Vance-Walz debate live: VP candidates spar over abortion, immigration, cost of living and gun policy

Important events

Walz says that under the Biden Harris administration, more people in the U.S. are covered by health care than ever before.

He says he was present at the creation of the Affordable Care Act, and that Harris will “protect and improve” it.

Vance asked about Trump’s promise to replace Obamacare

The next question is about healthcare. J.D. Vance is asked about Trump’s promise to replace the Affordable Care Act.

Vance says Donald Trump ‘saved’ Obamacare, when he could have destroyed the Affordable Care Act. Instead, he “worked in a bipartisan manner to ensure Americans had access to affordable care,” he says.

He says Trump has “earned the right to implement better health care policies,” adding, “He’s earned it because he did it successfully the first time.”

Vance blames Kamala Harris for “letting millions” of people into the country and driving up the cost of housing.

Vance says what would change the equation for American citizens would be lowering energy prices and, as Donald Trump says, “drill, baby, drill.”

“If we open up American energy, American citizens will get immediate price relief,” Vance said.

He says there are a lot of federal lands that are “being used for nothing” and that these could be places where a lot of housing could be built. Vance adds:

We have a lot of Americans who need homes. We should kick out illegal immigrants competing for those homes, and we should build more homes for the American citizens who deserve to be here.

Walz says Harris’ homebuyer promise will make homes more affordable

Walz It asks about the Harris campaign’s pledges to give first-time homebuyers a $25,000 down payment, a $10,000 tax break and build three million homes.

Walz says the problem is that many people view housing as an asset that can be bought and moved.

“We need to make it more affordable,” he says. Walz says Harris’ housing policies won’t drive up prices, and that giving people stable housing will create more stability in the job market:

People with stable housing get stable jobs. People with stable housing ensure that their children can go to school. All of these things save us money in the long run.

While the vice presidential candidates discussed abortion, Donald Trump posted on his social media platform Truth Social in all caps: “Everyone knows that under no circumstances would I support a federal abortion ban.”

Vance says gun violence linked to ‘mental health crisis’

Vance says he believes much of America’s gun violence problem is due to the “mental health crisis in this country.”

Walz, responds, says he wants to be “very careful” about stigmatizing mental health.

“Just because you have a mental health problem doesn’t mean you’re violent,” says Walz:

What we end up doing is we look for a scapegoat. Sometimes it’s just the weapons. They’re just weapons, and there are things you can do about them.

Walz says that about him The 17-year-old son witnessed a shooting in a community center. “Those things don’t let you go,” he says.

Vance says he didn’t know Walz’s son witnessed a shooting. “I’m sorry,” he tells Walz.

“I appreciate that,” Walz replies.

Walz says he is a firearms owner and has spent time in Finland, where gun ownership is high.

“No one is trying to scare and say, we’re taking your guns away,” Walz said.

The debate is about mass shootings and gun control

After a commercial break, J.D. Vance asks whether parents should be held responsible for reducing mass shootings.

Vance says he trusts local law enforcement or local authorities to make these decisions.

“I think in some cases the answer will be yes. In some cases the answer will be no,” he says.

Vance says what bothers him is that the “gross majority” of gun violence in the country is committed with illegally acquired firearms.

He blames Kamala Harris’ “open border” for the “mass influx” of illegal guns.

Vance says schools must increase safety, including by closing the doors “better” and “stronger.”

Fact check: Trump on abortion

Carter Sherman

J.D. Vance said that Donald Trump has supported states in making their own abortion laws. Trump has said that “the right way to deal with this… is to let the voters make these decisions, and let the individual states determine their abortion policies,” Vance claimed. That’s not quite right: Donald Trump refused to say during the last debate whether he would sign a national abortion ban.

Vance denies that Republicans would create a pregnancy monitoring agency

Vance denies that a Trump administration would create a federal pregnancy monitoring agency.

He says he knows many Americans disagree with what he has said about women’s reproductive rights.

Vance says he is a “Republican who proudly wants to protect innocent life in this country.”

He says he and Donald Trump aim to be “pro-family in the fullest sense of the word,” that he supports fertility treatments and that he wants mothers to be able to afford to have babies.

Walz asked about his position on reproductive rights

The next question is about reproductive rights.

Walz is asked where he stands. He responds by blaming Donald Trump for boasting about reversing Roe v Wade and “wiping out 52 years of personal autonomy.”

Walz says that in his state of Minnesota, we “reinstated Roe v Wade”: “We made sure we put women in charge of their health care,” he says.

He says Project 2025 will make it harder to get birth control and limit access to fertility treatments. “These are basic human rights,” he says.

J.D. Vance is asked about his previous attacks on Donald Trump, including saying he could be “America’s Hitler.”

Vance says he disagrees with Trump, but he was wrong about the Republican former president. He says:

If you mess up, if you say the wrong thing, if you do the wrong thing and change your mind, you have to be honest with the American people.

Another note on the context about border crossings: these have fallen to the lowest level in years this summer.

Immigration was a central focus of the Trump-Vance campaign, with Republican candidates promising an extremely tough crackdown and Democrats responding with their own plans to slow immigration.

But according to U.S. Customs and Border Patrol, there were 56,408 undocumented border crossings in July, a drop of more than 30% from June and a four-year low. As crossings decline — in part due to the Biden administration’s tough new asylum restrictions — advocates are asking: At what cost?

Tim Walz is asked about his previous comments about being in Hong Kong during the 1989 Tiananmen Square protests, which led to hundreds of people being killed by the Chinese government.

Walz says he made a mistake in those earlier comments:

I was in Hong Kong and China during the democracy protest, and I learned a lot from that.

He says his community “knows who I am”:

I’ve tried to do my best, but I haven’t been perfect and sometimes I’m an idiot.

Walz says Kamala Harris inherited Donald Trump’s failure on Covid, which he says “led to the collapse of our economy.”

He says Trump “hasn’t paid a single federal tax in the last 15 years.” “That’s what’s wrong with the system,” Walz says.

“We’re just asking for honesty,” Walz said.

Walz mocks Vance’s statement about how Trump’s economic plans are being attacked by PhDs. He says:

Economists, don’t be trusted. Science cannot be trusted. National security people cannot be trusted. Look, if you’re going to be president, you don’t have all the answers. Donald Trump believes so. My pro tip of the day is: If you need heart surgery, listen to the people at the Mayo Clinic in Rochester, Minnesota, not Donald Trump. And the same applies here.