The VP Debate Spin Room

At the close of the debate, Sen. James Lankford, R-Okla., defended former President Trump after Gov. Tim Walz blamed Republicans for killing the bipartisan border bill that he authored in the Senate. 

“No one in Congress has worked on stopping illegal immigration more than me and I am absolutely voting for the person who will close the border, Donald Trump,” Lankford wrote on X. 

“The reason I needed to negotiate the border security bill was the dangerous open border policies of Biden and Harris and their unwillingness to secure America.Biden and Harris caused the border crisis, they consistently opposed any efforts to secure it, and now they want to say they can solve it simply to win an election. No one believes it.”

Walz had called the legislation the “fairest and toughest bill on immigration this nation has seen.” 

It was crafted by a conservative senator from Oklahoma. James Lankford I know him. He's super conservative, but he's a man of principle once you get it done. Democrats and Republicans worked on this piece of legislation. The Border Patrol said, this is what we need in here,” Walz went on, referring to the National Border Patrol Council’s endorsement of the bill.  

The campaign for Vice President Harris and Gov. Tim Walz, D-Minn., revealed that its focus group rated Sen. JD Vance's answer on the January 6 Capitol riot the lowest on Tuesday night.

A campaign official said its dial focus group consisting of undecided voters in battleground states rated Vance's answer on certifying the 2020 election the lowest out of the entire night.

House Democratic Rep. Veronica Escobar of Texas, a national Harris-Walz campaign co-chair, appeared to knock the CBS News debate moderators for a lack of fact-checking on Tuesday night.

CBS News opted not to have the moderators perform real-time fact checks of the candidates during the vice presidential debate.

Escobar's wording, however, suggested she believed it was an active choice - a nod to Harris campaign supporters' accusations that Ohio GOP Sen. JD Vance was being misleading through most of the debate.

Andrew Surabian, aide to Sen. JD Vance, claimed that House GOP Whip Tom Emmer was "more impressive" when he imitated Gov. Tim Walz in debate preparations than Walz in the debate.

"Having been at JD's debate prep, Tom Emmer was much more impressive playing Tim Walz than Tim Walz turned out to be himself. This has been one of the one most one sided debates in American political history."

Emmer represents a district in Walz's home state of Minnesota.

"I've known Tim probably since he was first elected almost 20 years ago, and I worked with him directly for four years, I spent the last month just going back, all of his old stuff, to get his phrases down, his mannerisms, that sort of thing," Emmer told ABC News of the debate preparations.

The Trump campaign and its allies are pouncing on Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz over what appeared to have been a slip of the tongue when discussing gun control during the vice presidential debate.

Walz was asked about his stance on guns becoming more progressive over time, and he noted that the culture around firearms was changing in the U.S. as well.

"I sat in that office with those Sandy Hook parents. I've become friends with school shooters," Walz said.

"I've seen it- Look, the NRA, I was the NRA guy for a long time. They used to teach gun safety. I'm of an age where my shotgun was in my car so I could pheasant hunt after football practice. That's not where we live today," he said.

Rep. Nancy Mace, R-S.C., wrote on X, "Walz: 'I've become friends with school shooters' did I just hear that?!"

Rep. Matt Gaetz, R-Fla., also posted the quote, as did the Trump War Room X account.

Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene is taking aim at CBS News debate moderator Margaret Brennan on Tuesday night.

She took to X with photos of Brennan from the vice presidential debate, which appear to have been taken of a screen displaying the head-to-head match-up between Sen. JD Vance and Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz.

Greene appeared to suggest that Brennan's smiling face in the photos was her looking at Walz during the debate, and that it was evidence of bias toward the Minnesota Democrat.

Walz's highest rating of the night so far was when he brought up Donald Trump's promise to build a border wall, according to a Harris campaign official. He was "overall outperforming" Vance in the immigration section of the night, according to an official.

"They wanted to build a big beautiful wall and only 2% of it got built," said Walz.

The Trump administration built around 458 miles of wall along the 2,000-mile southern border.

Walz called to mind to social media claims pushed by former President Donald Trump and about Haitian migrants eating pets in Springfield, Ohio. "The issue on this is — this is what happens when you don't want to solve it, you demonize it," Walz said.

He went on: “Harris was the attorney general of the largest state. It’s a border state. She is only person in this race who prosecuted transnational gangs for human trafficking and drug interventions.”

David Plouffe, a senior adviser for the Harris-Walz campaign and is a former White House adviser to former President Barack Obama, said Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz's point about former President Trump's promised border wall was the strongest portion of Tuesday night's vice presidential debate.

Walz said about the border crisis, "Donald Trump had four years. He had four years to do this. And he promised you, America, how easy it would be. 'I'll build you a big, beautiful wall and Mexico will pay for it.' Less than 2% of that wall got built and Mexico didn't pay a dime."

