Just think for a second and try to remember any historic moments from Vice Presidential debates over the past few years. Odds are, you probably can’t and, if you can, they probably didn’t matter in the long run.
Suggested Reading
Even if you think about Texas Senator Lloyd Bentsen’s absolute evisceration of then-Senator Dan Quayle in 1988, we have to admit that it didn’t matter much.You remember, it’s the one where Quayle tried to say he was a leader in the tradition of President John F. Kennedy. Then, in the best deadpan ever, Sen. Bensten responds with, “Senator, I served with Jack Kennedy. I knew Jack Kennedy. Jack Kennedy was a friend of mine. Senator, you’re no Jack Kennedy.”
But that moment didn’t help in the long run as the Dukakis/Bentsen were blown away by Bush/Quayle in November 426 electoral votes to 111.
But while the conventional wisdom may be true in a conventional election, this year’s vote is anything but. In fact, the old “VP debates don’t matter” aphorism doesn’t say anything about this moment in history. After all, when you’re looking at an incredibly close race like this, everything matters.
In other words, it’s easy to imagine even a Vice Presidential debate moving a few thousand votes in either direction and that’s likely to be the margin in some battleground states. So it matters a ton.
It matters even more when you factor in that, at 78-years-old, Donald Trump is the oldest candidate in American history. That makes his age and health a very real concern for a lot of voters, just like it was for President Joe Biden. So it’s easy to see how a lot of folks might want to get to know the guy who would take over if the elderly Trump had a heart attack.
Finally, add the context that, in addition to being one of the most lopsided face offs I’ve ever seen, last month’s debate between Trump and Vice-President Harris was about as entertaining as it gets. 67 million people tuned in to watch and it wet their appetites for round two.
Unfortunately, that beating scared Trump to his core and, like any schoolyard bully, he ran as fast as possible from a second confrontation. So that’s 67 million people looking for something to scratch their debate itch and the only place to turn is Tuesday’s Vice Presidential contest…and it’s shaping up to be a good one.
You see, Sen. JD Vance’s approval ratings are in the toilet with less than 35% of voters giving him a favorable rating and nearly 46% viewing him as unfavorable. Gov. Tim Walz on the other hand enjoys an approval rating north of 40% (as high as 49% in at least one poll) and it’s trending upwards as more people hear his story.
But it would be a mistake to chalk that all up to the fact that Walz is just a whole lot more likable than Vance. I mean, he is. But that’s far from the only factor at play.
The truth is that, from the infamous childless cat lady comment to suggesting women should stay in abusive marriages, Vance goes out of his way to insult and alienate voters. What’s more he continues to misrepresent the facts or, as they say in my community, he lies about everything from spreading racist conspiracy theories about Haitian immigrants eating cats and dogs to trying to hide the fact that he’s been a rabid Project 2025 evangelist from day one.
He even admitted to CNN’s Dana Bash that he created the story about immigrants eating pets in Springfield, Ohio and said he’d do it again despite the fact that his lies have had violent repercussions on his own constituents.
Are you ready to see him roll those lies out in front of Walz? I am. That’s just good TV.
But apart from the theater and the personalities, we have to remember that Tuesday’s debate is an opportunity for the presidential candidates’ right-hand men to articulate their policy agendas to the American people. Those agendas will be on full display on CBS and we can decide for ourselves what ticket represents America.
Is it the Trump/Vance team of broken promises and empty rhetoric or is it the Harris/Walz plan expanding and extending the Child Tax Credit, Cutting taxes for middle-class Americans, giving first-time home buyers up $25,000 in downpayment assistance and creating a $50,000 tax deduction for startup small businesses all while defending reproductive freedom, making universal background checks mandatory and reducing the cost of everything from groceries to healthcare?
Don’t kid yourself. This year, the Vice-Presidential debate matters. It matters more than we could imagine. On top of all that, it ought to be entertaining.
Antjuan Seawright is a Democratic Strategist based in DC.
Straight From 
Sign up for our free daily newsletter.