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Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz and Ohio Sen. JD Vance faced each other for their first (and potentially only) 2024 vice presidential debate Tuesday night.
Snopes' fact-checkers watched the 90-minute CBS event closely, analyzing the candidates' statements in real time. We posted those updates below, along with reporting by reputable news outlets such as The Associated Press, The Guardian and NBC News.
Also, we compiled popular rumors targeting Walz and Vance that have surfaced since Vice President Kamala Harris and former President Donald Trump tapped them as running mates. The claims range from alleged statements by Vance, like whether he once said parents should have a bigger say in U.S. democracy than non-parents or whether referred to Trump as "America's Hitler," to assertions that Walz lied about his military record and high school coaching career.
- Every Claim About Walz We've Fact-Checked During 2024 Presidential Campaign
- Every Claim About JD Vance We've Fact-Checked During 2024 Presidential Campaign
On Tuesday, Vance claimed Trump told people to "peacefully" protest on Jan. 6, 2021.
In the hours before the attack, Trump gathered supporters in a park near the White House for a roughly 70-minute speech that continued his months-long campaign to stir doubt in America's electoral process and convince people to reject Joe Biden's victory.
Whether Trump instigated the violence at the Capitol, or used the speech at Ellipse Park to direct his supporters to storm the federal building, is central to court cases against him. Here's a recording of his remarks, courtesy of C-SPAN, as well as a transcript by Factba.se, a database of Trump's statements.
The Associated Press reported Tuesday:
It’s true that Trump told the crowd gathered near the White House: "I know that everyone here will soon be marching over to the Capitol building to peacefully and patriotically make your voices heard."
But [Vance] ignored the other incendiary language Trump used throughout his speech, during which he urged the crowd to march to the Capitol, where Congress was meeting to certify President Biden’s victory. Trump told the crowd: "If you don’t fight like hell, you’re not going to have a country anymore." That’s after his lawyer, Rudy Giuliani, declared: "Let’s have trial by combat."
While referencing Trump’s refusal to acknowledge the 2020 election results, Walz said as a high school football coach, he has "worked with kids long enough to know" that "sometimes you really want to win."
Vance was asked if parents should be held responsible for preventing mass shootings. "I think in some cases the answer is going to be yes. In some cases, the answer is going to be no," he said.
The Ohio senator said schools need to increase security, and gun violence is a product of the "mental health crisis in this country."
Walz responded, "Just because you have a mental health issue doesn't mean you're violent."
The Minnesota governor said he owns a firearm and has spent time in Finland where there are high rates of gun ownership. "No one’s trying to scaremonger and say, we’re taking your guns," he said, referring to opponents' framing of his campaign's gun-control proposals. "We understand that the Second Amendment is there, but our first responsibility is to our kids to figure this out."
Walz attempted to tie Vance to Project 2025, a conservative policy proposal for a future Republican U.S. presidential administration.
The Trump-Vance campaign has publicly distanced itself from the initiative — which centers on a roughly 1,000-page document that gives the executive branch more power, reverses Biden-era policies and specifies numerous department-level changes. In reality, it's unknown if, or to what extent, the Trump-Vance campaign is coordinating with the project's leaders — The Heritage Foundation.
Furthermore, similar to Harris's strategy of referring to abortion restrictions as "Trump abortion bans," as described by The Associated Press, Walz pointed to Trump’s role in appointing three Supreme Court justices who were key in overturning Roe v. Wade. "Donald Trump put this all into motion," Walz said.
Meanwhile, Vance claimed Walz signed a bill in Minnesota that says doctors are "under no obligation to provide lifesaving care to a baby who survives a botched late-term abortion," per The Associated Press.
It's true that, last year, Walz signed a Minnesota bill that enshrined the right to an abortion into law statewide, according to NBC News. Supporters said the law would provide additional protections for abortion rights if the state court composition changed, while opponents criticized the few restrictions the bill put on abortion procedures.
However, Vance's claim during Tuesday's debate misrepresented the bill's language. The Associated Press reported:
The new language uses the phrase "an infant who is born alive" instead of "a born alive infant as a result of an abortion." It states that medical personnel are required to "care for the infant who is born alive" rather than "preserve the life and health of the born alive infant."
