht

Vance answered “no” to questions of whether he would instate a federal pregnancy monitor. Vance touted his working-class background and said that he had grown up around people who had unplanned pregnancies and terminated them because they felt like they had no other options, before saying that the Republican Party has “got to do so much better of a job at earning the American people’s trust back on this issue where they, frankly, just don’t trust us.”

“I want, as a Republican Party, to be pro family in the full sense of the word,” Vance said before expressing support for fertility treatments, and tax cuts for families with children.

Vance then expressed a desire to have states decide on abortion policy.

“The proper way to handle this … is voters make these decisions, let the individual states make their abortion policy,” Vance said. 

When asked about his former support for a federal ban on abortion after 15 weeks, the senator said that he would not support one but criticized Democrats for taking “a very radical pro abortion stance.”

— Bryan Hecht

On the subject of the overturned Roe vs. Wade, Walz cited concerns over Project 2025, a political agenda that the Trump-Vance administration allegedly plans to implement. Walz said, “Their Project 2025 is going to have a registry of pregnancies, it’s going to make it more difficult, if not impossible.”

Citing the dangers of forcing women to carry out pregnancies that negatively impact their health, Walz said, “We have seen maternal mortality skyrocket in Texas, passing many other countries in the world.”

In Minnesota, Walz argues that abortion access is healthcare. He said, “We are ranked first in health care for a reason. We trust women, we trust doctors.”

In his rebuttal, Walz talked about Amber Thurman, who died after being unable to access an abortion in a restricted abortion state: “There’s a very real chance that had Amber Thurman lived in Minnesota, she would be alive today.”

Walz highlighted the Harris-Walz campaign’s position on abortion access, saying, “These are women’s decisions to make about their healthcare decisions, and the physicians who know nest when they need to do this.”

“I use this line on this [topic], Just mind your own business on this,” Walz commented.

— Katie Cressman

When Vance was asked about his flip-flopping opinion on Donald Trump dating back to 2016 when the Senator called the former president “America’s Hitler,” he said that he has always been open about the fact he was wrong about Trump.

Vance said that he believed “dishonest applications” of Trump’s record in the past and that in his first presidency, Donald Trump delivered for the American people in ways he didn’t think he would, like the economy and border security.

Vance blamed Congress for stopping the Trump administration in its first term.

“There were a lot of things on the border, on tariffs, for example, where I think that we could have done so much more,” Vance said. “They’re so obsessed with impeaching Donald Trump, they couldn’t actually govern.”

— Bryan Hecht

Walz talked about a program that he ran to bring students “back and forth to China” after spending time in Hong Kong.

In terms of his leadership qualities, “My commitment has been, from the beginning, to make sure that I’m there for the people,” Walz said.

Citing his political career, Walz said, “Those same people elected me to Congress for 12 years and I was one of the most bipartisan people working on things.”

Referring to his time spent in China and his debate performances, Walz admitted, “I will talk a lot. I will get caught up in the rhetoric. But being there [in China], the impact it made, the difference it made in my life, I learned a lot.”

Vance leaned on Trump’s economic record in response to questions about the economy going forward.

“Donald Trump’s economic policies to deliver to the highest take home pay in a generation in this country, 1.5% inflation and peace and security all over the world,” Vance said. “So when people say that Donald Trump’s economic plan doesn’t make sense, I say, look at the record he delivered rising take home pay for American workers now.”

Vance admitted that Harris’ economic plan “even sounds pretty good,” but added she has had three years to enact these policies and didn’t.

“What she’s actually done instead is … make middle class life unaffordable for a large number of people,” Vance said.

— Bryan Hecht

Referencing Harris’ goal-forward plan, Walz said, “There are three million new houses proposed under this plan.”

“We save money in the long run and we do the right thing for families,” Walz continued.

Walz cited high prescription drug costs and the Child Tax Credit in contrast to former president Trump’s economic policies. Walz was critical of Trump’s economic policies saying, “Now he’s proposing a 20% consumption of sales tax on everything we bring in.”

About economic policy, Walz said, “We’ll just ask the wealthiest to pay their fair share.”

Turning to COVID-19, Walz critiqued “that led to the collapse of our economy.”

Speaking to Americans who may be persuaded by Trump’s economic policies, Walz said, “My pro tip of the day is, if you need heart surgery, listen to the people at the Mayo Clinic in Rochester, Minnesota, not Donald Trump.”

In response to Vance, Walz said “we need to have fair trading partners.”

Further critiquing Trump, Walz said, “Donald Trump was the guy who created the largest trade deficit in American history with China.”

“Kamala Harris has a record 250,000 more manufacturing jobs,” Walz continued.

The debate’s discussion of immigration saw Vance accusing Kamala Harris of letting “fentanyl into our communities at record levels,” and citing inflated numbers on the number of undocumented immigrants in the country. He also made claims that 320,000 children who have been separated from their families at the border were “sex-trafficked” or used as “drug trafficking mules.”

Walz rebuffed the claims that children were being used as drug mules at the southern border. Moderators then asked Vance directly if he supported separating children from their families at the border even in the case of them being U.S citizens.

Vance responded by saying that there are already mass separations taking place because of Harris’ border policy.

“For three years, Kamala Harris went out bragging that she was going to undo Donald Trump’s border policy. She did exactly that. [Now] we have a record number of illegal crosses,” Vance said.

— Bryan Hecht

In response to allegations that Harris is “letting in fentanyl,” Walz said that “in the last 12 months, some of the largest decrease in opioid deaths in our nation’s history.”

