Democratic strategist James Carville said Tuesday that former President Trump’s running mate, Sen. J.D. Vance (R-Ohio), likely won’t want to get “within 50 miles” of Minnesota Gov. Tim Waltz, Harris’ running mate, in the vice presidential debate.
In an interview with CNN ahead of his first campaign stint with Harris and Walz on Tuesday night, Carville said he was excited about Democratic messaging opportunities over the next three months and pushed back against the notion that Republicans have an “edge” in the race.
“Let’s get the convention over with,” Carville said on “The Lead” with Jake Tapper. “I don’t think Trump wants a debate. I can assure you that J.D. Vance doesn’t want to go within 50 miles of Gov. Walz.”
“There’s still a lot of football left to play here. I’m excited,” Carville continued. “I’m tired of banging my helmet against the lockers. Let’s go out there and play some ball. I’m ready. I’m excited, Jake, for sure.”
Tapper asked Carville what message he would like to hear from the Democratic candidate in the coming months, to counter any “advantage” Trump may have in the race since “this is an election for change and Trump is leading in the polls.”
“First of all, don’t call Trump a transformative candidate. He’s a backward-looking candidate. We’re not talking about four years from now. He wants to talk about four years ago. And I think that’s a very simple dynamic on our side,” Carville told Tapper when asked for advice for Harris and Waltz.
He stressed the importance of getting the economic message across.
“What I want to see is a tougher response on the consumer side, a tougher response to price manipulation and price gouging by companies. I think that would be very beneficial,” Carville said.
Walz made his first appearance as Harris’ running mate on Tuesday night and launched into a fierce attack on the Republican candidate, taking particular aim at his running mate rival, Vance.
“I just can’t help but say this, you know it, you feel it, these people are creepy and, yeah, just freaking weird, that’s what you’re seeing,” Waltz said to thunderous applause from the Philadelphia rally crowd, referencing the Trump campaign’s new term for “weird.”
“Just like any normal person I know who grew up in the Midwest, JD went to Yale, was funded by Silicon Valley billionaires, and then wrote a best-selling book trashing that community. No kidding! That’s not where the Midwest is,” Waltz said, adding, “I can’t wait to debate him.”
Last month, when Harris was the running mate and Biden was leading, Vance said, “Obviously, we want to debate Vice President Harris, because it’s important for the American people to see that contrast.”
The Hill has reached out to the Trump-Vance campaign for comment.
As of early August, the prospects for a debate between the two main candidates remain unclear.
Trump told ABC News over the weekend that he has agreed to appear at the Sept. 10 debate. “Fired” With Biden out of the race, Trump instead said he was open to taking part in a Fox News-hosted debate in Pennsylvania on September 4 in front of a sold-out crowd.
Harris’ team criticized Trump for declining to appear on ABC News for the debate, saying the vice president would use the time to appear on the network whether he took part or not.
Trump has become increasingly cautious about debating Harris in recent weeks, initially saying he would “absolutely” face off against the VP before later saying there were possible reasons not to.
