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Vance-Walz debate: no clear winner after candidates keep it civil – US politics live

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Harris campaign ad boosts Vance’s ‘damning non-answer’ on Trump election loss

Lauren Gambino

The vice presidential hopefuls debated for 90 minutes on Tuesday night, but the Harris campaign wants Americans to remember one moment, a split-second reply that Tim Walz called a “damning non-answer.”

Just hours after the primetime event concluded, with viewers split over a winner and analysts praising JD Vance for the more polished performance, the Harris campaign has launched an ad highlighting the moment the Republican refused to say whether Donald Trump lost the 2020 election. (He did.)

During the final moments of the debate, Walz asked Vance to answer the question. Did Trump lose the 2020 election to Joe Biden?

Vance replied that he was “focused on the future.

“That’s a damning non-answer,” Walz replied.

The ad features that exchange, overlaid with images of the January 6 assault on the US Capitol. It ends with Walz telling viewers: “America, I think you’ve got a really clear choice of who’s going to honor democracy and who’s going to honor Donald Trump.”

According to the Harris campaign, their internal focus group of undecided battleground state voters said the moment was Vance’s worst of the night.

Harris hasn’t centered her campaign around democracy the way Biden had. But the issue still has high salience for voters.

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Key events

Vance and Walz to return to campaign trail following VP debate

Following last night’s vice presidential debate where both candidates kept things fairly civil, JD Vance and Tim Walz are set to return to the campaign trail today.

On Wednesday, Vance is set to deliver remarks at a campaign event in Auburn Hills, Michigan at around 1:30pm ET before delivering another set of remarks in Marne, Michigan at 5:30pm ET.

Meanwhile, Vance will kick off a bus tour through central Pennsylvania and will make stops in Harrisburg, Reading, and York where he will be joined by York native senator John Fetterman.

Walz is set to deliver remarks in York at 3pm ET and will join a political engagement with local Latino leaders in Reading at 6pm ET.

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Biden approves major disaster declaration for Virginia

Joe Biden has approved a major disaster declaration for the state of Virginia amid the devastating impacts of Hurricane Helene.

On Wednesday, the White House released a statement, saying:

Yesterday, President Joseph R. Biden, Jr. declared that a major disaster exists in the Commonwealth of Virginia and ordered Federal aid to supplement Commonwealth and local recovery efforts in the areas affected by Tropical Storm Helene beginning on September 25, 2024, and continuing.

The President’s action makes Federal funding available to affected individuals in the counties of Giles, Grayson, Smyth, Tazewell, Washington, and Wythe and the independent city of Galax.

Assistance can include grants for temporary housing and home repairs, low-cost loans to cover uninsured property losses, and other programs to help individuals and business owners recover from the effects of the disaster.

Federal funding also is available to State and eligible local governments and certain private nonprofit organizations on a cost-sharing basis for emergency work in the counties of Bedford, Bland, Buchanan, Carroll, Craig, Dickenson, Giles, Grayson, Montgomery, Pittsylvania, Pulaski, Russell, Scott, Smyth, Tazewell, Washington, Wise, and Wythe and the independent cities of Bristol, Covington, Danville, Galax, Norton, and Radford.”

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Harris campaign ad boosts Vance’s ‘damning non-answer’ on Trump election loss

Lauren Gambino

Lauren Gambino

The vice presidential hopefuls debated for 90 minutes on Tuesday night, but the Harris campaign wants Americans to remember one moment, a split-second reply that Tim Walz called a “damning non-answer.”

Just hours after the primetime event concluded, with viewers split over a winner and analysts praising JD Vance for the more polished performance, the Harris campaign has launched an ad highlighting the moment the Republican refused to say whether Donald Trump lost the 2020 election. (He did.)

During the final moments of the debate, Walz asked Vance to answer the question. Did Trump lose the 2020 election to Joe Biden?

Vance replied that he was “focused on the future.

“That’s a damning non-answer,” Walz replied.

The ad features that exchange, overlaid with images of the January 6 assault on the US Capitol. It ends with Walz telling viewers: “America, I think you’ve got a really clear choice of who’s going to honor democracy and who’s going to honor Donald Trump.”

According to the Harris campaign, their internal focus group of undecided battleground state voters said the moment was Vance’s worst of the night.

Harris hasn’t centered her campaign around democracy the way Biden had. But the issue still has high salience for voters.

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Walz heading for Pennsylvania battleground bus tour

Tim Walz is heading directly from his debate with rival JD Vance in New York last night for the crucial election battleground of Pennsylvania today to begin a bus tour with one of the state’s two Democratic US Senators, John Fetterman.

