How Tim Walz can win the VP debate
Top Dems—including those from his own state—advise Walz to be himself, focus on the substance of Sen. JD Vance’s responses not just the style he delivers them with, and channel the 42nd president.
👋🏾 Hi, hey, hello! Welcome back to Once Upon a Hill. The general election is in 36 days. Congress is out of session for the next 44 days. The next government funding deadline is in 81 days. Inauguration Day is in 133 days.
In today’s edition, you’ll find everything you need to equip yourself for tomorrow’s vice presidential debate between Gov. Tim Walz (D-MN) and Sen. JD Vance (R-OH).
But first things first:
Biden hints at Congress callback: President Joe Biden floated the idea of asking lawmakers to return to Washington to pass a supplemental funding bill he said he expected his administration would need to submit to Congress to support the federal response to Hurricane Helene.
“That’s something I may have to request,” he told reporters this afternoon. “No decision has been made yet.”
Sen. Rick Scott (R-FL) called on Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY) to reconvene the Senate after FEMA and the Small Business Administration completes its damage assessments to pass emergency disaster relief funding. Scott is up for re-election in November.
The president added that he didn’t know the amount of his funding request.
“Not yet,” he said. “This is a historic storm. It’s devastating. They’ve not seen anything like this before.”
Democrats were frustrated disaster aid was excluded from the three-month funding extension Congress passed last week before members headed home to campaign ahead of the election.
“It’s unfortunate that some within the Republican Party have chosen to ignore the need for disaster assistance up until this point,” House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries said last week. “But we’re going to work hard to get this issue resolved in December.”
More than 100 people have died across six states. White House Homeland Security Advisor Liz Sherwood-Randall said that federal officials are tracking at least 600 missing people, so the death toll could dramatically increase. Hundreds of roads remain closed across the affected states, impacting the flow of emergency supplies. More than two million customers remain without power.
Biden said he expects to travel to North Carolina either Wednesday or Thursday.
“I’m committed to traveling to impacted areas as soon as possible, but I’ve been told that it’d be disruptive if I did it right now,” he said. “We will not do that at the risk of diverting or delaying any of the response assets needed to deal with this crisis.”
Former President Donald Trump criticized Biden for spending the weekend at his beach house in Delaware and Vice President Kamala Harris for campaigning on the West Coast this weekend.
Trump spent the weekend at the instant classic Georgia-Alabama football game in Tuscaloosa and on the campaign trail in Michigan, Wisconsin and Pennsylvania. Trump traveled to Valdosta, a city in southern Georgia to tour the hurricane damage and give a speech.
Vice President Kamala Harris just received a briefing at FEMA headquarters in Washington on the storm's ongoing impacts and the federal actions underway to support emergency response and recovery efforts.
Israel plans ground invasion in Lebanon: Following a series of airstrikes in Beirut, Lebanon’s capital city that hit multiple residential buildings and killed the leader of of Hezbollah—the Iranian proxy group that has been targeting northern ISR for almost a year in solidarity with Hamas, the Palestinian group that led the attack in ISR on Oct. 7 that killed 1200 people and set off the war in Gaza—US officials expect Israel to launch a limited ground invasion in Lebanon to further erode the group’s military capabilities.
Ahead of the possible invasion, Israel is conducting raids into Lebanon to gather intelligence about Hezbollah’s proximity to Israel’s northern border and its military infrastructure.
The US and allies such as France have been urging Israel to agree to a 21-day ceasefire to prevent an all-out war in the region.
“It has to be,” Biden told reporters on Sunday when asked if a broader conflict can be avoided. The president added that he planned to speak to Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu of Israel in the near future.
During remarks on the hurricane this morning, Biden was asked if he was aware of or comfortable with Israel’s plans, Biden said, “I’m more aware than you might know, and I’m comfortable with them stopping. We should have a ceasefire now.”
When asked for clarification on Biden’s comments, White House Press Secretary Karine Jean-Pierre told reporters that the administration supports Israel’s right to defend itself from Iran-backed groups, including Hezbollah, Hamas and the Houthis.
“We do understand that the strategic purpose of this is to make sure that Hezbollah cannot maintain the capacity to attack Israeli communities from the immediate opposite side of the border,” Jean-Pierre said. “We are in constant discussion with the Israelis on the best way to move forward. “
Port workers on the brink of devastating strike: Port workers along the Gulf and East Coasts are set to strike on Tuesday, which would shut down three dozen locations at 14 port authorities along the Gulf and East Coasts.
A lengthy work stoppage could cause prices for everything from fruit and auto parts to clothes and spirits—and delay imports of those goods.
The union is demanding fair wages and protections against artificial intelligence and automation. Port operators claim workers are negotiating in bad faith.
Biden told reporters on Sunday as he left Delaware to return to the White House that he wouldn’t intervene in the port strike “because of collective bargaining.”