He further cited Harris’s career as a prosecutor, saying, “She is the only person in this race who prosecuted transnational gangs for human trafficking and drug interventions.”

Referencing the border legislature that both Democrats and Republicans worked on, Walz said, “Donald Trump said no because it gives hima campaign issue.”

In reference to former president Donald Trump, Walz commented, “Donald Trump had four years to do this, and he promised you, America, how easy it would be.”

In response to Vance’s rebuttal, Walz turned his attention to Springfield, saying that concerns over migrants eating pets “vilified a large number of people who were here legally in this community of Springfield.”

“I agree it should not take seven years for asylum plans to be done,” Walz said in response to concerns over slow-passing legislation.

Citing a passage from the Bible, Walz brought up Matthew 25:40, which talks about “the least among us, you do it to me.”

— Katie Cressman

CBS muted Vance’s mic as he interrupted moderators to discuss the “CBP One” app, which allows migrants to make an appointment to seek asylum at a U.S. port of entry

The second question in Tuesday’s debate turned to the issue of climate change in light of Hurricane Helene, which has ravaged the southeastern United States this week.

Vance used his time to respond to the question by first expressing empathy for those affected by the hurricane, before talking about the climate plan of the Trump-Vance campaign.

“A lot of people are justifiably worried about all these crazy weather patterns. I think it’s important for us, first of all, to say to also fly, support clean air, clean water,” Vance said. However, he added that the Democratic focus on the reduction of carbon emissions is misplaced both in terms of its contribution to climate change as well as increasing energy production in high-emission countries like China.

“So if we actually care about getting cleaner air and cleaner water, the best thing to deal down and invest in American workers and the American people,” Vance said.

When Vance was asked about Donald Trump’s claims that climate change is a hoax, he said that the former president meant to indicate that if Democrats believe in the seriousness of climate change, they would support more manufacturing and more energy production in the United States.

“The real issue is that if you’re spending hundreds of millions or even billions of dollars of American taxpayer money on solar panels that are made in China … We should be making more of the solar panels here in the United States,” Vance said.

— Bryan Hecht

Walz began his response with the issue of climate change, saying that former president Donald Trump “called [climate change] a hoax.” He then reflected on the Biden-Harris administration’s approach to climate change, citing his background in Minnesota.

“My farmers know that climate change is real, reducing our impact is absolutely critical,” the governor said.

Walz cited 500-year droughts and 500-year floods, which he referred to as occurring “back to back.”

In response to Vance’s rebuttal, Walz responded, “To call it a hoax and to take the oil company executives to Mar-a-Lago, [saying] give me money for my campaign, and I’ll let you do whatever you want.”

— Katie Cressman

In response to a question about whether each candidate would support a preemptive attack against Iran in relation to Iran’s missile attack against Israel earlier in the day, Vance used his response time to first introduce himself on the debate stage and talk about growing up impoverished in Appalachia and serving in the United States Marine Corps. Vance then praised Trump’s record on international relations, saying that the former president “brought stability to the world.” On the subject of a preemptive strike, Vance said that the decision should be left up to Israel.

“We should support our allies wherever they are and when they’re fighting the bad guys,” Vance said.

— Bryan Hecht

Tonight’s debate opened with a question about whether each candidate, as the final voice in the situation room, would support Israel launching an attack on Iran in response to a missile launch conducted earlier today. Walz began his response by saying, “Israel’s ability to defend itself is fundamental.” He then turned to a critique of Trump, calling the former president “unfit for the highest office.” He continued, citing Harris’ comments on the Middle East, saying “As the Vice President said today, we will protect our forces and our allied forces, and there will be consequences.”

In response to Vance, Walz began his rebuttal saying, “When Iranian missiles did fall near U.S. troops, Donald Trump wrote [traumatic brain injuries] off as headaches.” He continued, “Our coalition is strong, and we needed the stead leadership that Kamala Harris is providing.” He repeatedly called the former president “fickle.”

The vice presidential debate is set to begin at 9 p.m. Eastern and will last about 90 minutes, with two four-minute commercial breaks. The debate, hosted by CBS News, will take place in New York City at the CBS Broadcast Center.

The debate will be moderated by Norah O’Donnell, “CBS Evening News” anchor and managing editor, and Margaret Brennan, “Face the Nation” moderator and chief foreign affairs correspondent.

It will be aired on CBS and CBS News and simulcast on all major broadcast channels (ABC, CBS, Fox, NBC, PBS) and cable news networks (C-Span, CNN, MSNBC, Fox Business, Fox News, NewsNation). It can be streamed on DirecTV Stream, FuboTV, Hulu + Live TV, AT&T Now, YouTube TV, Sling, Peacock, and Paramount+.

For Emerson community members, you can attend the debate watch party in the Bill Bordy Theatre on 218 Tremont Street.

— Rylie Burns

Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz and Sen. JD Vance (R., Ohio) will face off Tuesday night in New York City in their first and possibly only vice presidential debate of the 2024 election.

The debate, hosted by CBS News, comes three weeks after Vice President Kamala Harris and former President Donald Trump took the stage in Philadelphia for their first debate. Tuesday night’s matchup could be the last debate before Election Day.

The debate is scheduled to last 90 minutes, with two four-minute breaks and no audience.

CBS will leave microphones on and not mute candidates when it isn’t their turn to speak. Moderators will not fact-check the candidates.

Instead, CBS will feature a QR code on the screen that will redirect viewers to CBSNews.com to get live, real-time fact checks by CBS News reporters. The code will appear only on CBS’ broadcast.