In preparation for Walz’s debate with Sen. J.D. Vance (R-OH), Buttigieg has taken on the role of former President Donald Trump’s running mate to prepare best. The coveted position reflects the Democratic perception that Buttigieg is a king of debating among Democrats.
Before this year’s debate prep, Buttigieg coached Kamala Harris in the 2020 vice presidential debate, playing the role of then-Vice President Mike Pence.
“I had the peculiar assignment of trying to inhabit the mind of Mike Pence for about a week,” he told Vanity Fair. “That is a very kind of weird, challenging headspace.”
Buttigieg clarified that his primary purpose wasn’t to perform an impression on the candidate but that impersonating mannerisms played a role.
“I knew the job wasn’t about an impression, but yes, I did try to render Mike Pence’s style as accurately as possible to help her prepare,” he said.
This time, Buttigieg must inhabit the mind of Vance, who liberal journalist Ezra Klein calls a “foil” to Buttigieg, both for their Midwestern origin and effectiveness at communication. In an interview with him, the transportation secretary characterized Vance as nihilistic, only feigning support for Trump to boost his political standing.
“He’s somebody who is a product of the Midwest but, after trading off of that Midwest identity, is now, in my view, promoting policies and a ticket that would be really harmful for the industrial Midwest,” he said. “And so I’m thinking a lot about what I consider to be a faux populism. This space he’s carved out, where he achieves a certain credibility by criticizing both parties, saying that Democrats and Republicans in the past have gotten things wrong, but then all the prescriptions he seems to be ready to vote for or act for are things like undercutting your right to choose or tax cuts for the rich or a lot of other things that I think are objectionable about good old-fashioned Republican policy. I’m just thinking a lot about how to penetrate that veneer.”
On the other end, House Republican Whip Tom Emmer (R-MN) played Walz in Vance’s debate prep. Emmer was reported to have been studying videos of Walz’s past debates to copy his mannerisms properly — a tactic likely to be replicated by Buttigieg standing in for Vance.
Buttigieg’s effectiveness at debating was first showcased in 2019 during the Democratic primary debates. At the time, debate coach Todd Graham ranked the presidential contender at the top of the crowded list of candidates in terms of debate performance. According to him, Buttigieg has a penchant for providing unique but on-topic answers while keeping a calm but assertive demeanor.
“Mayor Pete demonstrated some sweet debating techniques that I teach, yet rarely see deployed as well as he did last night,” Graham wrote. “He pivoted questions to keep his answers on topic, but still unique from the other candidates — and by doing so he provided himself with an advantage.”
“Buttigieg made it clear that he isn’t going to roll over for anybody, especially Donald Trump,” he continued. “Voters needed to see well-harnessed assertiveness, and Buttigieg’s tone and demeanor were just right this time.”
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Buttigieg is seen as such an effective debater that he is often sent into hostile territory to argue with pundits, mainly on Fox News. Vanity Fair jokingly cited him as having “Fox News fame.”
Whether his experience will be enough to prepare Walz to tip the scales in his favor will be seen during the first vice presidential debate on Tuesday.