GOP leader says Vance ‘absolutely prepared’ for VP debate showdown with Walz

NEW YORK – Republican National Committee chair Michael Whatley is confident that Sen. JD Vance of Ohio is “absolutely prepared” for Tuesday night’s vice presidential debate showdown.

Vance, former President Trump’s running mate on the GOP 2024 ticket, will face off in New York City with Democratic vice presidential nominee Gov. Tim Walz of Minnesota in the one and only debate between the two running mates.

“You look at everything he’s done since he was named as the candidate. He’s been preparing, he’s been talking with the press, he’s been out there, he’s been moving around and talking to the American voters. So, he’s very ready to have this conversation,” Whatley emphasized in a Fox News Digital interview hours ahead of the debate.

A source familiar with Vance’s debate prep told Fox News Digital that over the last month, the senator took part in a series of murder board sessions with his team, where a group of people ask tough questions and have candid discussions to help someone prepare for a difficult examination or test, or in Vance’s case, a vice presidential debate.

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Republican vice presidential nominee Sen. JD Vance of Ohio speaks during a campaign rally on Saturday, Sept. 28, 2024, in Newtown, Pennsylvania. (AP Photo/Laurence Kesterson)

According to the source, Vance conducted a mock debate over the past week, with Rep. Tom Emmer of Minnesota, the House majority whip, playing the role of Walz. Former Trump administration Treasury Department assistant secretary Monica Crowley played the role of one of the moderators from CBS News, which is hosting the debate in New York City.

Halfway through the mock debate, the power went out, as a strong storm slammed through the vicinity of Cincinnati, Ohio, where Vance lives and where the prep session was held. But according to the source, who shared the details first with Fox News, Vance and the team continued on, using lanterns for lighting and cellphones for timers.

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Heading into the 2024 vice presidential debate, the 40-year-old Vance has been very talkative, sitting for scores of interviews and taking plenty of questions from reporters on the campaign trail. 

Walz, who is 60, has been much more reluctant to speak with the national news media. 

Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz, the Democratic Party’s vice presidential nominee, speaks to supporters in Grand Rapids, Michigan, on Sept. 12, 2024. (Detroit Free Press/Adam Vander Kooy/USA Today Network via Imagn Images)

The governor was in debate camp ahead of the showdown to prepare. Walz huddled with advisers and Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg – who played the role of Vance in mock debates – in Harbor Springs, Michigan, near the northern tip of the state’s lower peninsula.

Also helping out – Walz’s wife – Minnesota first lady Gwen Walz.

Asked on the eve of the showdown with Vance how his wife had been helping him with debate preparation, Walz told reporters, “She wins every one.”

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With a second face-to-face showdown between Vice President Kamala Harris and Trump unlikely – and with a margin-of-error White House race with five weeks until Election Day in November – there will be heightened stakes at the running mate debate, which is traditionally seen as a second-tier event in the presidential campaign.

“Given that we’re only likely to have one head-to-head match-up between the principal candidates and this is the last meet-up between the two tickets directly before the election, it heightens the importance and significance of this debate,” longtime Republican strategist and communicator Ryan Williams, a veteran of multiple presidential campaigns, told Fox News.

Vice President Kamala Harris and former President Trump debate, in Philadelphia on Sept. 10, 2024. (Doug Mills/The New York Times/Bloomberg via Getty Images)

Most political pundits said Harris bested Trump last month in their first and likely only debate. And flash polls of debate watchers agreed. 

So a strong showing by Vance in Tuesday’s vice presidential debate could give Trump a boost. 

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And there’s a precedent from 12 years ago.

After a shaky first debate by then-President Barack Obama against 2012 GOP presidential nominee Mitt Romney, then-Vice President Joe Biden’s well-regarded performance in the running mate debate against Romney running mate Rep. Paul Ryan gave the Democrats’ ticket a big boost.

Republican vice presidential nominee Sen. JD Vance of Ohio and Democratic vice presidential nominee Gov. Tim Walz of Minnesota (Getty Images )

Whatley, the former RNC general counsel and former North Carolina GOP chair who’s a close ally of Trump, told Fox Digital that Vance’s debate mission is to “deliver the message” to voters across the country.

Whatley argued that “if you look at the Democrats, they don’t just have messenger problems, they have message problems. The polices that they’re pushing right now are not popular with the American people…. I think on every single one of these issues, the Republican ticket is the ticket of strength, the ticket of common sense, and I feel really great about where we’re going into tonight.”

The RNC chair also said that when it comes to Vance’s game plan for the debate, “I think he’s going to talk about the issues that the voters care about and those are the issues like inflation, like the southern border, like prices at the grocery store and at the gas pump. That’s really what people care about. That’s what we’re going to talk about.”

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Part of the Harris campaign’s strategy ahead of the debate is to raise expectations for Walz.

For weeks, they’ve painted Walz as a regular guy who will be facing off with the Ivy League-trained Vance. What they don’t mention is that Walz won six House races and two gubernatorial elections.

The Trump campaign’s playing the same game.

“Walz is very good in debates. I want to repeat that. Tim Walz is very good in debates. Really good. He’s been a politician for nearly 20 years. He’ll be very well-prepared for tomorrow night,” Trump campaign senior adviser Jason Miller told reporters on Monday.

But Trump seemed to undercut this campaign’s argument, charging in an interview with Kellyanne Conway’s Fox Nation program “Here’s the Deal with Kellyanne” that Vance is “going up against a moron. A total moron, how she picked him is unbelievable.”

Walz comes into the debate with better poll numbers than Vance.

According to the latest Fox News national poll, Walz was slightly above water with a 43% favorable rating and a 40% unfavorable rating.

Vance stood in negative territory, at 38%-50% favorable/unfavorable.

Get the latest updates from the 2024 campaign trail, exclusive interviews and more at our Fox News Digital election hub.