Democrat Tim Walz and Republican JD Vance clashed Tuesday (Oct. 1) during a vice presidential debate that was surprisingly civil in the final stretch of an ugly election campaign marred by inflammatory rhetoric and two assassination attempts.

The two rivals, who have violently attacked each other during the campaign, mostly struck a cordial tone and instead saved their fire for the candidates at the top of their lists, Democratic Vice President Kamala Harris and Republican former President Donald Trump .

The most tense exchange occurred toward the end of the debate, when Vance — who has said he would not have voted to certify the results of the 2020 election — avoided the question of whether he would contest this year’s vote if Trump loses.

Walz responded by blaming Trump’s false claims of voter fraud for inciting the January 6, 2021 mob that attacked the U.S. Capitol in a failed attempt to prevent the certification of Joe Biden’s 2020 election.

“He still says he didn’t lose the election,” Walz said, before turning to Vance. “Did he lose the 2020 election?”

Vance again sidestepped the question, accusing Harris of pursuing online censorship of opposing views.

“That’s a damn non-answer,” Walz said.

Walz, 60, the liberal governor of Minnesota and former high school teacher, and Vance, 40, a best-selling author and conservative U.S. senator from Ohio, have portrayed themselves as two sons from the heart of America’s Midwest, with deep opposing views on the pressing issues. the country.

The rivals each sought to strike a lasting blow in the last remaining debate before the Nov. 5 presidential election, arguing over the Middle East crisis, immigration, taxes, abortion, climate change and the economy.

But overall, the two men seemed intent on putting on a display of “Midwestern nice,” thanking each other even as they went after their respective running mates in the traditional role of attack dog for vice presidential candidates.

Vance questioned why Harris had not done more to tackle inflation, immigration and the economy while serving in the Biden administration, establishing a consistent line of attack that Trump often failed to deliver during his debate over Harris last month .

“If Kamala Harris has such great plans to address the problems of the middle class, she should implement them now — not when she asks for a promotion, but in the job the American people gave her three and a half years ago,” Vance said . said.

Walz described Trump as an unstable leader who had prioritized billionaires and turned Vance’s criticism of the immigration issue on its head, attacking Trump for pressuring Republicans in Congress to pass a bipartisan border security bill earlier this year give.

“Most of us want to solve this,” Walz said of immigration. “Donald Trump had four years to do this, and he promised you, Americans, how easy it will be.”

The tone of the evening was a far cry from the divisiveness that characterized the campaign. Trump has repeatedly denigrated Harris, including by leveling racist and sexist attacks, and has twice escaped attempts on his life. Walz had previously called his Republican opponents “weird,” and Vance came under fire for past comments disparaging some Democrats as “childless cat ladies.”

Trump live blogging

The debate at the CBS Broadcast Center in New York began with the escalating crisis in the Middle East after Israel continued its attack on southern Lebanon on Tuesday and Iran launched retaliatory missiles against Israel.

Walz said Trump is too “fickle” and sympathetic to strongmen to handle the growing conflict, while Vance argued Trump had made the world a safer place during his time in office.

When asked whether he would support a pre-emptive strike on Iran by Israel, Vance suggested he would submit to Israel’s judgment, while Walz did not answer the question directly.

Trump, watching on television, posted angrily during the debate, sometimes twice a minute, on his Truth Social site, attacking the CBS moderators and calling Walz “pathetic” and “low IQ.”

A razor blade

Political analysts say vice presidential debates generally do not change the outcome of elections. That said, even a small shift in public opinion could be decisive if the race is close five weeks before Election Day.

Walz was asked this week about a report that he was not in China during the 1989 Tiananmen Square crackdown, as he had previously claimed.

“I’m an idiot sometimes,” he said during a meandering response. “I got there that summer and I was wrong about this. So I was in Hong Kong and China during the anti-democracy protests, and that taught me a lot about what it means to be in government.”

Vance, meanwhile, defended his running mate despite criticizing Trump ahead of the 2016 election.

“I was wrong about Donald Trump,” he said. “I was wrong, first of all, because I believe some media stories turned out to be dishonest fabrications of his record. But most importantly, Donald Trump delivered results for the American people.”

Walz also criticized Trump for his role in appointing three U.S. Supreme Court justices who joined the court’s decision to strike down a nearly half-century-long nationwide right to abortion, an issue that has proven damaging to the Republicans.

Vance, known for his deeply conservative stance on abortion, struck a more moderate tone on Tuesday, saying he did not support a national ban despite voicing support for Republican Sen. Lindsey Graham’s proposed 15-week limit in 2022. He said Trump’s view is that individual states should decide whether to restrict abortion.

In a post on social media, Trump said he would veto a national ban, weeks after refusing to say whether he would do so during the presidential debate.

Despite Vance having written “Hillbilly Elegy,” a popular 2016 memoir, American voters have a negative view of him, according to Reuters/Ipsos polls. 51% of registered voters say they view him unfavorably, compared to 39% who view him favorably. Meanwhile, Walz was viewed favorably by 44% of registered voters, with 43% reporting an unfavorable view in the September 20-23 poll.

Harris was widely seen as the winner of her only debate with Trump on September 10 in Philadelphia, which was far more chaotic than Tuesday’s affair.

That confrontation did little to change the trajectory of an extremely exciting election battle. Although Harris has gained a lead in national polls, most surveys show voters remain fairly evenly divided in the seven states that will decide the November election.