Heightened 'significance and importance' as Vance, Walz face off in VP debate

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NEW YORK CITY – With a second face-to-face showdown between Vice President Kamala Harris and former President Trump unlikely - and with a margin-of-error race with five weeks until Election Day in November - there's a lot on the line in the vice presidential debate.

While debates between the running mates are the undercard of a White House race and have rarely moved the need much in the past, when Republican vice presidential nominee Sen. JD Vance of Ohio and Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz, the Democrats' nominee, face-off on Tuesday, there will be heightened stakes.

Any major knockout blow - or agonizing misstep - could turn what's traditionally seen as a second-tier event into an impactful showdown.

"Given that we're only likely to have one head-to-head matchup between the principal candidates and this is the last meet up between the two tickets directly before the election, it heightens the importance and significance of this debate," longtime Republican strategist and communicator Ryan Williams, a veteran of multiple presidential campaigns, told Fox News.

THE WHO, WHAT, WHERE, AND WHEN OF TUESDAY'S JD VANCE-TIM WALZ VICE PRESIDENTIAL DEBATE

Most political pundits said that Harris bested Trump last month in their first and likely only debate. And flash polls of debate watchers agreed.

So a strong showing by Vance in Tuesday's vice presidential debate could give Trump a