The day after their vice presidential debate in New York City, Republican Sen. JD Vance of Ohio and Democratic Gov. Tim Walz of Minnesota hit the campaign trail, making stops in key battleground states.
As he arrived at the Harrisburg, Pennsylvania airport, Walz, referring to the debate, told reporters, “New York City was a little crazy last night.” Most pundits believed Vance performed more smoothly on the debate stage Tuesday night, though flash polls showed a split decision among viewers on who emerged victorious.
One comment from Walz quickly went viral, however. When asked about his evolving stance on banning assault weapons, he said, “I sat in that office with those Sandy Hook parents. I’ve become friends with school shooters. I’ve seen it.” This statement, made while discussing gun control, sparked immediate controversy.
When asked to clarify his statement on Wednesday, Walz said, “I’m super passionate about this. The question came up about the school shooting. We’re talking about everything except school shootings. And I sat as a member of Congress with the Sandy Hook parents, and it was a profound movement. David Hogg [a leading gun control activist and school shooting survivor] is a good friend of mine.”
He added, “I need to be more specific on that. But I am passionate about this.”
Vance, addressing a rally in Auburn Hills, Michigan, said he hadn’t heard Walz’s comment until his running mate, former President Trump, brought it to his attention after the debate.
“He said that Tim Walz said that he was friends with school shooters twice,” Vance remarked, referring to his conversation with Trump. “And that’s something I actually didn’t notice that Tim Walz had said that on the debate stage. I said, ‘Did he really say that, sir?’ And he [Trump] said, ‘I’m telling you, man, go and watch the clips.'”
Vance then added, “And I said that was probably only the third or fourth-dumbest comment Tim Walz made that night.”
The debate moderators also questioned Walz about his claim of being in Hong Kong during the 1989 Tiananmen Square massacre in Beijing, China. Walz admitted he traveled to Asia in August 1989, several months after the massacre, and acknowledged, “I can be a knucklehead at times.” On Wednesday, he reiterated that he had his “dates wrong.”
In a Wednesday interview with Fox News, Trump praised his running mate’s performance, calling it “fantastic” and stating that it had “reconfirmed my choice.” He also criticized Walz, claiming he had “embarrassed himself” during the debate.
Another major moment in the debate occurred near the end, when Vance refused to state that President Biden won the 2020 election over Trump. The former president has repeatedly asserted, without evidence, that the election was rigged and rife with voter fraud.
Walz, speaking at a rally in York, Pennsylvania, emphasized that “it is disqualifying to not acknowledge that the 2020 election was won by Joe Biden. It’s as simple as that.”
An hour later, addressing a large crowd at the York Fairgrounds, Walz stated, “You can’t rewrite history. And trying to mislead us about Donald Trump’s record. That’s gaslighting.”
When asked about his avoidance of the 2020 election question during the debate, Vance reiterated his claim that “the simple reason” is that “the media is obsessed with talking about the election of four years ago. I’m focused on the election of 33 days from now because I want to throw Kamala Harris out of office and get back to commonsense, economic policies.”
While Walz’s Pennsylvania campaign tour, including stops in Harrisburg, York, and Reading, kicked off an aggressive post-debate voter engagement blitz, Vance has been actively engaged in interviews and fielding questions from reporters since Trump named him as his running mate two and a half months ago.
With both candidates now focusing on key battleground states, the heated exchange between Vance and Walz has set the stage for a close race in the upcoming presidential election. The focus on economic policies and the continued scrutiny of the candidates’ past statements will likely dominate the remaining weeks of the campaign.
