What we gleaned from key moments of the Walz-Vance debate in New York

[MUSIC PLAYING] CATHY WURZER: Our top story, Minnesota Governor Tim Walz is off to Pennsylvania for more campaigning today. He got a morning jog in at New York's Central Park after his nationally televised vice presidential debate showdown with Republican JD Vance. Vance, a first-term Ohio Senator and his party's nominee for the number two spot. It was the only debate between the VP hopefuls. Our Dana Ferguson is in New York and joins us right now. Thanks for taking the time before you come back home.

DANA FERGUSON: You're welcome, Cathy.

CATHY WURZER: So the governor was up early today after his big debate last night?

DANA FERGUSON: Yep, that's right. He and a Secret Service detail were out for a jog in New York's famous Central Park a few hours ago. Video shared with us by a former Minnesotan who just happened to be there shows Walz stopping to say hello to a couple of children in a stroller and then heading off on his run. He seemed to be in good spirits.

CATHY WURZER: And that's after he had a piece of pizza last night after being on national television. I'll have to say, he was clearly under stress last night. So let's start with overall impressions. How did he come off? Anything surprise you?

DANA FERGUSON: Yeah, I'd agree. He clearly had some nerves coming out of the gate. He was tripping over his words a bit in that initial answer to the question about missile strikes in Israel. But he got a little more steady as he turned to criticism of former President Trump's foreign policy decisions while in office. Meanwhile, Vance seemed pretty composed throughout the debate with some exceptions when the pair got cut off talking about some of their weighty issues like immigration and election integrity.

CATHY WURZER: Right. Say, I was a little surprised about this personal moment for the governor last night. It was during the discussion about gun violence, and he asked about his views on gun violence and how to address it. Can you tell us what happened?

DANA FERGUSON: Yeah, Walz opened up about his family's own experience. His son Gus was at the Jimmy Lee Community Center in Saint Paul last year when someone was fatally shot just outside.

TIM WALZ: Well, I think all the parents watching tonight, this is your biggest nightmare. Look, I got a 17-year-old, and he witnessed a shooting at a community center playing volleyball.

JD VANCE: Awful.

TIM WALZ: Those things don't leave you.

DANA FERGUSON: The governor talked to me about this in March and said it was a big factor in why he supported additional gun restrictions this year. The story seemed to catch Vance off guard, and it sparked a candid exchange between them.

JD VANCE: Tim, first of all, I didn't know that your 17-year-old witnessed a shooting, and I'm sorry about that, and I hope he's doing OK. Christ, have mercy. It is awful.

CATHY WURZER: So we were expecting that a few issues in Walz's past. We're going to be raised during the debate, and the moderators really only dug into one, which made me catapult out of my chair because it dealt with something that we reported on here at MPR, his time in China. Tell us about that.

DANA FERGUSON: Yeah, moderators referenced in news reports, story that pointed out that while Walz had previously said he was in China when the Tiananmen Square massacre took place in 1989, that wasn't true. After a wandering response, Walz said he'd misspoken about the timing of his trip, leading Nebraska students in an educational mission. He said he was a knucklehead for saying that in the past. And at a couple points, Walz and Vance commiserated about both of them misspeaking sometimes.

CATHY WURZER: It was kind of fun, though, to hear the MPR News reference, I have to say. So all in all, both candidates seemed pretty intent on talking about the two candidates who were not there, those at the top of the ticket, Kamala Harris and Donald Trump. Why was that?

DANA FERGUSON: The names at the top of the ticket are the ones that most voters, and they'll be the ones who people largely decide on. It's the role of the VP candidates who were out there last night to talk up their bosses, and it's not surprising that they would really focus in on those two candidates. In some ways, Vance was a little more disciplined about delivering Trump's campaign message than the former President was in his September debate with Harris. And likewise, Walz was sure to remind voters of the less desirable times in Trump's term whenever he had the chance.

CATHY WURZER: So I mentioned that we were thinking that other topics might come up during this debate. There were other areas where we thought that he might, Governor Walz might face some tough questions about his record, and they didn't come up. Can you talk about that?

DANA FERGUSON: Yes, basically, since Walz was tapped as Harris's running mate, Republicans have highlighted the governor's response to the 2020 riots in Minneapolis. Those were following George Floyd's murder. And they've also pointed to the fraud in a federal nutrition program called Feeding Our Future, as areas where Walz hadn't been a strong leader.

