Tim Walz and JD Vance will face off on the debate stage Tuesday evening in a matchup that both their parties are hoping will demonstrate their vice-presidential candidate’s ability to connect with voters in battleground states that will play a critical role in deciding the U.S. election in November.
The debate, hosted by CBS News in New York, will kick off at 9 p.m. Eastern.
“They will both be trying to connect with those key Midwestern voters, that’s part of why each one of them was chosen,” said Matthew Lebo, a specialist in U.S. politics at Western University in London, Ont.
“Thinking about especially male voters in those key Midwestern swing states: Pennsylvania, Wisconsin and Michigan.”
Those states swung Republican when former president Donald Trump won the 2016 election, and in 2020 they helped put President Joe Biden in the White House.
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Tuesday’s matchup could have an outsized impact. Polls have …