Democrats were left disappointed by Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz’s performance in Tuesday night’s vice presidential debate, with some saying Pennsylvania Gov. Josh Shapiro, the runner-up in the Kamala Harris veepstakes, would have easily outshone Ohio GOP Sen. JD Vance.
In front of millions watching the CBS News forum, Walz, 60, had to fight through a series of self-inflicted rhetorical wounds, including calling himself a “knucklehead,” his confusion of Iran and Israel on the very first question of the debate, and his gaffe about befriending school shooters
“[Harris’] campaign has no message other than ‘I’m not Donald Trump,’” said one well-connected party source who described Walz as looking “eerily similar to [President] Biden up there” — a reference to the retiring incumbent’s disastrous June 27 debate against Trump, the Republican nominee.
“She didn’t pick Shapiro as VP because he’s Jewish — a blatant attempt to placate antisemites on the far left,” the source added. “Tim Walz is a nice guy, but there’s no way that Josh Shapiro would have gotten schooled that badly by JD Vance.”
“The better choice was not picked simply because of his religion,” the insider concluded. “Simple as that.”
“Shapiro would have done a better job pushing back on Vance than Walz did,” a second source agreed before trying to look on the bright side: “Regardless, this is all small potatoes compared to the Trump-Harris debate where it was abundantly clear she destroyed him” — a nod to the pundit consensus that Trump lost the Sept. 10 presidential matchup, despite no obvious impact on polling.
“Walz told the Harris campaign he was a poor debater,” noted a third prominent Democrat.
“He was clearly honest about that.”
The third source said that Walz, who praised Vance repeatedly for his conduct during the debate, missed an opportunity to go after the Republican, who appeared intent on using the forum to boost his lagging likability ratings by pulling punches of his own.
“Sometimes in politics, you gotta know when to fight, and you gotta know when to dance,” the third source said. “Tim waltzed most of the night when he shoulda been fighting more.”
That source also suggested, however, that Walz’s errors may be less damaging due to the public becoming accustomed to similar misstatements from Biden, who was forced to end his re-election bid July 21 after his worsening career-long propensity for gaffes triggered a Democratic mutiny over his mental acuity.
Walz is 21 years younger than Biden and his issues were not attributed to any perceived cognitive defect.
“Donald Trump reset the bar for decency in politics: as low as you can go. Joe Biden reset it for flubs: to be expected,” the third source said.
This person also said that picking Shapiro wasn’t necessary for Harris due to recent polls that show her with a marginal edge in the critical swing state.
“I think the lament for Shapiro only exists among the right because they are so upset with JD,” they mused. “They want to project it onto Harris’ own choice.”
“I just do not think this matters for either side,” a fourth Democratic source summed up. “Tomorrow, we will all go back to talking about the best wild thing Trump says.”
No knockout for Vance
Democrats also pointed to some promising moments for Walz, including him pressuring Vance late in the debate to accept the results of the 2020 election, which was clipped, circulated on social media and turned into a Harris campaign ad Wednesday morning — as well as initial polling showing that despite dismal early focus group response, independents actually weren’t too downbeat on the Democrat.
“What’s most important is that the highlights and the clips coming from that are going to be pretty easy to spin from the campaign against Vance,” said one Democratic Capitol Hill staffer.
A source close to the Harris campaign argued that Walz “landed the biggest hit of the night — if you can’t stand up to your boss and say you lost the [2020] election, what are we doing here?”
Another Democratic operative was more charitable to Vance, saying his answer to the question of whether to support a pre-emptive strike by Israel on Iran’s nuclear program was “measured but also direct.”
“No candidate can come out saying they want to launch any pre-emptive attack. [They] would be accused of being Barry Goldwater,” this person told The Post. “I do think Vance gave a very good response.”
By contrast, the source said, Walz’s answer lacked substance because the 2024 Democratic ticket has been “too concerned about upsetting the left” about support of Israel.
Viewers gave contradictory impressions of the debate, as a focus group conducted by pollster Frank Luntz consisting of 14 undecided voters across six battleground states concluded with 12 saying that Vance had won.
A CNN instant poll of viewers, meanwhile, found that 51% thought Vance won and 49% said Walz did, though the network acknowledged the pool of respondents leaned five percentage points more Democratic than the national registered voter profile.
A Politico poll conducted late Tuesday found that 34% of independent voters believed Walz won, 25% thought Vance did and 41% did not watch the debate.
“Walz did come out on top here,” another Democratic operative said. “The question about the results of the 2020 election was especially damning and provided ample fodder for the Harris camp. … We knew JD Vance was going to come prepared, but Walz stood his ground and punched back (in a Midwest-nice kind of way).”
Still, one Democratic strategist said that “Vance won the expectations game” on Tuesday.
“For over a month, all that most people have seen about JD Vance are clips of painfully awkward retail stops, and TV segments about how he’s deeply unpopular and has the worst favorables of any of the four nominees,” the strategist explained.
“Vance had a very low bar to clear to be successful, and he cleared it. Tim Walz’s performance was solid and folksy. This debate will not change the race in any meaningful way.”
The Hill aide and others expressed relief, however, at the remarkably civil tone of the debate.
“I think they both were very cordial to each other, and I think that will help both of them,” the aide predicted.
“It was a very Midwest-niceties type of evening,” the second Democratic operative said. “The exchange between the two of them when Vance reacted to the comment about how Walz’ son witnessed a shooting was refreshing in the middle of an election season that has gotten increasingly ugly.”
