Harris, Trump’s running mates clash over Middle East crisis during debate

“A Donald Trump of almost 80 years old, who talks about the size of the crowds (at his rallies) is not the person we need at the moment,” criticized Democrat Tim Walz, right-hand man of vice -American president in the race for the White House.

Senator JD Vance, on the contrary, praised the leadership qualities of the former Republican president whom he supports, assuring that he had “brought stability to the world”.

Key States

Exactly three weeks after the tense television confrontation between Kamala Harris and Donald Trump, it is the turn of their lieutenants to find themselves on a television set and to expose their antagonisms.

For the two running mates, this is undoubtedly the most important moment of this ultra-tight campaign.

It is also an opportunity for everyone to fill a real awareness gap.

Tim Walz, governor of Minnesota, was little known outside his state when Kamala Harris chose him to form the Democratic “ticket”.

As for JD Vance, an atypical senator with a populist anti-immigration discourse, he had very little political experience before Donald Trump offered to assist him.

Even if it is generally accepted that the debates between the running mates have a relatively weak influence on the vote, this could take on particular importance: Donald Trump having refused to face Kamala Harris again, this oratorical contest could be the last of the countryside.

Their face-to-face should be tough, with the objective of convincing undecided voters who could swing one of the famous seven hotly contested key states.

At the antipodes

Twenty years separate the two elected officials — Tim Walz is 60 years old, his rival 40.

They are polar opposites on the major themes of the November 5 election, from abortion to aid to Ukraine, from firearms to energy priorities, from tax measures to the fight against inflation.

Tim Walz and JD Vance must fight for 90 minutes, including commercial breaks, with no audience other than the tens of millions of viewers expected. They will not be allowed to bring written notes.

Unlike the two previous presidential debates, which pitted Donald Trump successively against Joe Biden then Kamala Harris, the microphones will remain open, allowing the adversaries to cut each other off.

The Republican billionaire assured that the debate would be “rigged” in favor of Tim Walz, whom he described as “a complete imbecile”.

JD Vance is “intelligent”, “hardworking”, a “fighter” who “is not afraid of the media”, praised the former president on Tuesday.

Joe Biden supported him coach Walz, former American football coach: “Tonight, America will see the strong (…) and effective leader that I have known for years,” he wrote.

“Odd”

Tim Walz, a former teacher with rural origins and a native of Nebraska, and JD Vance, who recounted his difficult childhood in an America devastated by deindustrialization in a best-selling book, have already clashed through indirect statements.

The Democrat was the first to describe the Trump-Vance tandem as “strange”, an expression that gained popularity.

For his part, JD Vance, an anti-system elected official with a unique career since he had a career in the army as well as in Silicon Valley, never stops denouncing the record of his rival governor, seeing it as an illustration of a progressive left disconnected from reality.

JD Vance, who before becoming an ardent Trumpist was very critical of the former business mogul, is less popular than Tim Walz in the polls.

The Ohio senator is one of the first Republican figures to have relayed the false theory according to which Haitian migrants eat cats and dogs.