Immigration and abortion at center of Walz-Vance vice-presidential debate

On October 1, Democrat Tim Walz and Republican JD Vance faced off in the only vice-presidential debate scheduled before November's U.S. presidential election.

It came after Vice President Kamala Harris and former President Donald Trump debated on September 10. Logically Facts previously fact-checked this debate. 

During the debate moderated by CBS News' Norah O'Donnell and Margaret Brennan, Walz clashed with Vance on topics including abortion, immigration, and climate change.

Walz was questioned on his past remarks that he was in Hong Kong during the April to June 1989 Tiananmen Square protests after reports by Minnesota Public Radio News and others found that Walz didn't arrive in Asia until August.

The Minnesota Governor said he "got there that summer and misspoke on this."

Vance, meanwhile, was questioned about his prior negative comments about Trump and his shifting stance on limits to abortion access.

Here, Logically Facts addresses some of the claims made by the candidates. 

Walz says Vance previously called Trump 'unfit for the nation's highest office'

Timestamp 4:45

Walz said, "The person closest to them, to Donald Trump, said he's unfit for the highest office. That was Senator Vance."

This is true. In 2016, Vance penned an opinion piece for The New York Times titled "Why Trump's Antiwar Message Resonates with White America." 

Vance began the 11th paragraph of his opinion piece by saying, "Mr. Trump is unfit for our nation's highest office."  

"But to those humiliated by defeat, he promises we'll win again," Vance continued.

Brennan later asked Vance during the debate about his prior criticisms of Trump, referring to an article published by The Washington Post in which the outlet reported that in 2020, Vance said in a direct message over X, formerly Twitter, that Trump "failed to deliver" his economic agenda. 

In response, Vance said, "I've been open and sometimes, of course, I've disagreed with the President, but I've also been extremely open about the fact that I was wrong about Donald Trump."

Vance says the U.S. has the 'cleanest economy' globally

Timestamp 12:04

Vance said, "This idea that carbon emissions drives all the climate change. Well, let's just say that's true, just for the sake of argument, so we're not arguing about weird science. Let's just say that's true. Well, if you believe that, what would you, what would you want to do? The answer is that you'd want to re-shore as much American manufacturing as possible, and you'd want to produce as much energy as possible in the United States of America because we're the cleanest economy in the entire world."

According to NASA, the rise in carbon emissions, specifically carbon dioxide, has raised global temperature, leading to temperature extremes, droughts, water stress, and more.

The Ohio Senator did not refer to any specific ranking when claiming that the U.S. has the "cleanest economy" globally. 

Later in his answer, Vance said that the U.S. had been doing business in "some of the dirtiest parts of the world," adding: "When I say that, I mean the amount of carbon emissions they're doing per unit of economic output."

Taking Gross Domestic Product (GDP) as a unit of economic output, per the International Energy Agency, U.S. GDP has doubled since 1990, but CO2 emissions have returned to levels recorded in the early 1990s.

However, according to the same report, the EU economy is 66 percent larger now than in 1990, while CO2 emissions are 30 percent lower, surpassing the progress of the U.S.

According to the 2024 Environmental Performance Index (EPI), conducted by researchers at Yale and Colombia Universities and described by the initiative as an environmental performance "scorecard," the U.S. ranks 34th globally.

The index brings together 58 indicators across 11 issue areas, covering topics such as climate change mitigation, air pollution, and waste management.

The International Energy Agency compared the U.S. with India, China, Japan, and the European Union in terms of total CO2 emissions per capita from 2000 to 2023, with the U.S. ranking as the largest emitter. Regarding total CO2 emissions by region, the U.S. has been the second largest emitter behind China since 2005. 

Vance said Kamala Harris is 'the appointed border czar'

Timestamp 23:16

Vance said, "The only thing that she did when she became the Vice President — when she became the appointed border czar — was to undo 94 Donald Trump executive actions that opened the border."

Trump also referred to Harris as the "border czar" during his debate with Harris on September 10. As Logically Facts previously addressed, there is no official "border czar" position.

Border control in the U.S. is primarily managed by the Department of Homeland Security (DHS), led by Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas, through the Customs and Border Protection (CBP) and Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agencies.

In March 2021, Biden announced that Harris would lead diplomatic efforts with Mexico, El Salvador, Guatemala, and Honduras. 

During the 2021 address where Biden discussed Harris' role, she said there was a need to "address the root causes" leading to people crossing the border.

Screenshot of White House transcript of President Joe Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris' remarks, March 24, 2021. (Source: The White House/Highlight added by Logically Facts)

In an article published in April 2021, the Migration Policy Institute, a U.S.-based think tank, said that the Biden administration had taken 94 executive actions related to migration in his first 100 days in office, focusing on areas such as visa restrictions and immigration benefits.

Walz says Trump caused an $8 trillion increase in the national debt

Timestamp 30:28

Walz said, “[Donald Trump] gave the tax cuts that predominantly went to the top class. What happened there was an $8 trillion increase in the national debt, the largest ever.”

This claim lacks some context about the causes of this debt. U.S. Budget Watch 2024, a project by the Committee for a Responsible Federal Budget (CRFB), a Washington D.C.-based non-profit, published an estimate on January 10 that the “ten-year cost” of legislation signed by Trump amounted to about $8.4 trillion in debt.

