Republican Vice Presidential Nominee JD Vance and Democratic Vice Presidential Nominee Tim Walz faced each other in the first and only vice presidential debate this year on October 1st.
CBS broadcasted the debate live across America.
According to The Hill News, this debate was crucial as it may have been the last chance for the Republican Party to win over voters.
Lately, Vance and his running mate, Former President Donald Trump, have been under scrutiny for Trump’s unprompted claims that immigrants were eating pets in Springfield, Ohio.
“Walz, Harris’s running mate, has [also] faced scrutiny from Republicans over…his military service” records, according to The Hill News.
Many Republicans, including his rival Vance, have accused Walz of falsely seeing combat during his time as an army reservist.
Similar accusations were made against Walz in 2006, claiming he had not served in Afghanistan during Operation Enduring Freedom, instead having served in Italy at the time.
In a series of letters that Walz responded to, he stated that his military record can be easily found by any news outlets and that the Free Press Advocacy Group printed a letter solely to slander his name.
“Walz [prepared] for the debate with a close team of advisers,” according to CBS News, and his focus was “to introduce himself to the American people. [Walz will] also work to highlight Harris’ vision for the nation’s path forward.”
In addition, during the widely streamed debate, Walz attempted to introduce himself to an audience outside of Minnesota.
“Among Vance’s main focuses during [his debate] preparation [was the] studying [of] Walz’ debate style and policy record,” according to CBS News.
Compared to Walz, Vance had a more aggressive speech strategy, aiming to invalidate his opponents responses, whereas Walz focused on presenting his running mate’s best presidential qualities.
According to CBS News “[Vance’s] plan [was] to break down what the Trump-Vance administration would do to make ‘life better’” for the American people if Trump were to be elected into office once again.