To provide perspective following the vice presidential debate, here are the significant differences between the candidates. Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz has won us over as “America’s dad” while Ohio Sen. JD Vance remains weird and unlikeable.
As the candidates return to their respective corners following Tuesday evening’s debate, here is a look at where they diverge on their policy positions—and their rhetoric.
Approach to fatherhood
It’s obvious that Walz is a caring family man. His son Gus’ love was on full display during Walz’s Democratic National Convention speech where, full of emotion and overcome with tears, he stood up and shouted, “That’s my dad!”
Walz’s love of being a father is seen in numerous social media posts with his daughter, Hope. The videos show them spending time on the thrilling Slingshot attraction at the Minnesota State Fair and testing out fair food, or doing a PSA together cautioning young people against texting while driving.
On the other hand, Vance recounted in an interview that he told his son to “shut the hell up” about playing Pokemon when Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump called to ask him to join the GOP ticket. And during a recent campaign stop at a Pennsylvania supermarket, Vance seemed to have trouble corralling his antsy sons.
“Can you guys act like normal kids for three minutes?” Vance asked the young boys before launching into a stump speech and lying about the price of eggs.
On the fight for—and against—reproductive rights
Walz is a vocal advocate of access to fertility treatments including IVF, and champions reproductive rights. He shared memories of he and his wife Gwen’s 7-year struggle with infertility during his speech at the DNC.
“I can remember praying each night for a phone call, the pit in your stomach when the phone would ring and the absolute agony that we heard the treatments hadn’t worked,” he said. “It took Gwen and I one year, but we had access to fertility treatments”
Vance skipped a Senate vote on a bill that aims to protect access to IVF, and the legislation was ultimately voted down. He has repeatedly said he wants to leave it up to states to enact strict abortion bans.
“What we really want is when states and voters in those states make decisions, we, of course, want the states and the federal government to respect those decisions,” he said in an interview with CBS News. “We need to get out of the culture war side of the abortion issue, we need to let states decide their specific abortion policy.”
Respectful ally vs. misogynistic cat-caller
Walz lifts women up by speaking about them respectfully and putting his money where his mouth is when it comes to policy. He invested $6 million in child care in Minnesota in an effort to make it more accessible. When asked why he’s successful as governor, he said “It’s because I surround myself with competent women.”
“Here’s my life hack, for all the guys out there,” he said at a rally in Wisconsin. “Surround yourself with smart women and listen to them. You’ll be just fine.”
Vance infamously called Democratic women “childless cat ladies” and has referred to those who choose not to have kids as “sociopathic” and “psychotic.” On Saturday, he shared a stage with Christian televangelist Lance Wallnau, who has called Vice President Kamala Harris “the devil’s choice” and lobbed the historically sexist claim of “witchcraft” at the Democratic presidential nominee.
Taking the high (or low) road on military service
Walz has respected Vance’s service in the Marines.
“I am damn proud of my service to this country. And I firmly believe you should never denigrate another person’s service record,” Walz said to the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees union in Los Angeles in August. “To anyone brave enough to put on that uniform for our great country, including my opponent, I just have a few simple words: Thank you for your service and sacrifice.”
Meanwhile, Vance questioned Walz’s military service after he served 24 years in the National Guard. While speaking in favor of gun control, Walz said, “We can make sure that those weapons of war, that I carried in war, is the only place where those weapons are at.”
In a press conference, Vance accused Walz of lying about serving in a combat zone and used the term “stolen valor, which ” describes a person who has lied about their military service.
“Well I wonder, Tim Walz, when were you ever in war,” Vance said. "What was this weapon that you carried into war, given that you abandoned your unit right before they went to Iraq, and he has not spent a day in a combat zone."
The National Guard has confirmed that Walz announced his retirement in order to run for Congress before his unit was mobilized or deployed to Iraq.
Hometown adoration vs. detestation
Walz has also enjoyed careers as a high school social studies teacher and football coach. His former students wrote about how “passionate and service-driven” he was. His neighbors and fellow community members adore and respect him.
Not as much can be said of Vance’s hometown legacy. Appalachians were deeply critical of the way Vance portrayed his adopted community in his memoir, “Hillbilly Elegy,” calling it “a political platform masquerading as a memoir.”
Vance was raised in suburban Ohio but spent summers with his grandmother in Kentucky. His book purported to be an analysis of “a culture in crisis.” But author and West Virginia native Neema Avashia voiced many residents’ thoughts when she wrote, “JD Vance doesn’t represent Appalachia. JD Vance only represents himself.”