Walz and Fetterman are starting out in south central Pennsylvania with a rally in the city of York.

York county voted heavily for Donald Trump over Joe Biden in 2020, even as the state flipped from Republican in 2016 to Democratic in 2020.

This is a further case of Dems campaigning in deeply red counties in swing states, hoping that reducing the margin of their likely loss will help to tip the finely-balanced statewide race to their party.

Here’s Fetterman campaigning with Kamala Harris in Johnstown, Pennsylvania last month – another area that votes solidly Republican but could help sway the state vote for the White House if Dems lose by less than before. Photograph: Andrew Harnik/Getty Images
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The United Nations Security Council has called an emergency meeting today in New York to address the spiraling conflict in the Middle East.

The region moved closer to a long-feared regional war on Wednesday, a day after Iran fired a barrage of missiles at Israel and Israel said it began limited ground incursions into Lebanon targeting the Iran-backed Hezbollah militia, the Associated Press reports.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu vowed late Tuesday to retaliate against Iran, which he said “made a big mistake tonight and it will pay for it.” An Iranian commander threatened wider strikes on infrastructure if Israel retaliates against Iran’s territory.

Israel and Hezbollah have traded fire across the Lebanon border almost daily since the day after Hamas’ cross-border attack on October 7, 2023, which killed 1,200 Israelis and took 250 others hostage. Israel declared war on the militant group in the Gaza Strip in response. More than 41,000 Palestinians have been killed in the territory, and just over half the dead have been women and children, according to local health officials.

The Guardian is running a global live blog on the Middle East and covering all the developments as they happen. You can follow that here.

Iranians rally in Tehran following Iran’s missile attack against Israel
epa11637741 Iranians hold pictures of Iranian supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, late Hezbollah leader Hasan Nasrallah and late IRGC Lieutenant general and commander of the Quds Force Qasem Soleimani during an anti-Israeli rally after Iran launched a missile attack against Israel the previous night, in Imam Hussein Square in Tehran, Iran, 02 October 2024.
Photograph: Abedin Taherkenareh/EPA
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Trump backs out of 60 Minutes interview; Harris to go ahead

There is no sign that there will be another presidential debate before the election, between Democratic nominee Kamala Harris and Republican nominee Donald Trump.

We had the only planned vice presidential debate last night between the Dems’ Tim Walz and the GOP’s JD Vance.

Now Monday’s 60 Minutes show on CBS will feature an interview solely with Harris, after the network said Trump accepted an invitation and then backed out.

“A ‘60 Minutes’ candidate hour will feature only Vice President Kamala Harris after former President Donald Trump, who’d previously agreed to be on the show, decided not to participate in the Monday, October 7 special,” CBS reported. CBS pointed out that the show has had the tradition for half a century of inviting the two presidential candidates to sit for interviews as voters head to the polls.

Late last month, Harris accepted an invitation from CNN for a second debate, but Trump declined. The broad consensus is that Harris won the lone debate between her and Trump.

Supporters of former president Donald Trump and VP Kamala Harris gather in front of the CBS Studios during the vice-presidential debate in New York. Photograph: Anadolu/Getty Images
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Republican JD Vance gave more misleading statements than Democrat Tim Walz in the sole vice-presidential debate last night, according to a check of some of the main facts claimed by both candidates, carried out by Reuters.

The news agency called out Vance, the US Senator from Ohio, on a key environmental point, when he said the US is “the cleanest economy in the entire world.”

This is false. According to the European Union’s Emissions Database for Global Atmospheric Research 2024 report, the US was second only to China as the highest emitter of greenhouse gas emissions globally last year.”

Vance mostly dodged talking directly about the climate crisis and related solutions.

The candidates talked about school shootings, where Reuters also found fault with Vance saying: “The gross majority, close to 90% in some of the statistics I’ve seen, of the gun violence in this country is committed with illegally obtained firearms.”

Reuters said:

This is misleading. Most public mass shootings – a shooting that kills four or more people – between 1966 and 2019 were carried out by legally obtained handguns, according to research, opens new tab funded by the National Institute of Justice.

Reuters did not find any of the Walz statements it examined to be false. On topics including energy production, taxes, trade, poverty and healthcare costs, Reuters found Walz to be true or mostly true, with one point it declared “unknown” and another “it depends”.

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Walz, Vance neck-and-neck among voters after debate – CNN poll

There was no clear winner of last night’s vice-presidential debate among registered voters quizzed in another snap poll last night, this one conducted for CNN by polling firm SSRS.

After both Democrat Tim Walz and Republican JD Vance had a constructive debate, CNN reported that their viewers who were polled thought better of both candidates after the debate than they had before.

