When two of his Republican rivals for an Ohio Senate seat nearly came to blows on live statewide television two years ago, JD Vance appeared unimpressed.
鈥淪it down. Come on,鈥 said Vance, the youngest and least politically experienced of the remaining candidates sitting in a row on stage. 鈥淭his is ridiculous.鈥
To many observers, his calm, self-possessed reaction gave Vance an adult-in-the-room authority over his opponents. When Ohio Right to Life endorsed him a couple of weeks later, the group cited his 鈥渟tatesmanship鈥 among the reasons.
Vance's debating skills also caught the eye of Donald Trump, who endorsed him in that winning 2022 Senate bid and chose him to be his running mate in this year's presidential election. His early encounters offer a sense of how the Yale-educated senator could approach Tuesday night's vice-presidential debate, when he meets Kamala Harris' running mate, Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz. It is the only time the two are expected to meet during the campaign.
Vance is known for being informed, articulate and unflappable. Even his 2022 Democratic opponent, Tim Ryan, said, 鈥淗e鈥檚 a smart guy." He'll bring a style honed through verbal jousting with a gauntlet of television journalists, but not one that looks like Trump's.
Republican political consultant Terry Casey, who has regularly helped with GOP debate prep in Ohio, said Vance and Trump are 鈥渘ight and day" when it comes to debating.
鈥淗e鈥檚 a lawyer who, intellectually, likes to dig into subjects in a different way than Trump does,鈥 Casey said. 鈥淭rump both missed opportunities and took the bait when he debated Kamala Harris. My guess is, with Vance, he won鈥檛 fall into those traps or neglect those opportunities.鈥
Vance said on a call with journalists this week that he feels no pressure to do 鈥渁nything similar鈥 to the extensive debate preparation being done by Walz.
鈥淚 don鈥檛 think we have to prepare that much鈥 because 鈥渨e don鈥檛 have to hide our record from the American people,鈥 Vance said.
Still, Vance has spent the last month reviewing debate plans, strategies and potential questions, according to a person familiar with his preparations who requested anonymity to discuss strategy. In addition to online sessions, most of that work has been taking place at his home in Cincinnati 鈥 where his wife, Usha, and Trump campaign strategist Jason Miller have joined members of his inner circle to get Vance ready.
Minnesota U.S. Rep. Tom Emmer, the House majority whip, has been helping verse Vance in the Minnesota governor鈥檚 鈥渇olksy鈥 Midwestern style, as the team pores over Walz鈥檚 past debate performances, the source said. It鈥檚 perhaps not as far a stretch for Vance 鈥 an Ohio native with Appalachian roots made familiar to many by the 鈥淗illbilly Elegy鈥 book and movie 鈥 as it might be for another candidate.
Vance comes into the event with solid debate performances from 2022 behind him.
One such performance, in Cleveland, elevated his profile in Trump world 鈥 and helped Vance land the former president鈥檚 coveted endorsement.
Vance鈥檚 Democratic rival that fall, the former 10-term congressman Ryan, said the senator鈥檚 vulnerability Tuesday could be in trying to deliver a performance that pleases Trump.
鈥淗e鈥檚 got an audience of one, for sure, so that can also be his Achilles鈥 heel,鈥 Ryan said. 鈥淏ecause Trump will want him to be aggressive, he鈥檒l want him to try to portray Walz as super extreme and out of touch, which I think 鈥 given Walz鈥檚 appearance, and demeanor, and sense of humor and everything 鈥 will be very difficult.鈥
Ryan said he went into his debates with Vance trying to highlight his past controversial statements, and that can cause Vance to 鈥済o off the rails a little bit.鈥
鈥淲alz should be very aggressive in holding his feet to the fire and getting JD to really have to eat his own words,鈥 he said.
Casey said the two men鈥檚 age difference 鈥 Walz is 60, Vance 40 鈥 will be apparent onstage, although with that comes a contrast in debate experience. Walz has honed his technique during 12 years in Congress and two runs for governor, while Vance has run in just a single political campaign 鈥 albeit a fiercely competitive one.