Both the current version of the law and the 2015 version that was amended state that "an infant who is born alive shall be fully recognized as a human person, and accorded immediate protection under the law."
Infanticide is criminalized in every state, including Minnesota, and the bill does not change that.
Walz said Tuesday: "In Minnesota, what we did was restore Roe v. Wade. We made sure that we put women in charge of their health care."
Around the same time as that exchange on the debate stage, Trump posted an all-caps message on Truth Social saying he would not support a federal abortion ban. The message read:
EVERYONE KNOWS I WOULD NOT SUPPORT A FEDERAL ABORTION BAN, UNDER ANY CIRCUMSTANCES, AND WOULD, IN FACT, VETO IT, BECAUSE IT IS UP TO THE STATES TO DECIDE BASED ON THE WILL OF THEIR VOTERS (THE WILL OF THE PEOPLE!). LIKE RONALD REAGAN BEFORE ME, I FULLY SUPPORT THE THREE EXCEPTIONS FOR RAPE, INCEST, AND THE LIFE OF THE MOTHER. I DO NOT SUPPORT THE DEMOCRATS RADICAL POSITION OF LATE TERM ABORTION LIKE, AS AN EXAMPLE, IN THE 7TH, 8TH, OR 9TH MONTH OR, IN CASE THERE IS ANY QUESTION, THE POSSIBILITY OF EXECUTION OF THE BABY AFTER BIRTH. THANK YOU FOR YOUR ATTENTION TO THIS MATTER!
Walz was asked how his administration would pay for Harris’s economic plan. He said the wealthiest will have to "pay their fair share."
Meanwhile, Vance said Trump's economic plan is "not just a plan, but it's also a record."
The Associated Press reported:
Tim Walz and JD Vance are both saying they’d be better for the economy, but the two vice presidential picks are both avoiding the reality that the pandemic shaped the economic records of the Trump and Biden-Harris administrations.
For Trump, the 2020 outbreak of COVID led massive job losses and higher deficit spending but also low inflation.
For the Biden-Harris administration, the emergence out of the pandemic was associated with higher inflation, faster than expected job gains and, yes, deficits that remain elevated compared to previous forecasts.
Walz called out Vance for promoting baseless rumors about Springfield, Ohio, where a number of Haitian immigrants have settled in recent years — accusing Vance of trying to "dehumanize and villainize other human beings."
Vance responded: "You’ve got schools that are overwhelmed, you’ve got hospitals that are overwhelmed, you’ve got housing that’s totally unaffordable because we brought in millions of illegal immigrants to compete with Americans."
Springfield officials estimate, according to The New York Times, that, as of 2024, as many as 20,000 Haitians had arrived in the small town since the onset of the pandemic.
And, as CBS’s Margaret Brennan noted in Tuesday's debate, they have legal status. Citing local residents and leaders, The Guardian reported the Haitian population has helped revive Springfield, which lost a quarter of its population since the 1960s.
Candidates were asked about Hurricane Helene and the climate crisis. Both called the storm, which has killed more than 150 people, a tragedy.
Walz said of climate change: "Donald Trump called it a hoax and then joked that these things would make more beachfront property to be able to invest in what we've seen out of the Harris administration."
That quote referred to a remark by Trump during an August interview with Elon Musk. Trump told the Tesla CEO that Russia, China, Iran and North Korea were known as the "modern day axis of evil." Trump said they are "powerful countries" with "very heavy nuclear" capabilities, "which is the biggest threat."
He then added (emphasis in bold ours):
You know, the biggest threat is not global warming, where the ocean's gonna rise one eighth of an inch over the next 400 years, the big, and you'll have more oceanfront property, right? The biggest threat is not that. The biggest threat is nuclear warming because we have five countries now that have significant nuclear power and we have to not allow anything to happen with stupid people like Biden.
Walz's comment also referred to instances of Trump calling global warming a hoax.
In Tuesday's debate, JD Vance called climate change "a very important issue," while seeming to question "the idea that carbon emissions drives all the climate change," as reported by The Associated Press.
Vance said: "One of the things that I’ve noticed is some of our Democratic friends talking a lot about is is a concern about carbon emissions, this idea that carbon emissions drives all the climate change … let’s just say that’s true, just for the sake of argument."
It is true, as reported by The Guardian. One hundred percent of global heating since 1950 is due to human activity such as burning fossil fuels and deforestation.
