From the starting point of expectation, the candidates for the vice presidency of the United States, the Republican JD Vance and the Democrat Tim Walz, have traveled the path to irrelevance in just three months. It is difficult to remember what their predecessors did in previous elections due to the vicarious nature of the position, but the achievements of Vance and Walz have lagged behind the curiosity they generated when they were elected by their leaders: the first, as the incarnation of American dream — raised in poverty, but a university student, venture capital investor and senator; the second, a former high school teacher and soccer coach, like the living image of deep America, at the antipodes of the mirage of the large metropolitan areas.
Vance’s appointment as number two of Donald Trump predicted—and still does—a powerful ideological reinforcement of the former president’s speech; Walz’s was seen as the precise popular counterpoint to the California and Washington elites in which Kamala Harris’s political career has developed. Populism versus the popular. But, as was seen in the only debate in which they faced each other, on October 1, the swords were only raised for a short time, before the initial prominence faded.
The two started on the crest of the network wave: Vance, with the viralization of a derogatory comment of his from 2021, opportunely resurrected by algorithms, about childless women who according to him remedied their loneliness with cats; Walz, with the achievement, also viral, of coining the catchphrase weird (rare) to define Republicans. Since then, due to the laughable essence of the networks, the star of both went out, until reaching the anodyne result of the debate: for some, the Republican won by a few points; For most, neither.
Among Democrats, there are many who believe that Walz’s popular reaction has not had the expected effect on Kamala Harris’ express campaign. During the aforementioned debate, the Democratic vice presidential candidate wasted opportunities served on a platter to dismantle Vance’s repeated whitewashing of many of Trump’s messages, especially his complaint of electoral fraud in 2020 (in fact, it was more than just a whitewashing of his image). : Vance refused to admit that Trump lost those elections, due to Walz’s lack of reaction).
Although the Democrat went from less to more, unlike his campaign, he let Vance, slippery and imprecise, but more pleasant than expected given his reputation for being unfriendly, escape him alive on other controversial issues, such as his repeated pabulum to the lies about Haitian immigrants from Springfield, Ohio, who, according to Republicans, ate pets, and his extremist views on abortion, among others.
Trump’s choice of the 40-year-old senator from Ohio was not only seen as a bid for the white working class of the industrial Midwest, a key demographic in one of the major battlegrounds, but also as a way to establish his political legacy, given the possibility, if he is re-elected, that due to his age he will not finish his term. In fact, the former president usually treats Vance as an indulgent father would when faced with his offspring’s bravado, trusting that they are temporary. Because the senator has an important point in his favor: unlike Trump’s first vice president, Mike Pence, he is an ideological kindred spirit, whose approach coincides with his mentor’s political priorities.
Walz’s path to the nomination was more improbable. His name did not appear in the pools, but his viral appearances, with the catchphrase of rareand the moderation of his ways convinced Harris… until in the debate in question he was seen, precisely, too moderate. Both had a relatively low political profile at the national level and in the leadership of their parties, and in essence, compared to the declassed Vance, Walz seemed most authentic.
If victory had to be awarded to any of them, it would be Vance, who in the final stretch of the campaign, and unlike Walz, increasingly a shadow of Harris, has continued to make headlines. For example, that teenagers become trans to circumvent the DEI criteria quotas (acronym in English for “diversity, equity and inclusion”) at large Ivy League universities. That liberal women celebrate their abortions with parties and cakes, and that he and Trump will win the vote of normal gays [sic]. He did it in a very long episode of a well-known podcast very popular among young people.
Faced with Vance’s sustained outrage, Walz’s star seemed to go out at the same time as the spotlight of the debate. In an invisible background, active but without prominence, he has been seen thanking Muslim leaders for their support of the Democratic campaign, in cute TikTok videos with his daughter, or hunting at the beginning of the pheasant season in Minnesota. Sagaciously, he has at least managed to prevent doubts about his service record in the National Guard and criticism for his slowness in responding as governor of Minnesota to the riots after the death at the hands of the police of the African-American George Floyd in Minneapolis, from winning. ground in the campaign.
Of the two campaigns, it would be Vance, and not Walz, the only one who has maintained the focus until the end, although not always for the best reasons. As if the populism of one and the popularity of the other had met halfway, in no man’s land.
