YORK, Pa. — A day after the vice presidential debate in New York City, Republican Ohio Sen. J.D. Vance and Democratic Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz made stops in two key battleground states to campaign. I jumped back.
“New York City was a little crazy last night,” Walz told reporters as he arrived at an airport near Harrisburg, Pennsylvania, on Wednesday, pointing to the debate he had held with Vance hours earlier. .
Most experts said Vance was the more polished of the two candidates on stage for Tuesday night's vice presidential debate, but a preliminary poll showed debate watchers Opinion was almost divided over which vice presidential candidate would win.
Walz's accidental reaction during the debate quickly went viral after he mistakenly said that Vice President Kamala Harris' running mate had “been friends with a school shooter.”
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Sen. J.D. Vance (R-Ohio, left) and Minnesota Governor Tim Walz appear during the vice presidential debate hosted by CBS News in New York City on Tuesday. (AP/Matt Rourke)
The incident occurred as Walz was asked about a change in his position on banning assault weapons, which he previously opposed but now supports.
“I sat in that office with the parents in Sandy Hook. I became friends with the school shooter. I saw it happen,” Walz said.
Asked Wednesday to clarify his gaffe during the debate, Walz said, “I'm very passionate about this subject. A question came up about school shootings. “We're talking about everything except the mass shooting. And I was sitting with Sandy as a member of Congress.” It was a profound move that hooked parents.
“David Hogg” [a leading gun control activist and school shooting survivor] He's my good friend. ”
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“I need to be more specific about that, but I'm passionate about this,” Walz acknowledged.
Speaking at a rally in Auburn Hills, Michigan, Vance said he had not heard Walz's comments until he was informed of them in a conversation with his running mate, former President Trump, after the debate.
Republican vice presidential candidate Sen. J.D. Vance of Ohio will speak at a rally in Auburn Hills, Michigan, on Wednesday. (Related news organizations)
“Tim Walz told me twice that he was friends with the school shooter,” Vance said, referring to his conversations with Trump. “And I actually didn't realize that Tim Walz said that on the debate stage.
“I said, 'Sir, did you really say that?' And he said, 'Do you really mean that?' [Trump] “What I'm saying is, go watch the video.”
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“And I said that was probably only the third or fourth stupid comment Tim Walz said that night.”
The moderators of the debate also disagreed over Mr. Walz's claim that he was in Hong Kong during the 1989 Tiananmen Square massacre in Beijing.
Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz, the Democratic vice presidential candidate, led a rally in York, Pennsylvania, on Tuesday. (FOX News Digital/Paul Steinhauser)
Walz acknowledged that he traveled to Asia in August 1989, several months after the April 15 massacre, adding that he “can be insensitive at times.”
The governor reiterated Wednesday that “the date was wrong.”
President Trump called his running mate's performance “excellent” and “reaffirmed my choice” in an interview with Fox News' Brooke Singman on Wednesday.
The former president also claimed that Walz was “embarrassed” during the debate.
The debate's other big moment came near the end, when Vance refused to say that President Biden beat Trump in the 2020 election. For four years, the former president has made unproven claims that the election was fraudulent and that voter fraud was widespread.
Walz reiterated Wednesday that “failure to acknowledge that Joe Biden won the 2020 election is a disqualification. That's easy to do.”
An hour later, Walz told a large crowd at a rally at the York Fairgrounds: “You can't rewrite history. And they're trying to mislead us about Donald Trump's record. That's gaslighting.” he accused.
Asked Wednesday about his avoidance of answering questions about the 2020 election during the debate, Vance said, “The simple reason is that the media is obsessed with talking about an election from four years ago.” repeated the accusations. Because I want to remove Kamala Harris from office and return to common sense economic policy. ”
Mr. Walz arrived at the rally in York, riding a campaign bus to the York Exhibition Center to cheers.
But York is Trump country. The former president won York County in 2020 over Biden by about 25 points.
Walz's Pennsylvania campaign in Harrisburg, York and Reading begins what the Harris campaign described as more aggressive post-debate travel and an onslaught of voter engagement by the governor, as well as other battleground states. He also made stops in Arizona and Nevada, and conducted a fundraising onslaught in Ohio. , California and Washington.
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And the campaign noted that Walz will participate in more media interviews. Since President Trump nominated the senator as his running mate two and a half months ago, Vance has given dozens of interviews and repeatedly fielded questions from reporters on the campaign trail.
The first of Vance's two stops in Michigan was at Visioneering, an automotive industry tool supplier in Auburn Hills.
Auburn Hills is in Oakland County, which has tilted heavily toward the Democratic Party in recent election cycles. Biden beat Trump in the county by about 14 points four years ago.
Michigan and Pennsylvania are two of the seven key battleground states that narrowly decided Biden's victory over Trump in 2020, and will determine whether Trump or Harris will win in the 2024 presidential election. It is highly likely that the decision will be made.
Fox News' Deirdre Heavey and Kirill Clark contributed to this report.
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