Vance, Harris set for high-voltage showdown

President Trump’s decision to select Sen. JD Vance (R-Ohio) as his running mate sets the stage for a potentially high-voltage match-up between the senator and Vice President Harris.

Both are staunch defenders of the men at the top of their respective tickets, though they haven’t always been in the past. And while they have other similarities, including their vigor and command of policy, they also have clear differences that will be in the spotlight leading up to a possible debate showdown in late summer.

Harris reached out to Vance after the big reveal to congratulate him, a Biden administration official said, and to express her hope “that the two can meet in the vice presidential debate proposed by CBS News.” The Biden campaign said Harris is “fully prepared to take him on.”

The quote suggests the Biden campaign is not backing down from its insistence that the vice-presidential debate be held by CBS, as proposed by the campaign earlier this year. However, Trump wanted the debate to be hosted by Fox News, a proposal Biden’s team has purportedly poured cold water on.

While it remains to be seen whether a debate actually happens, lawmakers on both sides of the aisle are already eager to see the two candidates go head-on.

“I want a front-row seat. I’m not going to watch it on TV, I want a front-row seat. He’s one of the best guys on his feet talking about a subject,” Sen. Tommy Tuberville (R-Ala.) said. “He puts a lot of time and effort into things. Smart, but he also does his work. He just doesn’t take it for granted about what he’s going to talk about.”

Sen. John Thune (R-S.D.) said he thinks Vance will be a good surrogate for Trump ahead of November.

“In these debates with Kamala Harris, it’s going to be fun to watch, because I think he is very, very talented,” Thune said. “Good on his feet, and I think he’ll be a really strong spokesperson for President Trump on his team.”

Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.) said Harris “will take it to” Vance in a debate.

“I’ve known her for nearly 15 years. While she’s been in every kind of fight on behalf of working families,” the senator said. “I’m looking forward to this debate.”

Sen. Cory Booker (D-N.J.) told reporters Tuesday that he was talking with Wisconsin Sen. Tammy Baldwin (D) about Trump’s decision to pick a GOP senator and acknowledged the difficulties ahead for both running mates.

“We both wish him well, pray for his family. It’s not easy to put yourself out there, especially on a presidential ticket,” Booker said. “I saw the attacks, the unfair, unjust attacks on Kamala Harris, again one of our colleagues, good American.”

Vance is a Trump critic-turned-loyalist, and his prior comments about the former president have been dug up over the last day of intensified scrutiny. In the past, he heavily criticized Trump, describing him as a “cynical a‑‑hole” and “America’s Hitler.”

Harris and Biden didn’t always have a friendly history either. Harris ran for the Democratic nomination in 2020 and called out Biden for his past opposition to federal busing policy, an effort to end desegregation in schools, during his career in Congress. 

Defenders of Harris point to her experience as a district attorney of San Francisco, attorney general of California and senator from California for more than three years. They also emphasize her work in the Biden administration, especially serving as a vocal defender of reproductive rights in the wake of the Supreme Court overturning Roe v. Wade.

“I do not envy anyone who has the honor of going head-to-head with Vice President Kamala Harris on a debate stage,” said Rachel Palermo, who served as Harris’s deputy communications director and associate counsel in the White House.

“She is an effective and skilled debater and prosecutes the case by gathering the evidence, laying out the facts and communicating what is at stake in a compelling way,” she added. “No matter the circumstances, the vice president’s approach includes being extremely well-prepared — plus, she’s brilliant.”

Meanwhile, Vance is a first-term senator who ran for political office following his successful best-selling memoir, “Hillbilly Elegy,” which described his upbringing in Appalachia and his views on white, working-class America. He served in the Marines and earned his J.D. from Yale Law School.

Vance is also the first millennial to be nominated to a major presidential ticket and brings a level of youthfulness to the arena. With Biden, 81, and Trump, 78, at the top of the ticket, age has become a hot-button issue in the election.

Before Vance, 39, was named, Harris, 59, was a respected voice for the younger generation of Americans who were looking for representation in the race. A former Harris official argued that the age difference between Vance and Harris doesn’t feel like a big deal, considering the vice president still does represent the next generation of leaders.

Aaron Kall, the director of debate at the University of Michigan, said a vice presidential debate would still mark a “real contrast” with the presidential debate between Trump and Biden, showcasing “the next generation of politicians and ideas from both sides.” 

A former communications director for Harris, Ashley Etienne, said last month that Vance would pose the biggest debate-stage threat to her former boss, calling him an “incredible debater.” 

“One of the smaller advantages [of picking Vance] was just that in the one vice presidential debate, he may be a formidable opponent for Vice President Harris,” Kall said. 

But Kall argued Vance may only be the best choice “by default,” given the debate history of the other GOP running mate options Trump was considering. 

North Dakota Gov. Doug Burgum (R) “didn’t distinguish himself all that much” during this cycle’s 2024 debates, and Florida Sen. Marco Rubio (R) has had some more “negative” debate clips in the past, Kall said.

Mark Weaver, a Republican strategist and former deputy attorney general of Ohio, Vance’s home state, argued Vance will easily best Harris if they go head-to-head on a debate stage, arguing he’s “equally as competent in a media sound bite environment as he is discussing the fine details of domestic and foreign policy.” 

At the same time, Weaver noted Trump “probably would have needed to make a different pick” for his running mate if he’d been behind in the polls. 

“He would have needed to bring a more classic demographic or geographic balance,” Weaver said, but Trump’s edge in polling suggests he has “the luxury of choosing somebody who doesn’t fit in the cookie-cutter political handbook about how you balance out a ticket.” 

The setup of the Vance-Harris match-up also comes amid chatter about replacing Biden at the top of the Democratic ticket.

Biden is up against growing calls from within his own party to withdraw from the 2024 race after a “bad night” at the debate last month renewed concerns about his mental fitness.

Harris looks like the natural choice to replace her boss if a switch does happen, but the incumbent is insisting he’s sticking in the race, despite the pressures. 

Still, the conversation has put a new spotlight on Harris as the administration seeks a second term, and observers may be looking to Harris’s debate performance as a signal of her ability to command the Oval Office — whether Biden steps back in 2024, or whether she runs again in the future. 

“Given all the discussion around President Biden, whether or not to replace him, there’s just been more of a bright light on Harris in general,” Kall said.

Al Weaver contributed.