Debate: US vice presidential candidates defend Trump, Harris

US vice presidential contenders J.D. Vance and Tim Walz faced off in a surprisingly civil debate Tuesday, despite tense moments on the hot topics of migration, abortion and the threat of war in the Middle East.

Republican Vance and Democrat Walz dug into policy and avoided the bitter personal attacks that presidential candidates Donald Trump and Kamala Harris exchanged during an often heated clash in September.

But the shadow of their bosses hung over the CBS debate, with Walz attacking Trump as a threat to democracy and unfit to lead America on the world stage, and Vance slamming Harris’s record on the economy and illegal migration as part of President Joe Biden’s administration.

A key moment came near the end, when Vance refused to say whether he backed Trump’s false claims to have won the 2020 election against Biden.