The debate is underway.
The first question went to Walz. He was asked whether he would support or oppose a preemptive strike from Israel on Iran. He emphasized the importance of steady leadership, as reported by NBC News.
Vance started his turn by sharing his personal story.
On a preemptive strike, Vance said it is up to what Israel desires, per NBC. "We should support our allies wherever they are when they’re fighting the bad guys," he said.
Vance raised a frequent Republican claim that the Biden administration provided Iran with money for attacks by unfreezing Iranian funds.
In fact, the U.S. last year agreed to unfreeze $6 billion in Iranian funds as part of a deal to free five U.S. citizens held by Tehran but insists none of that money has reached Iranian government coffers.
Debate moderators — CBS anchors Norah O'Donnell and Margaret Brennan — are likely to frame their questions around the campaigns' hottest talking points: abortion rights, crime, immigration and the economy. NBC News reported:
Walz has the longer debate record, but Minnesota is something of a backwater on the national political scene. Vance is the less experienced debater, but for months, his team has been putting him in front of tough TV news interviewers to work out any bugs.
Abortion
Walz is a longtime abortion rights advocate, while Vance, like many Republicans, has had an inconsistent message on the issue, as reported by The Associated Press. He recently started repeating Trump's line that the issue should be left up to the states.
During ABC's debate between Harris and Trump on Sept. 10, moderator Lindsey Davis claimed Vance once stated Trump would veto a national ban on abortion procedures, and Trump responded: "Well, I didn't discuss it with JD In all fairness. JD — And I don't mind if he has a certain view, but I think he was speaking for me but I really didn't."
Crime
The two campaigns paint starkly different pictures of crime in America. The Trump-Vance campaign claims violent crime is rising, while the Harris-Walz team points to data supposedly showing violent crime at, or near, a 50-year low.
The truth is, drawing any conclusion about crime statistics is challenging because law enforcement agencies do not hear about every crime and agencies have various ways for categorizing offenses.
Project 2025
Another topic where the campaigns diverge: Project 2025. Harris and Walz say their opponents are prepared to implement the initiative, a wide-sweeping policy proposal by The Heritage Foundation, while the Trump-Vance campaign is attempting to distance itself from it. Snopes has covered these rumors related to that conservative think tank or Project 2025 recently:
- Video shows Trump shaking hands with head of group behind Project 2025? (True)
- Video from 2022 shows Trump praising Project 2025's 'colossal mandate' at Heritage Foundation event? (True)
- Project 2025 calls for replacing 40-hour workweek with 160-hour work month? (Mostly True)
- Project 2025 wants all public high school students to take military entrance exam? (True)
- Project 2025 proposes military draft for all public high schoolers? (False)
- Project 2025 calls to shut down the U.S. Department of Education? (True)
- You can challenge The Heritage Foundation's tax-exempt status with a specific form? (Not quite)
- Coors, Walmart and ExxonMobil contributed money to Project 2025's Heritage Foundation? (True)
Past Remarks, Alleged Controversies, etc.
According to MSNBC's forecast for Tuesday's debate, Vance will attack Walz's handling of 2020 protests in Minneapolis-St. Paul after George Floyd's murder, and Vance will likely face questions over his alleged remarks about "childless cat ladies" (i.e. people without children) and past criticism of Trump.
Debate Logistics
The debate will take place at CBS News' Manhattan headquarters. When it begins, rules prohibit the candidates from bringing notes or props on stage, interacting with staff during commercial breaks and making their answers longer than two minutes. Moderators will allow Vance and Walz one minute for rebuttals, per CBS. And, unlike the presidential debates, the candidates' microphones will not be muted when their opponent is talking, though "CBS News reserves the right to turn off the microphones."
Also, unlike the Harris-Trump debate, CBS news said it'll be up to Vance and Walz to fact-check each other, according to The Associated Press.
On Friday, CBS said the onus will be on Vance and Walz to point out misstatements by the other, and that "the moderators will facilitate those opportunities" during rebuttal time.
During ABC’s debate between presidential contenders Kamala Harris and Donald Trump earlier this month, network moderators on four occasions pointed out inaccurate statements by Trump, and none by Harris. That infuriated the former president and his supporters, who complained it was unfair.