Vance, who has donned a controversial, right-wing platform and persona on the campaign trail, was very measured last night, conciliatory at times. Walz was less cheery than his rally self, but more consistent with his usual reputation of being a “joyful warrior” exuding reason.

CNN reported: “Among debate watchers, Walz remains the candidate who’s seen more positively and as more in touch with their needs and vision for the country. Vance…boosted his standing…outperforming expectations and gaining ground on the share who perceive him as qualified. Both men, the poll finds, are viewed by a majority of debate watchers as qualified to assume the presidency if needed.”

Crucially, though, the cable TV network added that almost no respondents felt the need to change the way they’ve decided to vote after watching the debate.

A screen displays the CBS vice presidential debate between US Senator and Republican vice presidential candidate J.D. Vance and Minnesota Governor and Democratic vice presidential candidate Tim Walz in Times Square in New York last night. Photograph: Kena Betancur/AFP/Getty Images
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In another interesting finding from the Politico/Focaldata snap poll conducted straight after the vice-presidential debate last night, Minnesota governor and Democratic nominee Tim Walz polled better with younger voters, despite his being 60 years old.

GOP nominee and Ohio Senator JD Vance did better with voters over 55, while he was a youthful pick for running mate by Donald Trump, having just turned 40 last month.

The findings track broadly with their tickets.

Politico reported that: “Walz’s strongest ratings came from younger people, particularly those ages 25-34, those with college degrees, and Black and Latino respondents — all key components of the Democratic coalition that powered President Joe Biden’s victory over Donald Trump in 2020.”

As we’re talking ages, Kamala Harris, the Dems’ nominee for president, will turn 60 later this month, having replaced Biden, 81, when the US president quit his re-election bid in July.

Trump is 78. Politico found from its debate poll that: “Vance performed best with people over the age of 55, white voters and those without a college degree.”

Congresswoman Jasmine Crockett speaks to supporters of Democratic vice presidential nominee, Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz as supporters of former President Donald Trump and Vice President Kamala Harris gather in front of the CBS Studios during the Vice Presidential debate in New York last night. Photograph: Anadolu/Getty Images
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Voters split 50-50 over whether Walz or Vance won debate

In a snap poll after the vice-presidential debate, voters declared there was no decisive winner and were split on who performed better, the Democrats’ Tim Walz or the Republicans’ JD Vance, Politico reports this morning.

“Asked who won Tuesday’s debate, voters were split 50-50 over whether it was JD Vance or Tim Walz, according to a POLITICO/Focaldata snap poll of likely voters conducted just after the two faced off in a studio in New York City,” the political news site said.

It added: “The dead-heat results are a fitting reflection of the country’s hyper-polarized politics — particularly as it enters the final stretch of the closest presidential election in years.”

Democrats mostly thought Walz won and GOP-ers mostly thought Vance won. However, there was in interesting divergence when it came to independents.

“Walz had a commanding advantage with independents, 58 percent of whom sided with the Minnesota governor while 42 percent gave Vance the edge,” the site said.

(L-R) JD Vance and his wife Usha Vance greet Tim Walz and his wife Gwen Walz at the end of the VP debate last night. Photograph: Angela Weiss/AFP/Getty Images
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President Joe Biden’s administration heaped pressure on US port employers to raise their offer to secure a labor deal with dockworkers on strike for a second day on Wednesday, choking half the country’s ocean shipping, AP reported.

The strike by the International Longshoremen’s Association (ILA) union has blocked everything from food to automobile shipments across dozens of ports from Maine to Texas in a disruption analysts warn will cost the economy billions of dollars a day.

More than 38 container vessels were already backed up at US ports by Tuesday, compared with just three on Sunday before the strike, according to Everstream Analytics.

“Foreign ocean carriers have made record profits since the pandemic, when Longshoremen put themselves at risk to keep ports open. It’s time those ocean carriers offered a strong and fair contract that reflects ILA workers’ contribution to our economy and to their record profits,” Biden said in a post on X late on Tuesday.

He directed his team to monitor for potential price gouging activity that benefits foreign ocean carriers, the White House said.

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White House calls Iran missile attack ‘significant escalation’

Iran launched at least 180 missiles into Israel on Tuesday, the latest in a series of rapidly escalating attacks between Israel and Iran and its Arab allies that threatens to push the Middle East closer to a regionwide war.

White House National Security adviser Jake Sullivan called Iran’s missile attack a “significant escalation,” although he said it was ultimately “defeated and ineffective,” in part because of assistance from the US military in shooting down some of the inbound missiles.

President Joe Biden said his administration is “fully supportive” of Israel and that he’s in “active discussion” with aides about what the appropriate response should be to Tehran.

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