Tuesday night's vice-presidential debate between Sen. J.D. Vance, R-Ohio, and Minnesota Democrat Gov. Tim Walz focused on the issues including abortion, immigration, and foreign policy, but among the top five The Hill takeaways was Walz's answer for his past embellishments.
Walz Answers on Embellishments: I'm a 'Knucklehead'
The governor stumbled when answering questions about claims that he was in Hong Kong during the Tiananmen Square protests in 1989, telling the moderators that he "misspoke" on the matter.
According to recent reporting from Minnesota Public Radio and APM Reports, Walz was in China later in the year after the protests.
Walz commented that he has not always been perfect and he is a "knucklehead at times."
He added he was in Hong Kong and China during the democracy protests and "learned a lot of what needed to be in governance" from that experience.
"Walz looks rusty and nervous. Maybe he should have done some press interviews to better prepare," Washington Post columnist Josh Rogin posted on X.
Vance's Debate Skills Were on Display
Vance showed in his showdown with Walz that he is a skilled debater.
The senator, a Yale law school graduate, was able to not only deal with potentially loaded questions from the CBS moderators but also challenged them when they attempted to fact-check his remarks about Springfield, Ohio's Haitian community.
In comparison, Walz, the governor of Minnesota, who was a teacher and coach before the Army and politics, experienced some troubled moments in the debate.
"It was a terrific debate by J.D. Vance," former Sen. Rick Santorum, R-Pa., said about him in comments to Newsmax on Tuesday night.
"I don't think there is any other way to describe it. He was calm. He was likable. He was concise."
Vance Appeals to Middle on Abortion
Vance told the story of a woman he knew who had an abortion: "She felt like if she hadn't had that abortion, that it would have destroyed her life because she was in an abusive relationship."
"My party, we've got to do so much better of a job at earning the American people's trust back on this issue where they frankly just don't trust us," he acknowledged.
Vance also insisted he had "never supported" a 15-week national abortion limit, but did talk about setting "some minimum national standard" when he was running for the Senate in 2022.
Former President Donald Trump, commenting on his Truth Social platform while his running mate was debating, said he would veto a federal abortion ban.
CBS Criticized for Fact-Checking, Cutting Vance's Mic
Vance hit back after CBS moderator Margaret Brennan attempted to clarify his comments about Springfield, Ohio, and its Haitian population. Brennan said the city has several migrants who are there under legal status.
"The rules were that you guys weren't going to fact-check," Vance replied. "And since you're fact-checking me, I think it's important to say what's actually going on."
Walz also interjected, and the mics were turned down for both candidates.
Trump spoke out about the fact-checking, calling foul on the network's moderators.
Vance, Walz Were Civil
The debate focused on policy and issues and at times even agreed with each other, saying they believed they both want to fix serious issues facing the country including immigration and abortion.
"I enjoyed tonight's debate. I think there's a lot of commonality here," Walz said as the forum was coming to an end.