If history is any indicator, viewers can expect Vance to criticize Tuesday鈥檚 moderators, CBS鈥 Norah O鈥橠onnell and Margaret Brennan, while the debate is underway. Since becoming Trump鈥檚 running mate, Vance has been the Trump campaign鈥檚 highest-profile attack dog and a fixture on weekend news programs 鈥 where he often pushes back at hosts and calls them out by name.
In one notable exchange with CNN鈥檚 Dana Bash, Vance on Sept. 15 signaled his determination to stick by the false story that Haitian immigrants in Springfield, Ohio, were stealing and eating people鈥檚 pets, claims refuted by both local officials and Ohio鈥檚 Republican governor but amplified by Trump in his Sept. 10 debate with Harris. More than 30 bomb threats following those statements forced the city to evacuate schools and government buildings and some members of the Haitian community, who are in the U.S. legally, have said they feel unsafe.
Vance insisted to Bash that his statements about immigrants eating pets were based on things he鈥檇 been told by constituents. He blamed problems involving crowded schools, hospitals and other services in Springfield on 鈥淜amala Harris鈥 open border.鈥
Challenged by Bash about the facts behind his assertions, Vance gave no ground. Instead, he directly questioned Bash鈥檚 objectivity.
鈥淒ana, would you like to ask me questions and let me answer them, or would you like to debate me on these topics?鈥 he asked.
Vance鈥檚 forceful pushback seems to delight the Trump base. In an interview this summer, Charlie Kirk, founder of the conservative activist group Turning Point USA, said such settings are Vance鈥檚 strong suit.
鈥淚 say commonly that JD Vance鈥檚 superpower is his ability to go into adversarial media environments, be calm, cool and collected, and say things that are very persuasive without raising his voice,鈥 Kirk said.
Vance also has viewed those media sit-downs as excellent debate practice, the person familiar with his preparations said.
Under ordinary circumstances, it鈥檚 hard to find evidence that debates matter much, said Kevin Parsneau, a political science professor at Minnesota State University in Mankato. He said even the 1988 vice presidential debate 鈥 in which Democratic Sen. Lloyd Bentsen devastatingly told Republican Sen. Dan Quayle, 鈥淪enator, you鈥檙e no Jack Kennedy鈥 鈥 didn鈥檛 change the outcome. Vice President George H.W. Bush still went on to easily win the presidency.
鈥淏ut obviously the Biden-Trump debate mattered a lot, and there might be some evidence that the Trump-Harris debate mattered a little,鈥 Parsneau said. 鈥淰ice presidential debates don鈥檛 usually matter.鈥
Yet, assuming this is the last debate of the 2024 campaign, 鈥渢he margins are so razor thin that you don鈥檛 need to affect a lot,鈥 he said.
Staff writer Steve Karnowski contributed from Minneapolis.
Lebanon's Hezbollah group confirmed on Saturday that its leader and one of its founders, Hassan Nasrallah, was killed in an Israeli airstrike in Beirut the previous day
The Israeli strike that killed Hezbollah's Hassan Nasrallah was a 'measure of justice' for victims of a four-decade 'reign of terror,' U.S. President Joe Biden said Saturday.
The CEO of the Ottawa Mission is responding to controversial comments made this week by Premier Doug Ford about those living in homeless encampments that received swift blowback from advocates.
Will Ferrell said in an interview with Variety that it was important for him to release his documentary, 'Will and Harper,' before the U.S. election so people could have conversations about trans people.
SpaceX launched a rescue mission for the two stuck astronauts at the International Space Station on Saturday, sending up a downsized crew to bring them home but not until next year.
Massive rains from powerful Hurricane Helene left people stranded, without shelter and awaiting rescue Saturday, as the cleanup began from a tempest that killed at least 56 people, caused widespread destruction across the U.S. Southeast and left millions without power.
When a few weeks passed and Nana Prempeh still hadn鈥檛 heard from the guy she met on vacation, she turned to her friends for advice.
Canadian Heritage Minister Pascale St-Onge is set to make history by becoming the first openly lesbian cabinet minister to take parental leave when her wife gives birth in the coming weeks.
This Monday, Sept. 30 is the National Day for Truth and Reconciliation (NDTR), a federal statutory holiday and day of remembrance for the Indigenous children who never came home from Canadian residential schools, as well as those who survived them.
Members of the Southern Georgian Bay OPP and the Canadian Anti-Fraud Centre (CAFC) are sounding the alarm on a rising number of online and phone scams targeting residents.
