The dog and cat are in the back of the truck as Vance battles over immigration

JD Vance vs. Tim Walz in the 2024 Vice Presidential Debate: The U.S. needs a better help for the housing crisis

A version of this story first appeared in the NPR Network’s live blog of the 2024 vice presidential debate between JD Vance and Tim Walz. For the latest on the campaign, head to NPR’s Elections page.

Both candidates talked a lot about they were in agreement with the other, such as speeding up the asylum claim system, bringing jobs back to the U.S., not blaming immigrants for housing prices, and addressing gun violence.

There were some shared humanity between the two politicians in contrast to the fiery tone of the two previous debates.

The two candidates also shook hands twice, at the beginning and the end of the debate, at which point they were joined onstage by their wives. Off-camera, Walz patted Vance on his arm and Vance gave Walz a pat on the back.

The debate on Tuesday night was about issues that mattered to voters, such as immigrants eating pets and the impact immigrants have on wages in the U.S.

He promised that it would be harder for illegal aliens to decrease the wages of American workers. “A lot of people will go home if they can’t work for less than minimum wage in our own country. And by the way, that will be really good for our workers who just want to earn a fair wage for doing a good day’s work.”

A policy that caused uproar during former President Donald Trump’s administration was family separation. He falsely claimed guns are smuggled into the U.S. over the border with Mexico (in fact, it’s the other way around), and spoke about immigrants as being responsible for the housing crisis — a complex issue that even conservative analysts say pre-existed the current wave of migration, but has been exacerbated by it.

Fentanyl is mostly brought into the U.S. through ports of entry by people who are legally in the country. The street supply of the drug Fentanyl is drying up.

The bipartisan bill that would have strengthened border enforcement was reminded by the vice presidential candidate. It was killed by Trump and the Democrats promised that it would be signed by Harris on her first day in office.

One of the top concerns for voters is immigration, and it is seen as a weakness for Democrats. Harrris took that responsibility very seriously when she traveled to the Arizona border.

Still, on several occasions at Tuesday’s debate, Walz was critical of the Republican campaign’s rhetoric on immigration. He didn’t like how he talked about Haitian immigrants in Ohio.