Republican Ohio Sen. JD Vance and Democratic Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz will face off for the first time Oct. 1 at the CBS News vice presidential debate in New York City.
This is the only scheduled vice presidential debate for the 2024 election, and it comes just three weeks after the , and likely only, presidential debate between former President Donald Trump and Vice President Kamala Harris.
PolitiFact has scrutinized more than a dozen recent statements from and since each man became his party鈥檚 VP nominee. Here鈥檚 how accurate their talking points have proven so far.
Vance鈥檚 false and misleading claims about immigrants
Vance was among the first politicians to that Haitian immigrants in Springfield, Ohio, were killing and eating pets. During the Sept. 10 presidential debate, Trump this baseless rumor. In the weeks since, Vance has used selective data to exaggerate Springfield鈥檚 problems amid the migrant influx.
Vance to link the immigration uptick to rising murders, saying they "are up by 81%." From 2021 to 2023, murders in Springfield rose from five to nine 鈥� an 80% increase. But FBI homicide data also showed that the number of homicides in Springfield fluctuated without a clear trend from 2012 to 2022, and a crime data expert cautioned against making annual comparisons in places where less than one homicide is reported each month.
Vance also claimed the number of communicable diseases, such as HIV and tuberculosis, in Springfield have "skyrocketed" because of the increase in Haitian immigrants. This is . Not including COVID-19 cases, the overall communicable disease rate in Clark County, where Springfield is, has generally dropped since 2018, with the exception of HIV cases. The county cautions that its rates may be inflated because 2020 Census data does not account for population increases. Public county data doesn鈥檛 separate case numbers by city or demographics, so public health experts cautioned against tying changes in case rates to immigrants.
When discussing immigrants in the U.S. more broadly, Vance one of Harris鈥� proposals, saying she "wants to give $25,000 to illegal aliens to buy American homes." But Vance is filling in blanks about a proposal that we know little about. Harris has not detailed her plan or said who would qualify for this first-time homebuyer assistance.
Walz鈥檚 attacks on Vance and Project 2025
Like Harris, Walz routinely works in warnings about Trump and Vance embracing proposals from Project 2025, even though the Trump-Vance campaign has distanced itself from the 900-page policy manual for the next Republican administration.
Walz said Vance "literally wrote the foreword for the architect of the Project 2025 agenda." This is . Vance wrote the foreword for Heritage Foundation President Kevin Roberts鈥� forthcoming book, "Dawn鈥檚 Early Light." The Heritage Foundation led the network of groups that created the policy handbook.
However, Walz has also wrongly described Project 2025鈥檚 goals. He claimed it requires women to register with a new federal agency if they get pregnant. The manual does not mention, nor call for, a new federal agency to be created for pregnancy registration. It recommends that states provide more detailed and consistent abortion and miscarriage reporting to the federal government.
Vance鈥檚 attacks on Walz鈥檚 military and political records
Vance has sought to negatively reframe Walz鈥檚 24-year military career with the Nebraska and Minnesota National Guards. In August, Vance said, "When Tim Walz was asked by his country to go to Iraq, do you know what he did? He dropped out of the Army and allowed his unit to go without him."
This has an element of truth but misstates the timeline in ways that could leave a misleading impression, so Vance鈥檚 claim rates . Walz retired from the Minnesota National Guard in May 2005 to run for Congress. He submitted retirement paperwork five to seven months beforehand.
After Walz filed congressional candidacy paperwork in February 2005, his Minnesota National Guard battalion received a March 2005 notification for a potential deployment within two years, not immediately. Walz鈥檚 battalion was not officially ordered to go to Iraq until July 2005, two months after Walz retired.
Vance has also attacked Walz for saying in 2018 that he wanted to get "weapons of war that I carried in war" off the streets. Vance said Walz "has not spent a day in a combat zone," which is .
On Walz鈥檚 gubernatorial record, Vance said Walz enacted a law that would "take children away from their parents if the parents don鈥檛 want to consent to sex changes." But that鈥檚 , the law Walz signed does not do that. It amended the law governing which court could have temporary jurisdiction over child custody cases involving more than one state.
Walz鈥檚 attacks on Trump鈥檚 record
Walz has characterized the Trump-Vance campaign as antiunion, saying that when Trump was president, he "cut overtime benefits for millions of workers." That鈥檚 .
In 2016, former President Barack Obama鈥檚 administration set a rule that would have raised the salary threshold for overtime pay. But a judge struck it down before it took effect, and the incoming Trump administration dropped a challenge against the ruling. The Trump administration set its own rule to raise the salary threshold for overtime pay, which was lower than the Obama-era policy. The Trump rule did not amount to a "cut."
Walz has also blamed Trump for racking up the federal government鈥檚 debt, saying Trump "added more to the national debt than any other president." That鈥檚 .
Looking at the increase in federal debt, Trump ranks first for debt added in a single term. However, Biden is projected to pass Trump鈥檚 total by the time he leaves office in January 2025. Using a different method 鈥� counting how much future debt a president鈥檚 policies created 鈥� Trump is projected to about double Biden鈥檚 debt amount.
More fact-checks of Vance and Walz鈥檚 statements:
- Vance said Harris is "calling for an end to the child tax credit." That鈥檚 !
- Walz said former President Ronald Reagan was "the last union member on a national ticket." That鈥檚 .
- Vance said Trump could have destroyed the Affordable Care Act, but "he chose to build upon (it)." That鈥檚 .
- Vance said a zero-tolerance policy during the Trump administration "led to less family separation than under Kamala Harris鈥� border policies." That鈥檚 .