On Broughdale Ave, barricades kept students to the sidewalks, and on Huron, officers kept directing the young people away from the middle of the road for emergency vehicles.
The Pride crosswalk in downtown Sault Ste. Marie, Ont., has been hit by vandalism for the second time in less than three months.
Vancouver police officers took a goat into custody Friday night.
Saskatchewan's Serious Incident Response Team (SIRT) says it has determined that RCMP officers fired their guns, as it continues its investigation into a fatal incident on Fishing Lake First Nation that left a 34-year-old man dead.
The CEO of the Ottawa Mission is responding to controversial comments made this week by Premier Doug Ford about those living in homeless encampments that received swift blowback from advocates.
Newly emerged film footage of U.S. President John F. Kennedy's motorcade speeding down a Dallas freeway toward a hospital after he was fatally wounded sold at auction Saturday for US$137,500.
Russia's top diplomat warned Saturday against 'trying to fight to victory with a nuclear power,' delivering a UN General Assembly speech packed with condemnations of what Russia sees as Western machinations in Ukraine and elsewhere 鈥 including inside the United Nations itself.
For months, New York City Mayor Eric Adams 鈥 a former cop 鈥 refused to criticize the federal authorities investigating his administration. Not anymore.
Seventeen people, including 15 women, were killed in two mass shootings that took place in close proximity to each other in a rural town in South Africa, police said Saturday.
An explosion at a gas station in Russia鈥檚 southern region of Dagestan killed at least 13 people and injured 23 others, officials said Saturday.
A jury has ruled in favor of three women who alleged they were sexually abused while patients at a Virginia children's hospital, awarding them a total of US$300 million in damages.
Canadian Heritage Minister Pascale St-Onge is set to make history by becoming the first openly lesbian cabinet minister to take parental leave when her wife gives birth in the coming weeks.
Defence Minister Bill Blair says there is a ship in place near Lebanon, as well as 150 deployed additional Canadian Armed Forces members prepared for a military-assisted departure of stranded Canadians, if more violence in the region requires it.
The Liberal party of today is not quite the same as the one elected in 2015 promising to foster new paths and nation-to-nation relationships with Indigenous Peoples, the leaders of the three national Indigenous organizations said as they look ahead to the fourth National Day for Truth and Reconciliation on Monday.
A man from Alberta has been at the Medipal International Hospital in Kampala, Uganda for over two months with a hefty medical bill. He says he can鈥檛 leave until it鈥檚 been paid for.
More than 550 symptomatic people responded to an online questionnaire about a gastrointestinal illness at a Prince Edward Island shellfish festival last weekend.
A partial masking mandate has returned to Nova Scotia hospitals and provincially run healthcare facilities for visitors and healthcare workers.
Canadian innovators and technical leaders gathered in Ottawa Thursday to demonstrate the latest cutting-edge technology.
SpaceX launched a rescue mission for the two stuck astronauts at the International Space Station on Saturday, sending up a downsized crew to bring them home but not until next year.
Trees haven't grown on the Falkland Islands for thousands of years. But tree trunks and branches preserved in peat suggest the islands were once home to a forest.
Will Ferrell said in an interview with Variety that it was important for him to release his documentary, 'Will and Harper,' before the U.S. election so people could have conversations about trans people.
The Stratford Festival is remembering Dame Maggie Smith's impact on a local stage.
Ari Kinarthy never imagined he'd become the focus of photographers on a red carpet, back when he was a boy fighting to have fun.
The U.S. Department of Transportation said Friday it had fined Air Canada US$250,000 for operating flights in 2022 and 2023 in prohibited Iraqi airspace.
WeightWatchers CEO Sima Sistani, who pushed the company into embracing weight-loss drugs, is leaving the position after a two-and-a-half year stint.
Canada's gross domestic product expanded at a faster-than-expected 0.2 per cent rate in July, driven by growth in retail trade and public sectors, but the economy likely stalled in August, Statistics Canada data showed on Friday.
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A pizza chain in Edmonton claims to have the world's largest deliverable pizza.
The United States has recaptured the lead at the Presidents Cup after a 3-1 third round of four-ball play at Royal Montreal Golf Club.
