Vance more polished: KIRO, KTTH hosts react to the vice presidential debate

Vice presidential hopefuls Tim Walz and JD Vance focused their criticism on the top of the ticket on Tuesday as they engaged in a policy-heavy debate that may be the last debate of the 2024 presidential campaign.

It was the first encounter between Minnesota’s Democratic governor and Ohio’s Republican senator, following last month’s debate between Vice President Kamala Harris and former President Donald Trump. It comes just five weeks before Election Day and as millions of voters are now able to cast early ballots.

Tuesday’s confrontation played out as the stakes of the contest rose again after Iran fired missiles into Israel, while a devastating hurricane and potentially debilitating port strike roiled the country at home. Walz and Vance continuously outlined the policy and character differences between their running mates, while trying to introduce themselves to the country.

VP debate takeaways: Walz, Vance go in depth on policy while attacking each other’s running mates

The KIRO Newsradio and KTTH hosts who offered their impressions of the vice presidential debate to MyNorthwest didn’t agree on much, but they did note Vance had a successful evening.

Ursula Reutin of KIRO Newsradio notes Walz, Vance had high, low points

Ursula Reutin, co-host of “The Gee and Ursula Show” on KIRO Newsradio, noted that Vance had a good night and Walz started off a bit shaky before delivering some solid points on several key issues. She also illustrated where both candidates fell short during the event.

I wish all debates were like this one. The two VP nominees were respectful; they talked about substantive issues and they even found areas where there was common ground.

If Sen. JD Vance’s goal was to be more likable, he achieved that. He was more polished than Gov. Tim Walz. This version of Vance came across as intelligent, empathetic and nothing like the JD who has made demeaning comments about single women with cats and Haitian immigrants eating pets.

Before the debate, Governor Tim Walz was telling people he was really nervous.  Those nerves were on display at the start of the debate where he looked like a deer in the headlights.  But he quickly got into the groove and I think he did especially well on answers regarding women’s rights and healthcare.

The low point for Sen. Vance was when Walz asked him if Trump won the 2020 election.  He couldn’t admit that Trump lost. He even claimed that Jan. 6th was a peaceful transfer of power. That’s scary.

The low point for Gov. Walz was his response to the question about Tiananmen Square and when he was there. It was so convoluted when he could’ve said that was a mistake and just owned it.

Seattle visit: Tim Walz to stop in Washington to boost fundraising efforts

Jason Rantz of AM 770 KTTH: Vance won this debate by a mile

Jason Rantz, host of “The Jason Rantz Show” on AM 770 KTTH, was clear in his analysis: JD Vance had a great night and Tim Walz did not. He also thinks Vance’s victory might make a difference with some female voters.

Democrat talking heads are going to be working overtime tonight, trying to spin the fact that JD Vance absolutely mopped the floor with Tim Walz.

Vance was calm, compassionate, and yet still utterly ruthless in exposing Kamala Harris’ dismal record as VP. He didn’t just win this debate by a mile—he went toe-to-toe with Walz and two biased moderators. With that performance, JD Vance just cemented himself as the GOP front-runner for 2028.

Walz, on the other hand, was a disaster—nervous, making weird faces, lying through his teeth, and failing miserably to explain his made-up trip to China. Even he knows he’s a knucklehead, which is why so many Democrats are ticked that Harris didn’t pick someone like Josh Shapiro. But hey, the Democrats gave their power to their antisemitic progressive base, and now they’re stuck.

Did this change the direction of the election? I doubt male voters budged (which is bad news for Kamala Harris), but I suspect some female voters became more comfortable voting Republican (which is obviously good news for Trump).

Colleen O’Brien of KIRO Newsradio not impressed with Vance’s abortion stance

Hosts of “Seattle’s Morning News” Dave Ross and Colleen O’Brien had a conversation about abortion and reproductive rights and health during Wednesday morning’s show. Colleen was not impressed by JD Vance’s stance on abortion, which appears to be less extreme than it was previously.

She explained she had ectopic pregnancy in 2017 and believes she could have been in real trouble if she lived in another state and had to handle that differently.

“And so if I had to wait and wait and wait because I was in Texas or Georgia, I’d be dead too,” Colleen said.

Head here for more of the discussion and for a bit more on the laws in Texas and Georgia.

Contributing: The Associated Press

Steve Coogan is the lead editor of MyNorthwest. You can read more of his stories here. Follow Steve on X, or email him here.