Ahead of his first and likely only national debate of the presidential cycle, JD Vance prepared for the event at his home in Cincinnati and virtually over Zoom. He recruited Republican Rep. Tom Emmer of Minnesota to play his opponent in mock sessions. And he brought in Donald Trump’s campaign strategist, Jason Miller, and his own wife, Usha, to help him, people familiar with the debate said.
But according to his words, he doesn’t need to prepare.
“We have well-developed views on public policy, so we don’t have to prepare as much,” Vance said at a Teamsters news conference Wednesday morning. “We feel much safer and, frankly, there is no need to prepare if you don’t have to hide what you say.”
His statement was, in many ways, exactly why Republicans (and especially Trump) continue to support him: He is concise, frank, and forceful with the media. And unlike Trump, he remains relentless on message and is known as an agile debater.
“It will be the first time many Americans have seen him and I think they will be very impressed with him, especially answering questions in that format,” said Florida Sen. Marco Rubio, a close Vance ally who was also in the running to be the Trump’s running mate. “I mean, he’s been answering the questions that will be asked of him in that debate for years, certainly throughout his entire time in the Senate and as a public figure.”
Vance is only in his second campaign, following his successful run for the Ohio Senate in 2022. But the Yale Law School alumnus and author of “Hillbilly Elegy” has already earned a reputation as a strong communicator and policy whisperer for the Trump campaign. as a torchbearer of the MAGA movement. In addition to regularly fielding media questions for the campaign, he often joins cable news networks and Sunday shows (sometimes in the face of hostile interrogators) to defend Trump’s policies.
During the election campaign, Vance has said that answering questions from reporters (he often holds press conferences during his rallies to highlight the few media appearances Vice President Kamala Harris has made) has better prepared him for the debate on November 1. October in New York. He spent most of this week campaigning, with rallies in North Carolina, Michigan and Pennsylvania.
“What Donald Trump and I are going to continue to do is go everywhere and talk to everyone,” Vance said when asked how he is preparing during a rally in Charlotte, North Carolina, on Monday. “We talk to the hostile media, we talk to the friendly media, we talk to the national media, we talk to the local media and we do it because we believe that the American people deserve leaders who will try to earn their vote instead of waiting for it. let it be given to them.”
However, Vance’s entry onto the national political stage has not been easy.
Since former President Donald Trump chose him as his running mate in July, viral clips have resurfaced of the Ohio Republican complaining that the country is run by “childless cat ladies.” He was criticized for arguing that childless couples should pay more taxes. And he received rebukes from GOP moderates after he pushed a conspiracy that Haitian immigrants were eating pets in Springfield, Ohio. (Vance has since defended his comment about “childless cat ladies” as sarcasm.)
Vance continues to poll well among Republican voters, and 57 percent of registered Republicans view him favorably in a recent AP-NORC poll. But the poll also exposed some weaknesses, including that Democrats are more negative toward Vance than Republicans are toward Democratic Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz, 80 percent to 61 percent. Independents also view Vance more negatively than Walz: 43 percent dislike Vance compared to 30 percent who dislike Walz.
Vance plans to attack Walz during the debate over his record as governor, specifically his handling of the Minneapolis unrest following the killing of George Floyd, according to a person familiar with the debate strategy who was granted anonymity to discuss the issues. preparations. Vance, as he has done during the election campaign, will also question Walz about his 24-year military service after the Minnesota governor said in 2018 “weapons of war that I carried in war” when explaining why he changed his position on support for an assault. ban on guns when he ran for governor. Harris’ campaign said Walz made a mistake.
The person also said Vance will also try to undermine Walz’s image as a moderate (he famously flipped a seat in Minnesota) by painting him as a liberal, pointing to some of the socially progressive policies he signed as governor, such as a bill requiring students of all gender identities receive menstrual products, the person said.
It’s a similar strategy that Vance used during his debates against former Rep. Tim Ryan in 2022. In his previous Senate debates, Vance effectively put immigration policy and the economy in the spotlight. He linked Ryan to Nancy Pelosi, then speaker of the House, described Ryan as an “overly liberal” congressman and questioned Ryan about what he had accomplished during his two decades in Congress.
“Tim Ryan says he believes in reasonable solutions,” Vance said during his final Senate debate. Turning to the congressman, he said, “Well, Tim, what were you doing with those reasonable solutions during your 20 years in Washington, DC?”
And he’s made the same argument about Harris: “Kamala, the first day was 1,400 days ago, what the hell have you been doing all this time?” he said at a rally in Michigan on Wednesday, a line he has used throughout the campaign, specifically when talking about Harris’s Day One promises. The Harris-Walz campaign did not respond to requests for comment.
“Many people know him. They know his history,” said Rep. Jim Banks (R-Ind.), a close Vance ally. “If they haven’t read the book, they’ve seen the movie and maybe they’ll see it in person for the first time or talk to it for the first time.”
Meridith McGraw contributed to this report.