The Toronto Raptors have confirmed that Vince Carter's No. 15 will be the first number to be retired by the NBA franchise.
The Internationals stormed back with a 5-0 second-round shutout to tie the United States 5-5 in the overall score at the elite biennial men's golf tournament.
A tale about a taxicab hauling gold and sinking through the ice on Larder Lake, Ont., in December 1937 has captivated a man from that town for decades.
A U.S. driver somehow squeezed her vehicle through a parkade hallway at a Metro Vancouver casino Thursday, before getting stuck at an elevator bank.
More than 12,000 vehicles in Canada are included in two separate recalls by Toyota Motor Corp. and Mazda.
A tale about a taxicab hauling gold and sinking through the ice on Larder Lake, Ont., in December 1937 has captivated a man from that town for decades.
When a group of B.C. filmmakers set out on a small fishing boat near Powell River last week, they hoped to capture some video for a documentary on humpback whales. What happened next blew their minds.
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Sarah McLachlan is returning to her hometown of Halifax in November.
Wayne MacKay is still playing basketball twice at Mount Allison University at 87 years old.
A man from a small rural Alberta town is making music that makes people laugh.
An Indigenous artist has a buyer-beware warning ahead of Sept. 30, the National Day for Truth and Reconciliation.
Police are looking to the public for help after thieves broke into a Lethbridge ice creamery, stealing from the store.
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A Vancouver man has paid $337,500 to the B.C. Securities Commission as part of an insider trading settlement, the financial regulator announced Friday.
Almost 200 pages of research on the B.C. Conservative Party, which sources within BC United confirm were compiled by their party before it dropped out of the British Columbia election campaign to support its former rival, have come back to haunt the new alliance.
A man has serious injuries after being stabbed at a residence in north Scarborough on Saturday evening.
Thousands of dead birds, from kingfishers to blue jays, encircle a wild turkey to illustrate in one snapshot a mere fragment of how many die from colliding into glass windows 鈥 a death that can be easily prevented, the Torontonian photographer says.
A man has been taken to the hospital after walking into a restaurant in Toronto鈥檚 west end late Saturday afternoon with stab wounds.
Alberta's premier spoke to calls for an outside, independent investigation into the death of Jon Wells during an incident involving Calgary police last week.
A Calgary city councillor's plea to have permanent residents be given the right to vote in municipal elections, an idea long dismissed by Premier Danielle Smith as unconstitutional, has been defeated.
Safaa went to Lebanon looking to meet with a specialist for her Crohn's disease. Now, she and her four children are caught in the conflict between Israel and the militant group Hezbollah.
The victim has been identified as Chanel Charette, 33.
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A commemorative rally marking the fourth anniversary of Joyce Echaquan鈥檚 death will take place in Ville-Marie on Saturday afternoon.
Members of Montreal鈥檚 Maghrebi community are gathering in a city park this afternoon to sound the alarm about what they call the 鈥渟courge鈥 of street gangs recruiting youth to carry out criminal acts.
Alberta鈥檚 government is getting pushback from some municipal leaders and support from others over its plan to build the sheriffs into a second provincial police service.
Lebanon's Hezbollah group confirmed on Saturday that its leader and one of its founders, Hassan Nasrallah, was killed in an Israeli airstrike in Beirut the previous day
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Communities that suffered total losses in Hammonds Plains, N.S., and Upper Tantallon, N.S., in the 2023 wildfire received a donation of trees from Northern Pulp on Saturday.
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RCMP Halifax Regional Detachment say they have charged a man with multiple offences, including assaulting a peace officer with a weapon, following a disturbance in Beaver Bank, N.S.
As the temperatures begin to drop and the leaves change colour, the time for fall suppers has returned in Manitoba.
Hundreds gathered in Winnipeg鈥檚 Memorial Park Saturday afternoon in a solemn ceremony honouring the lives of fallen firefighters.
A beloved annual celebration of arts and culture returns to city streets Saturday night.
The Saskatchewan Roughriders moved into second place in the CFL's West Division with a 29-16 victory over the Ottawa Redblacks on Saturday.
Minister of Health Everett Hindley wrote to healthcare provider unions on Friday inviting them to join a nursing task force, something the government previously said no to.
