Catholic converts are nice too: JD Vance charms – and wrongfoots – Tim Walz during vice-presidential debate
JD Vance and Tim Walz, the US Republican and Democratic candidates for vice-president, went head-to-head during last night’s debate in New York about the obvious issues: abortion, immigration, the election result of 2020. It meant the biggest shock of the night came not so much from policy position rather from demeanour: JD Vance was all The post Catholic converts are nice too: JD Vance charms – and wrongfoots – Tim Walz during vice-presidential debate appeared first on Catholic Herald.
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JD Vance and Tim Walz, the US Republican and Democratic candidates for vice-president, went head-to-head during last night’s debate in New York about the obvious issues: abortion, immigration, the election result of 2020.
It meant the biggest shock of the night came not so much from policy position rather from demeanour: JD Vance was all smiles and played Mr Nice Guy, much to the consternation of Tim Walz.
Previously, Vance, a Catholic convert not shy of speaking his mind on hot-button topics and the role of his faith in forming his political consciousness, has drawn withering fire both from his Democratic opponents and the mainstream media.
Last night, though, he indulged in the modern colloquialism of a “vibe shift”, and one that Walz had not been expecting.
“Tim Walz turned to stare at JD Vance and his eyes grew very wide. He looked shocked at what he was hearing. Senator Vance was being nice,” Will Pavia writes in his sketch for The Times about how the night and debate proceeded.
Pavia notes how “Walz is the governor of Minnesota” and “being nice is part of his act” – but Vance was using a similar modus operandi straight back at Walz, and saying he agreed with the governor on the likes of gun control and sorting out the border issue.
Vance conceded that he believes Walz wants to “solve this problem”, before smoothly noting: “But I don’t think Kamala Harris does.”
If the preceding weeks of Walz continually and publicly calling Vance “weird” had ruffled Vance, the latter didn’t show it.
RELATED: Tim Walz is right – JD Vance is very weird
Vance maintained composed, confident and charming while answering questions. Gone was what Pavia describes as the “radio shock jock” stance that has led to significant backlash against him over the sorts of bold and brusque comments Vance has made, including – back in 2021 – about “childless cat ladies” running America.
“A quite different young chap was now on stage, politely introducing himself to the American people,” Pavia describes:
“He had grown up in Middletown, Ohio, he said. His mum struggled with addiction, his grandmother raised him. All this was in answer to a question about the Middle East. It was very effective. It was the story of Hillbilly Elegy, the bestselling memoir that may be the most broadly popular thing that he has ever done.”
And it all proved “very effective”, especially in regard to his opponent.
“Walz, 60, looked staggered,” Pavia says. “His cloudlike white eyebrows floated higher into the big sky of his forehead. He was not quite himself either.”
Ben Domenech, writing for Spectator World, said: “For Vance, the real challenge was to connect with the audience and make the case for Trump without getting too wonky or seeming too distant from commonly held concerns. He needed to be the hillbilly made good, not an intellectual policy tech bro. He absolutely achieved this for most of the night, and visually projected a confidence and ease with the facts that Walz, who spent most of his time bent over scribbling during answers, obviously lacked.”
Perhaps before the debate Vance had taken account of a previous Catholic Herald editorial which noted that while it is “good that thoughtful and sincere Catholics are participating in politics”, at the same time Vance “can sometimes appear gloomy” when “a cheerful and optimistic demeanour goes a long way in US politics”.
Whether Vance took the advice from the Herald or elsewhere, he applied it during the debate and played Walz at his own game.
Even the New York Times had to begrudgingly acknowledge a degree of success for Vance, running an article titled “Walz Failed to Expose Vance’s Debate Masquerade”.
The NYT, not wanting to let Vance get away with deigning to offer the American electorate an accomplished performance, notes: “His long experience in tailoring his answers for his audience made him seem, at a superficial level, more polished than Tim Walz, who didn’t have the commanding performance his supporters had hoped for. The sly Midwestern charm that has been so effective in his speeches and campaign ads was missing, replaced by a nervous intensity that led to puzzling answers and missed opportunities to remind viewers of Trump’s unfitness for office.”
Regardless how the US media tries to spin the performances of either candidate to serve their editorial agendas, the debate interestingly offered a similar dynamic that was at play in the debate between Donald Trump and Kamala Harris, but with the shoe on the other foot.
Leading up to the presidential debate, the evidence suggested that the former president had been unsettled by finding himself suddenly competing against a very different sort of opponent, after Kamala Harris replaced Joe Biden as the Democrat’s presidential candidate for November, and indeed Trump was judged to have “lost” the debate against Harris by both liberal and conservative commentators.
Similarly, in last night’s vice-presidential debate Walz appeared to have been unsettled by finding himself up against an opponent he has either misjudged or not fully taken the measure of.
“He was nervous. He tripped through his allotted two minutes…He used prepared put-downs at random, which created clanking non sequiturs, and spent too long talking about his home Minnesota,” was also the conclusion of Freddie Hayward in the New Statesman.
Hence after two election debates, which will likely be all we get, the scores read (as in more low-scoring English football terms): Democratic ticket – 1, Republican ticket – 1, thus leaving everything still to play for with less than five weeks to go till the election on 5 November.
“This moment is why Trump picked Vance in the first place – to win the debates with the media and prosecute the case against Kamala Harris in the debate,” Domenech says. “He proved thoroughly capable of handling both tonight, and Walz proved a much less impressive debater than anyone could’ve imagined.
“How much it matters is an open question, but in a cycle that became so chaotic, it is hard to think it will matter less than other vice-presidential debates of the past – and it could matter a lot more in stalling the momentum of the Democratic ticket, which seems more nervous and inauthentic than joyful.”
While most commentators don’t seem to share Domenech’s view on this debate having much potential for influencing any electoral trajectory, it is acknowledged that the debate that played out last night could have an influence further down the line beyond 5 November.
“Parties remember past debates when choosing candidates,” Hayward notes. “Vance’s performance will shore up his position within the party, making a run for the nomination in 2028 more likely.”
If Vance were to enter the White House, this would make Vance – who would still be under 45 – the third US Catholic president and the third youngest in US history. Theodore Roosevelt was just 42 when he became president after the assassination of William McKinley in 1901. Irish-Catholic John F. Kennedy was 43 when he was sworn in January 1961.
Photo: US Senator and Republican vice presidential candidate JD Vance (left) and Minnesota Governor and Democratic vice presidential candidate Tim Walz shake hands at the start of the Vice Presidential debate hosted by CBS News at the CBS Broadcast Center, New York City, USA, 1 October 2024. (Photo by CHARLY TRIBALLEAU/AFP via Getty Images.)
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