"But here we are again. Nine years after he came down that escalator. Dehumanizing people and telling him what he was going to do as far as a deportation plan," Walz said.

Vice President Kamala Harris' campaign revealed that the highest-rated moment of the first 15 minutes of the 2024 vice presidential debate was when Gov. Tim Walz, D-Minn., referenced former President Trump's "fickle leadership."

According to a campaign official, its dial focus group of undecided voters in battleground states rated this moment the highest within the first moments of the debate.

Walz claimed that Americans need steady leadership, pointing to Harris, and not Trump, who he said is a fickle leader.

Rep. Byron Donalds, R-Fla., tore into the Senate border and immigration deal that failed to clear Congress earlier this year, saying it would "codify catch/release" and do "nothing to deport illegals."

Gov. Tim Walz had claimed in the debate Republicans were not serious about fixing immigration issues because they opposed the deal.

After former President Donald Trump himself came out against the measure in March, Democrats accused him of being responsible for its ultimate demise, and he further welcomed their blame. But Republicans insisted the bill was essentially dead on arrival, with or without Trump's input. 

"I believe Sen. Vance wants to solve this," Walz said about immigration during the debate. "But by standing with Donald Trump and not working together to find a solution, it becomes a talking point. And when it becomes a talking point like this, we dehumanize and villainize other human beings."

Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg, a top surrogate for the Harris-Walz presidential campaign, is accusing Ohio GOP Sen. JD Vance of lying about U.S. energy production.

When asked about climate change, Vance argued that Biden administration policies have strangled U.S. energy production, which he said led to China dominating the sector.

"When we talk about clean energy, I think that's a slogan that often the Democrats will use here...and the real issue is that if you're spending hundreds of millions or even billions of dollars of American taxpayer money on solar panels that are made in China, number one, you're going to make the economy dirtier. We should be making more of the solar panels here in the United States of America," Vance said.

Walz challenged him, pointing out solar panels are produced in Minnesota.

"Some of them are, Tim. But a lot of them are being made overseas in China, especially the components that go into the solar panels. So if you really want to make the environment cleaner, you've got to invest in more energy production," Vance said

Former President Trump's oldest son compared Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz to President Biden at the outset of Tuesday night's vice presidential debate.

President Biden's disastrous debate performance against Trump earlier this year was the catalyst that ultimately led him to step aside in the 2024 race.

Donald Trump Jr., who has a close personal relationship with Sen. JD Vance, accompanied his dad's Republican running mate to the debate in New York City.

Arkansas Republican Sen. Tom Cotton called Gov. Tim Walz’s answer to the first question of the debate - whether or not he would pre-approve direct Israeli strikes on Iran - “incomprehensible.” 

Rep. Jasmine Crockett, D-Texas, is rallying supporters for Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz outside of the CBS’ broadcast center in New York City.

“This race is going to be close. I need you to dig deep, there’s work to be done, even in New York,” she told a crowd of Harris-Walz supporters.

“Do not give up, we are on the right side of history.”

Crockett is one of a number of Democrats who traveled to New York to support Walz and defend him to the public during the debate. Crockett, known for her spat with Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene, R-Ga., during an Oversight Committee hearing, was named a national co-chair of the Harriz-Walz campaign in August.

Supporters of both Walz and JD Vance, former President Donald Trump’s running mate, had lined the streets of New York ahead of the debate: Trump-Vance flags were even spotted lining the streets of deep-blue New York City.

Sen. Eric Schmitt helped Trump with debate preparation earlier this year

Missouri GOP Sen. Eric Schmitt is attacking the Democratic presidential ticket over their policy positions just minutes before Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz and Ohio GOP Sen. JD Vance face off in Tuesday night’s vice presidential debate.

“Can’t wait to hear how Tim Walz is going to defend Kamala’s liberal record on spending, inflation and illegal immigration let alone his own disastrous record during the riots in Minneapolis and his Covid lockdowns,” Schmitt wrote on X.

Vance is also expected to hit Walz over the border crisis, a political cudgel that Republicans have frequently used against Democrats in this election cycle.

It’s part of a wider strategy by former President Trump and allies of his campaign to portray Harris and Walz as radical progressives who are out-of-touch with a large swath of Americans.

Schmitt is a close ally of Trump’s, having been chosen to be part of a small circle of people who helped him prepare for his first debate against President Biden.

Pennsylvania Gov. Josh Shapiro was among the top contenders for Vice President Harris' running mate

Pennsylvania Gov. Josh Shapiro, a moderate Democrat, conceded Ohio GOP Sen. JD Vance is likely well-practiced on the debate stage – but said Americans will not support the policies he’s pushing.

Shapiro spoke with MSNBC’s The Beat with Ari Melber on Tuesday, before Vance’s match-up against Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz in CBS News’ vice presidential debate.