Jean-Pierre said senior officials from the White House, Labor Department and Transportation Department “are in touch with the parties to urge them to return to the table and negotiate in good faith towards the agreement that benefits all sides, and do it fairly and quickly. “
Dems sound alarm on child care crisis: As the remaining child care funding from the 2021 American Rescue Plan expires today, the chairs of the Democratic Women’s Caucus, Congressional Asian Pacific American Caucus, Congressional Hispanic Caucus, Congressional Black Caucus, Congressional Progressive Caucus, New Democrat Coalition, and Congressional Dads Caucus called on House Republicans to join them in alleviating affordability crisis.
“Child care is currently unaffordable for far too many American families, care workers are underpaid, and in many communities, it’s simply unavailable. These challenges fall disproportionately on families, care workers, and communities of color, and these disparities will only intensify if we don’t act,” DWC Chair Lois Frankel (D-FL), CAPAC Chair Judy Chu (D-CA), CHC Chair Nanette Barragán (D-CA), CBC Chair Steven Horsford (D-NV), CPC Chair Pramila Jayapal (D-WA), New Dems Chair Annie Kuster(D-NH) and Dads Caucus Chair Jimmy Gomez (D-CA) said in a statement. “High-quality, affordable child care is critical not only for children’s development but also for enabling parents to remain in the workforce and contribute to our economy.”
A group of House Democrats, led by Minority Whip Katherine Clark (D-MA), reintroduced two bills last week that increase investments in early learning facilities and educators.
Murphy, Barragán to join Dr. Biden in Mexico: Sen. Chris Murphy (D-CT) and Rep. Barragán will join First Lady Dr. Jill Biden in a US presidential delegation to attend the inauguration of President-elect Claudia Sheinbaum Pardo of Mexico in Mexico City.
Murphy is the top Democrat on the Senate Appropriations Homeland Security Subcommittee and the lead Democratic negotiator on the bipartisan border deal that stalled in the Senate earlier this year. Barragán, as mentioned in the previous item, is the chair of the Congressional Hispanic Caucus.
US Ambassador to Mexico Ken Salazar, Health and Human Services Secretary Xavier Becerra, Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas, and head of the Small Business Administration Isabel Casillas Guzman are among the other members of the delegation.
Dr. Biden previously traveled to Mexico with President Biden for the 2023 North American Leaders Summit.
Allred, DSCC air anti-Cruz abortion ad: Rep. Colin Allred (D-TX) and the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee released an ad today featuring four Texas women who were forced to flee the state to receive life saving abortion care after experiencing pregnancy complications due to the state’s six-week total abortion ban.
The ad is part of the DSCC’s expanded TV ad investment in the Texas Senate race between Allred and Sen. Ted Cruz (R), the two-term incumbent. Recent polls show Cruz leading Allred 49 percent to 45 percent. Cruz defeated former El Paso congressman and presidential candidate Beto O’Rourke by just over 2.5 points in 2018.
Now, back to the vice presidential debate:
Vice President Harris’s stump speech is anchored by a promise of a new way forward. But for her running mate, Gov. Walz, success on the debate stage could be located in the past performance of one of the Democratic Party’s luminaries.
“What he can do tomorrow night is just continue to be himself and to really talk about his experiences as not just a governor but a dad, a coach, a veteran, and really speak to the issues that people in our country are dealing with,” Douglas Wilson, a North Carolina-based Democratic strategist and former senior advisor to the 2020 Biden-Harris North Carolina coordinated campaign, told me over the phone this afternoon. “I think just talking about his life experiences and using that Bill Clinton approach that [the former president] did in the ’92 debates when he spoke directly to the American people and showing them that he really cares about their issues.”
Unlike Clinton more than three decades ago, Walz isn’t carrying the top of the ticket. Instead, his role is to promote Harris’s agenda and prove to voters why he would serve as an effective governing partner to her.
But in conversations with Democratic members of Minnesota’s congressional delegation, I’m told he has the credibility to successfully do both.
“I think they can expect someone who’s true to his word,” Sen. Amy Klobuchar (D-MN) told me during a brief interview last week. “He’s gonna tell it as it is and make the case just like Vice President Harris did [during the debate earlier this month].”
Rep. Angie Craig (D-MN) agreed that Walz will speak in plain language straight to voters, similar to his acceptance speech at the Democratic National Convention in Chicago in late August.
“That’s what he’s always done in Minnesota,” Craig said. “That’s what he’ll do on that debate stage.”
Craig explained that what makes Walz special in her eyes is his ability to understand the issues at a big-picture level while also connecting with folks in ritual communities who feel like politicians, especially those in the Democratic Party, have left them behind.
“He served them in Congress. He understands what everyday Americans think about the cost of groceries, making sure that, we support law enforcement, the [agriculture] community,” she said. “He’s going to be speaking directly to places in America that a lot of Democrats can’t speak to with authority. And so I think it’s going to be a great debate and I think the contrast between Tim Walz and JD Vance is going to be absolutely fantastic to watch.”
