Tim Walz was supposed to cut through the political nonsense to speak plainly to Americans about out-of-touch Republicans. But instead, some Democrats were alarmed by his performance at Tuesday’s debate and said he failed to capitalize on his opponents’ weaknesses.
Despite days of debate prep and weeks of delivering savaging critiques of former President Donald Trump on the campaign trail, they say Walz at times struggled to concisely argue why Vice President Kamala Harris would be a better president. Some Democrats were deflated after a clearly nervous Walz tripped over his words. Even Walz’s debate-night surrogates appeared somewhat surprised at how civil the governor was.
“Tim Walz was extra Minnesota nice,” said DNC Chair Jaime Harrison, when asked in an interview immediately after the debate whether Walz was forceful enough.
A swing-state Democratic strategist put it more bluntly: “I definitely think it was a missed opportunity.”
“That is not the appearance and debate you would want,” said the strategist, who was granted anonymity to speak frankly about Walz. “[JD] Vance got away with a lot.”
Neither campaign can afford a high-profile stumble with fewer than 35 days left before Election Day, and while Tuesday’s debate wasn’t a disaster for Walz by any stretch, the general assessment was that the Minnesota governor didn’t deliver and “take on Vance and some of his lies,” as one Pennsylvania Democratic strategist said.
Left unsaid was why Walz didn’t deploy attack lines he used effectively on the campaign trail, including painting Vance as an out-of-touch “venture capitalist” who has previously complained that “childless cat ladies” are ruling the U.S., or that GOP efforts to dictate what Americans can do in the privacy of their own bedrooms are “weird.”
“It was more congenial than I thought it would be, for sure,” Rep. Jasmine Crockett (D-Texas) said in an interview. Crockett added there was “a lot of pressure” for Walz, who had never faced such a high level of national scrutiny.
Polling immediately after the debate showed that respondents said Walz and Vance did fairly well. Asked who won Tuesday’s debate, voters were split 50-50 over whether it was Vance or Walz, according to aPOLITICO/Focaldata snap poll of likely voters. Walz also excelled with independent voters, and both men appear to have raised their favorability ratings, including Vance, who was deeply unpopular in polls going into the debate.
In another move that unnerved some Democrats, Vance appeared to effectively soften his hard-nosed MAGA image among women voters — a demographic Trump is generally losing to Harris.
The Ohio senator spoke while looking straight into the camera about his background and support for pro-family policies in a way that unnerved Democrats, who see Harris and Walz’s argument about reproductive freedom as one of their most compelling stances. Vance reworked a recent suggestion to have relatives like grandparents care for children that drew backlash from Democrats and some Republicans, saying Tuesday evening about seeking “a bipartisan solution” for the challenges facing families like his.
And in a moment that rattled Democrats, Walz delivered a muddled answer about why he previously claimed that he was in Hong Kong during the Tiananmen Square protests — when he wasn’t — in a way that appeared he was unprepared to effectively respond. Strategists and some Democrats noted it was an unforced, self-inflicted error that at the very least is unhelpful at this late point in the race.
Democrats saw Walz’s direct questioning of Vance over whether Trump won the 2020 election as the highlight of the night. Vancedeclined to answer, and the Harris campaign immediately cut a new campaign ad of the clips, paired with videos of Jan. 6, 2021.
“Americans got to see a real contrast: a straight talker focused on sharing real solutions, and a slick politician who spent the whole night defending Donald Trump’s division and failures,” Harris campaign chair Jen O’Malley Dillion said in a statement shortly after the debate.
But the Harris campaign appears to be acknowledging that Walz needs to shake up his campaign trail push in the final sprint of the race, with plans for more direct voter engagement and two national media interviews. Walz so far has had limited unscripted interactions with voters, especially those who aren’t die-hard Democrats. He’s also been more reluctant to do media interviews.
Walz is kicking off a bus tour through central Pennsylvania on Wednesday, with local labor leaders, a stop at a Puerto Rican restaurant and a rally in deep-red York County — where Trump beat Biden by nearly 25 points in 2020. The campaign swing through the critical battleground state was originally scheduled to include Harris, who is now heading to Georgia to tour hurricane damage. Sen. John Fetterman (D-Pa.) is joining Walz instead.
“Could he have been a little harder? Sure,” the Pennsylvania strategist said of the debate. “But he spoke about the facts, and provided the truth, and provided an optimistic vision of what Kamala Harris will do.”
Walz, speaking to reporters during a stop in Harrisburg on Wednesday, sought to clean up several mistakes he made during the debate. The governor added what Harris officials are trying to refocus the night around: He said it was “disqualifying [for Vance] to not acknowledge that the 2020 election was won by Joe Biden.”
Vance, back on the campaign trail in Michigan, was asked why he didn’t answer the question of who won the 2020 election.
“Here’s the simple reason: The media’s obsessed with talking about the election of four years ago,” Vance said at this rally. “I’m focused on the election of 33 days from now.”
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