Going into the debate, a number of prominent Republicans, including Congressman Tom Emmer, who was involved in prepping Vance, said those would likely arise, but they didn't. Vance didn't bring them up, nor did the moderators. The governor's military record was also not discussed, and Vance didn't get asked about his prior remarks about cat ladies or pressed hard on false claims he'd made about migrants eating pets. But look at it this way, those issues made their way into the pre-debate news cycle anyway. So that might have been the goal all along.

CATHY WURZER: There were a couple of instances where Vance and Walz really did buttheads, though, last night. Let's talk about those.

DANA FERGUSON: Sure. We saw them clash on the federal government's response to the migrant crisis. Vance said there should be more deportations and enhanced efforts to patrol the Southern border. Walz said a bipartisan bill that stalled out in Congress could make a big difference. And he said Trump sank the deal to preserve a campaign issue. Vance also called out Walz for signing into law new legal protections for abortion in Minnesota. And perhaps their biggest disagreement was around the January 6 insurrection at the US Capitol and voters' faith in elections. Walz asked Vance about Trump's election outcome denials.

TIM WALZ: Did he lose the 2020 election?

JD VANCE: Tim, I'm focused on the future. Did Kamala Harris censor Americans from speaking their mind in the wake of the 2020 COVID situation? Has she tried to--

TIM WALZ: That is a damning non-answer.

JD VANCE: It's a damning non-answer for you to not talk about censorship. Obviously, Donald Trump, and I think that there were problems in 2020, We've talked about it. I'm happy to talk about it further.

CATHY WURZER: Beyond that, Dana, JD Vance also asked the governor about the state's abortion rights access law that was signed. What did he say about that?

DANA FERGUSON: Yeah, Vance called out Walz for signing the bill into law last year that cements legal protections for abortion and removes parts of what is called the Born-Alive Infant Protection Act. Here's what he said about it.

JD VANCE: But as I read the Minnesota Law that you signed into law, the statute that you signed into law, it says that a doctor who presides over an abortion where the baby survives, the doctor is under no obligation to provide life-saving care to a baby who survives a botched late-term abortion.

DANA FERGUSON: Walz said the assessment of the law was inaccurate, and the changes were meant to give women bodily autonomy. Doctors and patients who proposed the change in law said it's meant for very rare situations where infants are born with a fetal anomaly that they won't survive. Because patients and doctors know the outcome is that the infant will die, it's technically deemed an abortion. The new law would let doctors bypass previously required medical interventions in those situations, so parents can bond with their infant before they pass.

Walz had his own points to make on abortion, too. He said reproductive health options would be at risk if Trump regains the White House, and he talked about the trouble with each state deciding when and how abortions are permitted. Walz brought up a Georgia woman who couldn't get an abortion in her state who ultimately died because of delayed care.

TIM WALZ: The fact of the matter is, how can we as a nation say that your life and your rights as basic as the right to control your own body is determined on geography? There's a very real chance had Amber Thurman lived in Minnesota, she would be alive today.

CATHY WURZER: So Dana Ferguson, is this it in terms of debates this election cycle?

DANA FERGUSON: Yeah, this was kind of their one-and-done debate. It's the only vice presidential debate that they had planned, and the candidates at the top of the ticket haven't agreed to another one. So this is their closing argument.

CATHY WURZER: So what's next for the governor?

DANA FERGUSON: Well, as you mentioned earlier. He's off to Pennsylvania today and will participate in a campaign bus tour there. I've been keeping track of the governor's campaign trips, and this will be his fifth visit to Pennsylvania since he was named as Harris's running mate. He's made four trips to Wisconsin and three through Michigan, all viewed as key in his-- in their path to the White House, I should say. After that, he's heading to Ohio, California, and Washington, and he's also set to conduct two national TV interviews. Plus, he'll have a late night TV appearance and a spot on a pop culture podcast coming up. Then, maybe he'll sit down with you, Cathy, for a one-on-one.

CATHY WURZER: [LAUGHS]. Well, we can always hope. We can always hope. And the invitation is always open if the governor wants to sit down and talk with me. Dana Ferguson, Dana, you've done a great job. Thank you. Come on home.

DANA FERGUSON: Thanks, Cathy. See you soon.

CATHY WURZER: That's our political reporter, Dana Ferguson.