After his vice presidential debate against Gov. Tim Walz (D-MN) on Tuesday, Sen. J.D. Vance (R-OH) joked that the Democrat was “welcome to vote for us.”
Many media pundits and fans alike agreed that Vance had a better performance than Walz in Tuesday’s debate.
“I hope so, man; we’ll take every vote we can get,” Vance said on the Ruthless podcast in response to host Josh Holmes’s statement that Vance “might’ve earned [Walz’s] vote that night.”
“Tim, if you’re listening, you’re welcome to vote for us,” Vance added after chuckles. “You don’t have to tell anybody about it. I think we actually have a good shot in Minnesota … an outside chance. We’ve got a shot in Minnesota.”
Despite the jokes, Vance revealed his mindset and strategy for the debate during the podcast interview.
He said he was nervous and could tell Walz was nervous as well. Vance thought he said some good things but didn’t know he did well until he saw his wife, Usha’s face at the end of the debate.
“I look at Usha’s face, and I just knew we must have done a very good job,” Vance said. “Usha doesn’t lie to me, and her face especially doesn’t lie to me.”
Vance also said that his strategy in the debate was to prioritize highlighting Vice President Kamala Harris over attacking Walz directly. Vance said he’d rather mention Harris than get into a “back-and-forth” with Walz.
Vance said he was “a little bit worried” going into the debate that Walz was “just gonna attack me, and I’m not going to respond to it.”
“He’s going to call me an a**hole, and I’m gonna be like, ‘You know who the real a**hole is? Kamala Harris,’” Vance added.
A snap CBS News poll following the debate showed viewers thought Vance won 42% to Walz’s 41%, with 17% saying they tied. Vance’s favorability also jumped from 40% predebate to 49% post-debate.
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Walz still came out of the debate with a higher favorability rating of 60%. He also beat Vance 60% to 55% on who voters thought was more prepared to be president.
As Vance remarked, Republicans do have an outside shot at capturing Minnesota. According to RealClearPolitics’s polling average, Harris leads former President Donald Trump 49% to 44.3%.