Democrats Are Lowering Expectations About Tim Walz Before Vance Debate

Reports that Minnesota Governor Tim Walz is nervous about the upcoming vice presidential debate are a ploy to manage expectations about his performance, according to experts.

The Democratic vice presidential candidate is set to face Donald Trump‘s running mate, Ohio Senator JD Vance, on Tuesday evening at the CBS-moderated event.

While vice presidential debates are usually lower-stake affairs, this one looks set to be the last of the 2024 campaign, with Trump saying he would not take part in another one with Vice President Kamala Harris.

CNN reported on Monday, citing numerous campaign staffers, that Walz is expressing nerves about how he will perform at the debate. Walz is also said to have relayed fears to Harris in August that he is a “bad debater” and may inadvertently let her down.

Minnesota Senator Amy Klobuchar noted there could be a stark contrast in debate style between Walz, a former public schoolteacher and football coach, and the MAGA Republican who studied at Yale Law School.

“He’s a strong person,” Klobuchar told CNN. “He’s just not a lawyer-debater type. It’s not like he was dreaming of debates when he was in first grade.”

Newsweek has contacted the Harris-Vance campaign team for comment via email.

Bernard Tamas, associate professor of political science at Valdosta State University, suggested Democrats are saying Harris’ running mate is nervous as a “strategic ploy to under-promise and over-deliver” on Tuesday night.

“Nonetheless, what we have seen repeatedly in such debates is that the candidate who manages to come across as being the most comfortable in their own skin, whatever their political positions may be, tends to be viewed favorably,” Tamas told Newsweek. “Walz has displayed a folksy charm when speaking to crowds, while Vance has tended to be more awkward.”

“The rules for success in debates are not that different from those that you see in successful interviews—being able to seamlessly pivot any potentially ‘problematic’ questions into convincingly delivered answers,” Tamas added. “Nervous, or not, whichever candidate does that best, likely wins.”

Walz’s debate prep against Vance reportedly leaned on the governor’s perceived strength: being a more down-to-earth and likable candidate than JD Vance.

Walz is expected to tie the GOP ticket to the conservative Project 2025—a set of plans, spearheaded by The Heritage Foundation, that present a framework for a future conservative administration to overhaul the U.S. government. Walz could also repeat comments he made at a recent New York fundraiser accusing Vance, a former Trump critic, of “selling his soul” to the ex-president for political gain, according to CNN.

Walz is no stranger to the one-liner. He is credited with popularizing the attack line that Trump, Vance, and other Republicans are “weird” in an interview on MSNBC in late July.

During a campaign rally in Philadelphia in August, where the Minnesota governor was introduced as Harris’ running mate for the first time, Walz said of Vance, “I can’t wait to debate the guy.

“That is, if he’s willing to get off the couch and show up,” Walz added in reference to the baseless viral claim that the Republican wrote about having sex with a couch in his 2016 Hillbilly Elegy memoir. There is no mention of this in the book.

More importantly, the debate will be a vital chance for both Walz and Vance to lay out their presidential ticket’s policies in order to appeal to voters.

A CBS News/YouGov poll of 2,011 registered voters published Monday showed that a large majority of potential debate viewers want Walz and Vance to focus on discussing their views on the economy (86 percent), immigration (76 percent) and “what America stands for” (68 percent). More than half (56 percent) also mentioned abortion and reproductive health issues.

Some 14 percent said they would like Walz and Vance to trade criticisms of each other.

Tom Preston, a professor of communication at the University of North Georgia, said that painting Walz in the role of underdog can set him up for a “perceived gutsy upset” against Vance.

“On the other hand, this strategy may increase the governor’s burden of proof, similarly to the tie going to the champion in a prize fight,” Preston told Newsweek.

“Rather than setting expectations and influencing the burden of proof in the debate, an alternative Walz strategy might be to out-appeal Vance as the extraordinary ordinary citizen appealing to the ordinary voters, and point out past contradictions of the opposing presidential candidate,” Preston added.

“The same debate principles apply to Vance. The debater who is presumed to win will not necessarily win; it will be the final score that counts—and ultimately, that is determined by voter perceptions on who, if either, won the debate on the issues.”