However, according to the analysis, nearly half came from COVID-19 relief laws and executive orders ($1.9 trillion from the bipartisan CARES Act for pandemic relief alone). 

Around $2.5 trillion of this debt was found in this report to be due to tax cut initiatives.

This same report said that the national debt is “on course to reach a record share of the economy” but says that this is due “in part” to both Trump’s and Biden’s policies.

Walz says that Project 2025 aims to have a 'registry of pregnancies'

Timestamp 45:28

This is false. Project 2025, an initiative detailed at length previously by Logically Facts, does not propose creating a registry of pregnancies. It does, however, advocate for the CDC to collect more data on abortions (page 455).

According to the initiative's website, Project 2025 is a blueprint published by The Heritage Foundation, a U.S.-based think tank, in coordination with more than 100 other conservative organizations. 

The initiative includes a 900-page document outlining policy recommendations for the next Republican administration, including reducing federal funding for research and investment in renewable energy (page 365) and "aggressively building the border wall system" along the southern border (page 166).

It also suggests removing the abortion pill mifepristone from the market and enforcing existing laws to prevent the drug from being shipped through the mail (page 457).

Page 455 of the document urges the CDC to mandate the tracking of abortions taking place in each state, including data like the gestational age of the child, the reason the abortion took place and by which method. 

Screenshot of page 455 of Project 2025. (Source: Project 2025, The Heritage Foundation/Highlight added by Logically Facts)

When O'Donnell asked Vance if he would support a federal pregnancy monitoring system, Vance denied it, saying, "Certainly, we won't."

Walz made the same claim about Project 2025 before. During a speech in Wisconsin on September 14, he said, "Think about what they're saying in Project 2025: you're going to have to register with a new federal agency when you get pregnant."

Trump has repeatedly distanced himself from Project 2025, although a July CNN article reported that more than 140 people linked to the project previously worked in the Trump administration.

During the September 10 presidential debate, Trump denied his connection with the project, saying, "I have nothing to do with Project 2025."

Vance says he 'never supported' a national abortion ban

Timestamp 49:42

Vance: "First of all, I never supported a national ban. I did during, when I was running for Senate in 2022, talk about setting some minimum national standard."

Vance was questioned by O'Donnell on his views regarding restrictions to abortion, with the lead-up to the question stating, "In the past, you have supported a federal ban on abortion after 15 weeks." 

In response, Vance said he never supported a national ban but discussed setting a minimum national standard in 2022. 

The Associated Press reported in October 2022 that Vance said he would support a national limit on abortion at 15 weeks in a bill introduced by South Carolina Senator Lindsey Graham.

But Vance previously said he would like to see abortion become illegal

Vance was a guest on the Very Fine People podcast on January 27, 2022. During the discussion, the host posed a question (39:49) regarding the future trajectory of abortion policy in the U.S.

Vance was asked, "Do you see that issue ever being resolved nationally? I know you have your own strong personal feelings and a commitment to life in that sense. But do you think it will be resolved nationally?"

In response to the question during the 2022 podcast, Vance stated (41:28), "I certainly would like abortion to be illegal nationally."

During the debate, Trump posted on X saying he would not support a federal ban, posting: "EVERYONE KNOWS I WOULD NOT SUPPORT A FEDERAL ABORTION BAN, UNDER ANY CIRCUMSTANCES, AND WOULD, IN FACT, VETO IT, BECAUSE IT IS UP TO THE STATES TO DECIDE BASED ON THE WILL OF THEIR VOTERS (THE WILL OF THE PEOPLE!)."

Screenshot of Trump X post published during the debate, where the former president said he would not support a federal abortion ban. (Source: X/ @realDonaldTrump/Highlight added by Logically Facts)

Vance says Trump urged January 6 demonstrators to 'protest peacefully'

Timestamp 1:30:14

Vance said, "Remember, [Trump] said that on January the 6th, the protesters ought to protest peacefully. And on January 20th, what happened? Joe Biden became the President, Donald Trump left the White House, and now, of course, unfortunately, we have all of the negative policies that have come from the Harris-Biden administration."

This is missing context. On January 6, 2021, pro-Trump demonstrators stormed the Capitol Building in Washington, D.C., when Congress was certifying Biden's win in the 2020 election, in a bid to overturn it. 

In the hours before the attack, Trump gave a speech in the city, uploaded by C-SPAN, where he said (3:47:41), "I know that everyone here will soon be marching over to the Capitol Building to peacefully and patriotically make your voices heard."

However, at the end of his speech, he also said (4:41:26), "And we fight. We fight like hell. And if you don't fight like hell, you're not going to have a country anymore." 

Additionally, before the attack, Trump posted on X, "Get smart Republicans. FIGHT!" 

Later, after violence broke out, he said, "I am asking for everyone at the U.S. Capitol to remain peaceful. No violence! Remember, WE are the Party of Law & Order – respect the Law and our great men and women in Blue. Thank you!" 

Both posts have been archived by the University of California, Santa Barbara's The American Presidency Project.

(This article was updated on October 4 to include claim four and update the timestamps per CBS News' YouTube link - after the YouTube clip was shortened to exclude commentary before and after the debate)

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