“This guy's pretty well educated, and so he probably took a debate class or two over at Yale. So, he is maybe polished, but it doesn't escape the fact that what he is selling is not something I think people are buying. I think he's goofy. I think he is not honest with the American people. He continues to lie about his home state, and I do not expect him to do particularly well this evening,” Shapiro said.

Shapiro hammered Vance for spreading reports that Haitian migrants were eating pets in Springfield, Ohio, accusing him of “lying to the American people.”

“He lies routinely and largely,” Shapiro said.

The Trump team is highlighting Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz’s ties to China ahead of the debate. MAGA War Room released “Tiananmen Square” bingo cards - in reference to Walz’s wedding anniversary on the date of the massacre - and a clip of Walz talking about his visits to China.

The cards include debate bingo cards include squares like “pushes fake IVF narrative” and “lies about military rank and deployment.” The center free space is listed as “communist space.”

Republicans have been taking a fine-toothed comb to Walz and his affinity for the Asian superpower.

“I’m pretty friendly with China,” Walz can be heard saying in a TikTok posted by the MAGA War Room. He says he visited the nation around 30 times - but his campaign recently revised that figure down to around 15.

Newly resurfaced local newspaper publications contradict Walz's claim that he was in Hong Kong during the 1989 Tiananmen Square protests, where hundreds were killed by the Chinese military, while rallying against for political freedom in Beijing’s Tiananmen Square.

Rep. Robert Garcia speaking at the DNC in Chicago

A California Democrat is trying to tie Sen. JD Vance to conservative groups' Project 2025 hours before the Ohio senator is set to take the vice presidential debate stage against Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz.

“While JD Vance will be on stage tonight, it will be Donald Trump’s extreme Project 2025 agenda that will take center stage. Let’s go Coach Walz!” Rep. Robert Garcia wrote on X on Tuesday.

Garcia has been a top ally of Democrats’ presidential nominee, Vice President Kamala Harris – even working to elect her as a national co-chair of her campaign.

He’s also one of a litany of Democrats claiming that the Trump campaign would work together with the Heritage Foundation and other groups to implement Project 2025, a list of conservative policy proposals for a new administration, if elected.

Former President Trump, however, has tried to distance himself from Project 2025 several times, and his top campaign advisers have strongly disavowed it.

House GOP Conference Chair Elise Stefanik is a Trump/Vance surrogate

House GOP Conference Chairwoman Elise Stefanik, R-N.Y., told Newsmax on Tuesday that Sen. JD Vance, R-Ohio, will likely touch on the crisis at the southern border during his vice presidential debate against Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz.

Stefanik said she also expects Vance to bring up his Midwestern working class roots, a story she believes will ring true for Americans.

“Well, first of all, JD Vance is going to tell his personal story which is an extraordinary one. He has lived the American dream, and it’s a story that resonates with many American families who feel left behind because of the failed policies of Kamala Harris and Joe Biden. In addition, he’s going to touch on the economy which is top of the mind for voters across the country,” Stefanik said.

“JD Vance will also touch upon the border crisis caused by Joe Biden’s open border czar, none other than Kamala Harris. JD Vance will communicate to the American people about President Trump’s successful border security leading to the most secure border in our nation’s history.”

While Republicans knock Vice President Kamala Harris for her handling of the southern border, Harris' campaign is leaning into her work as the so-called "border czar."

"Kamala Harris is a leader we need to keep our country safe and strong. As a homeland security expert, I trust her to protect the border. Kamala Harris’s plan will strengthen our border security," Olivia Troye, a former Trump national security official who know supports Harris, said in a new ad.Troye was part of the campaign's launch of “Republicans for Harris,” which included more than 25 GOP endorsements.

Southern border encounters reached an all-time high at the end of 2023. Harris visited the border for the first time as vice president on Friday in Arizona - a swing state. She’s bashed Trump for opposing a bipartisan border deal that died in Congress earlier this year and promised to bring back the deal and secure the border if elected.

Sen. Tommy Tuberville of Alabama

Sen. Tommy Tuberville, R-Ala., the former Auburn University coach and a staunch Trump ally, told Fox Business host Larry Kudlow on Tuesday, “If I was drafting somebody to debate from the Senate, that I know…it would either be [Sen. JD Vance, R-Ohio, Sen. Ted Cruz, R-Texas, or Sen. Mike Lee, R-Utah]."

He also knocked Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz and Vice President Kamala Harris for allowing the Republican presidential ticket to far outpace them in frequency of media interviews and other press events.

“This country is in so bad shape that JD’s not going to have any problem of just picking one or two things to bring up. But this clown, Walz, I don’t know the direction he’s going to go,” Tuberville said.

“He’s been a governor, he should be well-versed but I’ll tell you what – I’ve got my money on JD Vance, because he’s been going in harm’s way in the last 60-70 days – CNN, MSNBC, all the Meet the Press, he’s done a great job of doing all that. Walz has not done that.”