Tim Walz, JD Vance to face off in U.S. VP debate. Here’s what to expect

Tim Walz and JD Vance will face off on the debate stage Tuesday evening in a matchup that both their parties are hoping will demonstrate their vice-presidential candidate’s ability to connect with voters in battleground states that will play a critical role in deciding the U.S. election in November.

The debate, hosted by CBS News in New York, will kick off at 9 p.m. Eastern.

“They will both be trying to connect with those key Midwestern voters, that’s part of why each one of them was chosen,” said Matthew Lebo, a specialist in U.S. politics at Western University in London, Ont.

“Thinking about especially male voters in those key Midwestern swing states: Pennsylvania, Wisconsin and Michigan.”

Those states swung Republican when former president Donald Trump won the 2016 election, and in 2020 they helped put President Joe Biden in the White House.

Tuesday’s matchup could have an outsized impact. Polls have shown Trump and U.S. Vice President Kamala Harris locked in a close contest, giving added weight to anything that can sway voters on the margins, including the impression left by the vice presidential candidates. It also might be the last debate of the campaign, with the Harris and Trump teams failing to agree on another meeting.

The role of a presidential running mate is typically to serve as an attack dog for the person at the top of the ticket, arguing against the opposing presidential candidate and their proxy on stage. Both Vance and Walz have embraced that role.

Walz, the 60-year-old Democratic governor of Minnesota, has embraced his folksy, plain-spoken demeanour since he joined the ticket earlier this summer. He’s leaned into his Midwestern roots and the title “coach Walz” from his former football coach days.

The strategy