Vance and Walz pivot from debate back to being loyal wingmen

NEW YORK – Donald Trump Jr. had one piece of advice for how his father’s running mate should spend the next 33 days now that Tuesday’s vice-presidential debate was over.

“Keep doing what he’s doing,” Trump Jr. told USA TODAY when asked about his friend, JD Vance.

Vance and his Democratic rival Tim Walz cleared their biggest hurdle of the campaign this week – the Ohio senator sailing smoothly past it, while the Minnesota governor stumbled along the way. The debate will likely be the last time voters see a face-off at the top of the ticket as former President Donald Trump refuses to debate Vice President Kamala Harris for a second time.

Vice-presidential nominees rarely sway voters or determine the outcome of an election. But both have important jobs to do heading into the final stretch of the campaign: Make the case for why Trump and Harris should be president, and don’t mess up along the way.

Or, as former Missouri Democratic Sen. Claire McCaskill put it to reporters in New York covering the debate: “Be normal.”

Vance returns to campaign trail, wind in sails

Vance entered Tuesday's debate in a difficult spot.

His favorability ratings were underwater after many of his past comments went viral, including criticism of "childless cat ladies" and the suggestion that women who graduate from Ivy League schools and prioritize work are on a "path to misery." A USA TODAY/Suffolk University poll last month found just 36% of voters had a positive view of Vance, compared to 48% for Walz.

At the same time, Republicans recognized Vance's willingness to serve as Trump's attack dog against Harris and go toe-to-toe with adversaries.

Since being picked in mid-July, Vance had done more media interviews as of Wednesday than either Trump or Harris – 127, not including unplanned chats with reporters, according to the Trump-Vance campaign. The Ohio senator also makes a show of news conferences at his rallies, answering reporter questions in front of supporters who egg him on. That practice – while not an official piece of debate preparations – kept him sharp and focused as he faced Walz on Tuesday.

“We understand that the job of the vice presidency is to be one heartbeat away,” Rep. Byron Donalds, R-Fla., who was floated as a potential VP contender, told reporters before the debate. “The American people are going to see that JD Vance is more than equipped to step in if he is needed to.”

On that, Vance’s backers say he more than delivered, projecting a more measured, moderate version of himself to attract undecided voters.

Now, the Trump campaign feels better than ever about dispatching Vance to key battlegrounds ? and he was already back in Michigan the day after the debate. During his stop in Auburn Hills, Vance addressed a debate moment that already made it into a Harris campaign ad: His refusal to acknowledge that Trump lost the 2020 election.

Vance accused journalists of focusing on the past, reported the Detroit News, but also sought to instill confidence in his supporters about the upcoming election.

“To all of you listening out there, I believe that we are going to have the safest and most secure election in 2024 that we've had because the (Republican National Committee) is fighting for election integrity in a way that it, frankly, wasn’t four years ago," Vance said. "So I encourage folks to get out there and vote."

Going forward, Trump adviser Jason Miller said the campaign may expand Vance’s travel docket and send him to blue states like Virginia, where Republicans see an opportunity to gain ground despite years of losses. Miller quipped that even Minnesota could be in play after its governor’s shaky debate performance on Tuesday.

"JD Vance is someone who, with his background, is very much able to connect with people,” Miller said. “When you're asking the voters to trust you, and if voters don't know you, helping to explain that you've been in their shoes, that's something that really comes across.”

Despite emphasizing the importance of a leader's rhetoric, Walz has a lot of explaining to do for his own words, raising questions about exaggerations he has made and has struggled to explain. On the debate stage Tuesday, Walz struggled to answer for embellishing his resume again, this time about his time in China.

His past claims about being in Hong Kong during the 1989 Tiananmen Square pro-democracy protests came into question after media reporting contradicted his timeline. Asked to address the discrepancy during the debate, Walz fumbled to give a cogent answer and at one point called himself a “knucklehead.”

Same old travel, new embrace of the press

In his two months on the campaign trail, Walz has traveled to swing states around the country and Democratic and Republican strongholds alike. According to a Harris campaign memo released Wednesday, he will continue to do the same in this final stretch before Election Day.

Walz has spent significant time fundraising for the ticket while also harnessing his working-class appeal to both rural and urban communities, holding rallies, visiting small businesses, and working to engage teachers, union members, veterans and young voters.

During his tenure as governor, Walz has maintained a relationship with local journalists as an accessible politician eager to answer questions during informal remarks with the media, press conferences, and one-on-one interviews. But after weeks of largely dodging the press and skipping out on traditional media appearances, like Harris’ own moves, Walz is now embarking on what the campaign calls an “aggressive post-debate travel and media blitz.”

Democrats argued that Walz’s uncharacteristically shaky start to the debate was not a result of his lack of screentime defending Harris’ policies.

Rep. Jasmine Crockett, D-Texas, defended Walz’s campaigning style and said being present with voters is more important than answering questions from reporters.

“I think right now, what the people want is for you to show up and, you know, sitting down and doing an interview, whether it’s from Mar-A-Lago or whatever other safe space you have, isn't the same as actually taking your fight to the people,” Crockett told USA TODAY Tuesday night.

The Harris campaign memo details Walz’s plans to crisscross the country to encourage voter engagement while conducting two national interviews, making his late-night TV debut and recording multiple interviews, including an unnamed podcast appearance.

In the coming days, Walz is set to visit the key battleground states of Pennsylvania, Nevada and Arizona before heading to fundraising trips on the West Coast. Speaking to reporters in Harrisburg, Pa., on Wednesday, the governor tried to clean up his debate remarks around China and acknowledged that he needs to be more careful with his words even as he takes a more prominent campaign role.

“These teachers see me,” Walz said, according to a media pool report from the event. “I speak like everybody else speaks.”

This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Post-debate, Vance and Walz sprint to the finish line