Fans of the undead can take part in Regina鈥檚 annual Zombie Walk on Sunday afternoon.
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People in Guelph may notice a new addition at the entrance to Franchetto Park in Guelph.
The Kitchener Rangers returned to the Kitchener Memorial Auditorium on Friday to the roar of thousands of eager fans.
Saskatchewan RCMP says the man who sustained injuries from a serious assault earlier this month has died in hospital.
The Saskatchewan Roughriders moved into second place in the CFL's West Division with a 29-16 victory over the Ottawa Redblacks on Saturday.
Minister of Health Everett Hindley wrote to healthcare provider unions on Friday inviting them to join a nursing task force, something the government previously said no to.
A tale about a taxicab hauling gold and sinking through the ice on Larder Lake, Ont., in December 1937 has captivated a man from that town for decades.
It's often said there is a thin line between love and hate, but is it OK to sometimes hate your long-term partner? If you ask actress Jamie Lee Curtis, it's practically necessary.
The CEO of the Ottawa Mission is responding to controversial comments made this week by Premier Doug Ford about those living in homeless encampments that received swift blowback from advocates.
On Broughdale Ave, barricades kept students to the sidewalks, and on Huron, officers kept directing the young people away from the middle of the road for emergency vehicles.
For 28 years, motorcycle riders have gathered at Hully Gully in London, Ont. to raise money for the Children鈥檚 Health Foundation (CHF) and enjoy a fall ride.
The town of Aylmer might be getting a little bit larger - it's considering expanding boundaries to include more land, and they鈥檙e holding a meeting on Thursday
Huntsville OPP is investigating a two-vehicle collision Friday afternoon that resulted in the death of a motorcycle driver.
Midland Fire Service, Southern Georgian Bay OPP and County of Simcoe paramedics responded to an early Saturday morning fire at a residence in Midland, which sent one person to hospital.
Two drivers were charged after a vehicle struck a house in northern Barrie Friday evening.
Windsor Fire Service is on the scene of a house fire in South Windsor this morning. A single-family dwelling was reported to have been the location of an early morning fire.
A collision on Friday evening has resulted in charges for a 32-year-old Lakeshore Resident.
Students looking for work while they study had an opportunity to scope out the local employment scene on Wednesday when St. Clair College held its second annual part time job fair.
For decades, Melven Jones couldn鈥檛 talk about what happened to him as a child. He didn鈥檛 even remember it.
Almost 200 pages of research on the B.C. Conservative Party, which sources within BC United confirm were compiled by their party before it dropped out of the British Columbia election campaign to support its former rival, have come back to haunt the new alliance.
A strike by grain terminal workers at the Port of Metro Vancouver has ended, their employer announced Friday night.
Fire crews in Vernon, B.C., responded to a large house fire early Saturday morning.
A pair of runaway pigs are in the custody of an animal sanctuary in the Okanagan after evading police and volunteers for hours earlier this week.
The Red Bridge, a historic landmark in Kamloops, B.C., was completely destroyed by fire early Thursday morning.
The sentencing for three men convicted of helping lead and coordinate the COVID-19 protest blockade at Coutts, Alta., in 2022 has been delayed.
A 10-year-old boy from Lethbridge is being praised as a hero after a routine summer outing at the pool nearly turned tragic for his friend.
A man and woman have been charged after a Lethbridge ice creamery was broken into earlier this week. Staff arrived at Cookie Crimes, in the 300 block of Sixth Street South, just before 5:30 a.m. on Monday to discover the front window broken.
Sault residents may notice some commotion on the Algoma University campus over the next two weeks as a team conducts an archaeological search.
The Pride crosswalk in downtown Sault Ste. Marie, Ont., has been hit by vandalism for the second time in less than three months.
Despite a lead at mid-game in front of a near-capacity home crowd, the Sudbury Wolves dropped their first game of their OHL regular season to Barrie, 3-1.
A soccer game in England on Tuesday night drove a spike in online traffic across the Atlantic to a website launched by the Newfoundland and Labrador government.
Newfoundland and Labrador sponsored a minor football team in England, now they鈥檙e about to play one of the biggest clubs in European soccer.
Newfoundland and Labrador's chief medical officer is monitoring the rise of whooping cough infections across the province as cases of the highly contagious disease continue to grow across Canada.
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