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Watch live as JD Vance and Tim Walz clash at vice-presidential debate

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Sen. JD Vance and Gov. Tim Walz are going face to face tonight for the first and only planned vice-presidential debate of this U.S. election cycle. You can watch the debate live at 9 p.m. EDT above, and follow along below with real-time commentary and analysis from journalists and experts.

Live blog experts

CTVNews.ca is also hosting above a live blog full of colourful expert commentary and analysis. This will allow you to watch the debate and get our analysis and reactions at the same time.

Guests for the live blog will include:

  • Rachel Aiello – national correspondent for Â鶹´«Ã½
  • – debate expert and teaching professor of Communications at Wake Forest University
  • – body language expert and co-founder of communications training company TruthPlane
  • Eric Ham – bestselling author, former congressional staffer and Â鶹´«Ã½ political analyst
  • Phil Hahn – CTVNews.ca editor in chief for U.S. election coverage and special projects producer

Who’s moderating the debate?

, who is CBS Evening News anchor, and , CBS chief foreign affairs correspondent and Face the Nation moderator.

From left: Norah O'Donnell, anchor and managing editor of 'CBS Evening News with Norah O'Donnell,' on July 16, 2024 (Michele Crowe/CBS via AP); and CBS anchor Margaret Brennan at the White House Correspondents' Association Dinner in Washington on April 27, 2024 (AP Photo/Jose Luis Magana)

What are the debate rules?

Unlike the first two presidential debates, where microphones were muted when candidates weren’t speaking, the candidates' microphones will not be muted when their opponents are speaking. However, CBS News says it reserves the right to turn off candidates' microphones.

Candidates will have two minutes to answer a question put forth by the moderator, and then two minutes to respond. They will also be given one minute for rebuttals. CBS News says candidates may also get an additional minute to continue a discussion -- at the moderators' discretion.

Candidates cannot bring notes or props with them on stage. Because Vance won a coin flip last week, he was given the option to choose the order in which he would give his closing statement. He chose to go second.

There will be no audience, and no opening statements. The two candidates will be standing behind lecterns, instead of sitting, during the debate. In the past, it’s been customary for vice-presidential candidates to debate sitting down, a rule established by the Commission on Presidential Debates in order to differentiate vice-presidential debates from their presidential counterparts.

This Oct. 11, 2012 file photo shows then Vice-President Joe Biden, left, and Republican vice presidential nominee Rep. Paul Ryan of Wisconsin participating in a seated vice presidential debate at Centre College in Danville, Ky. (AP Photo/Pool-Rick Wilking)

In 2008, however, both Joe Biden (then a Delaware senator) and Sarah Palin (then-Alaska governor) stood for their VP debate face-off.

Who is Tim Walz?

Democratic vice presidential candidate Tim Walz speaks to supporters at a Democratic campaign office in Macon, Ga., Tuesday, Sept. 17, 2024. (Arvin Temkar/Atlanta Journal-Constitution via AP)

Timothy James Walz is a 60-year old Democratic vice-presidential candidate who is currently governor of Minnesota. He served in the Army National Guard for 24 years before retiring to run for U.S. Congress. He was born in West Point, Nebr. and has worked in a factory and was a high school social studies teacher and a football coach.

He first became active in politics in 2004 when he volunteered for John Kerry’s presidential run.

Walz was first elected to the U.S. House of Representatives in 2006.

Democratic presidential candidate and current Vice-President Kamala Harris announced Walz as her VP running mate on Aug. 6.

Who is JD Vance?

Republican vice presidential nominee Sen. JD Vance, R-Ohio, right, speaks with patrons at Sup Dogs restaurant during a campaign stop in Greenville, N.C., Saturday Sept. 14, 2024 (AP Photo/Steve Helber)

James David Vance is a 40-year-old Republican vice-presidential candidate who's currently serving as an Ohio senator. He is a best-selling author, venture capitalist and is a former marine and veteran of the Iraq war.

Vance served as a military journalist from 2003 to 2007 after graduating from high school, before going to Yale to become a lawyer. He briefly worked as a corporate lawyer before writing “Hillbilly Elegy,†which was published in 2016 and made into a film in 2020. The book puts Appalachian life into focus along with Vance’s small-town upbringing.

Vance won the Ohio senate race in 2022, and was announced as former president and current Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump’s running mate in July 2024.

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