Who Won the Debate? A Crisp Vance Fends Off Walz

In the only vice-presidential debate of the 2024 election cycle, Gov. Tim Walz of Minnesota and Senator JD Vance of Ohio engaged in a policy-heavy battle of ideas, clashing on the economy, immigration, abortion and protecting American democracy.

The exchanges generally lacked the personal vitriol that punctuated former President Donald J. Trump’s debate with Vice President Kamala Harris. Instead the running mates sought to bring more substance to the big themes of the campaigns while introducing themselves to voters. On more than one occasion there were flashes of apparent comity, with the candidates acknowledging that they shared common goals of broadening access to child care and reducing gun violence.

After the debate, political analysts, pundits and observers on social media noted that Mr. Vance, a Yale-educated lawyer, offered a crisp delivery — even if he was deftly shading the truth — and that he was generally more genial than he is often portrayed by the Harris campaign. However, Mr. Vance struggled when pressed over Mr. Trump’s efforts to overturn the 2020 election, refused to answer a direct question from Mr. Walz about whether Mr. Trump lost and defended his running mate’s role in the Jan. 6 attack on the Capitol by saying Mr. Trump peacefully transferred power to President Biden.

Mr. Walz at times appeared anxious and stumbled when trying to explain misstatements about his background. He seemed to gain his footing toward the end of the debate when the conversation moved to abortion and health policy while Mr. Vance tried to revise history and suggested that Mr. Trump was a savior of the Affordable Care Act (he tried unsuccessfully to repeal it).

Here is a sampling of the reaction.

“Gov. Walz is not prosecuting the