Wilson told me Walz will be able to draw on his experiences as a dad with a daughter born through the miracle of fertility treatments, a former football coach who also advised his school’s gay-straight alliance and veteran who understands the value of service to connect with voters who still may be on the fence about Harris’s candidacy.
But despite Vance’s historic unpopularity, he’s a formidable opponent. He’s Ivy League-educated and photogenic by MAGA standards. More importantly, he’s a much more disciplined messenger for the far-right policies that Trump and his congressional allies hope to enact during a second term.
That’s why it’s critical, according to the Democrats I spoke to in recent days, for viewers to pay attention to the substance of what Vance says, not just the style in which he delivers it.
“Sen. Vance has a very unique ability to take policies that are extreme and are able to make them make sense,” Wilson said. “And so the governor has to be able to respond to the rhetoric that’s not going to be as bombastic as Trump.”
Walz should expect Vance to repeat debunked lies that Haitian migrants are eating their neighbors’ pets in Springfield, Ohio or that the reason Ohioans in Youngstown are struggling is due to Biden’s economic agenda instead of the tax breaks for wealthy individuals and big corporations that failed to trickle down as promised.
“That’s how he’s going to have to respond because the senator is very good just looking like this calm midwestern, bearded dad who’s able to just explain away some of the most extreme policies of the right and make those policies make sense to voters where voters will not realize how in depth those policies could have on their lives in a negative way.”
Walz has spent the last several days in Northern Michigan preparing for the debate, save for a quick trip to Ann Arbor to attend the Minnesota-Michigan game. Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg is acting as Vance, who is expected to face attacks from Walz as one of Project 2025’s fiercest evangelists and a opportunist who will shift his political views to reach his ambitions as he did when he morphed from one of Trump’s harshest critics to a hot-blooded supporter.
House Minority Whip Tom Emmer (R-MN) has mimicked Walz during Vance’s debate prep where the Ohio senator is refining his knocks against Walz for the progressive record he and a Democratic legislature enacted in 2023 and the governor’s response to the 2020 protests to George Floyd’s murder in Minneapolis.
“Tim’s been a complete disaster in Minnesota, and what’s happened is he’s so good at being this folksy, nice, kind of down-to-earth guy, until people get to know him and his policies,” Emmer said on ABC’s This Week on Sunday before previewing what could become the GOP’s go-to attack line for the final stretch of the campaign. “Once you get to know the real Tim Walz, he’s like [California Democratic Gov.] Gavin Newsom in a flannel shirt.”
Moderating the debate will be Margaret Brennan and Norah O’Donnell, two of the most-respected journalists in the business.
Both candidates’ microphones will remain on when their opponent is speaking, a departure from the two presidential debates between former President Trump and President Biden in June and Vice President Harris earlier this month.
Walz will deliver his closing remarks, followed by Vance. CBS moderators are not expected to fact-check the candidates during the debate.
Following the debate, Walz will join the Vice President Harris for a bus tour through western Pennsylvania. The two embarked on a bus tour throughout Southeast Georgia in late August, their first joint campaign swing through the Peach State. Weeks earlier, Harris, Walz and their spouses completed a bus tour across Western PA, which was the first time all four principals have campaigned together. The Harris campaign also launched a reproductive freedom bus tour last month.
In the meantime, it may be helpful for you to view the debate within the context of the vice president’s chief responsibility: Stepping into the presidency in case of emergency.
“I think that one thing that voters need to look for, which, I know is cliche, but which one of these gentlemen would would be a good commander in chief if something were to happen to the president?” Wilson said before we hopped off the phone. “And of course, me being a Democrat, in support of the governor and the vice president, I would go for governor who has had to deal with state issues, who’s had to deal with working with a general assembly, just like my Gov. Roy Cooper [(D-NC)] has had to deal with a Republican General Assembly, disaster relief and all of that governors have to deal with.”
And finally, a few evening reads:
“An open letter to Jimmy Carter, on his 100th birthday” by Margaret Renkl: “You have made the most of a long life, Mr. President, serving in nearly every way imaginable as an example of moral seriousness and service to others. “
“Abortion groups are raising more money than ever. Where exactly is it going?” by Rachel M. Cohen: “Activists confront competing priorities, tactics and goals ahead of Trump and Harris’s match-up in November.”
“The NFL’s head trauma problem isn’t going away” by Li Zhou: “Concussions—and Brett Favre’s Parkinson’s diagnosis—are putting a spotlight on head trauma.”
“The grim truth behind Microsoft’s plan for Three Mile Island and AI” by Mike Pearl: “Can AI be green? Not like this—especially when the company is also selling its AI tools to oil and gas companies.”
“Inside TikTok’s unhinged home remodeling videos” by Ryan Broderick: “We kept seeing more and more utterly absurd, hugely viral, AI-fever-dream home remodeling videos on TikTok. So we tracked down where they actually come from.”
That’s all I’ve got for now.
Until Wednesday,
Michael