The News
“Murder boards,” a full mock debate, and regular sessions over the last month: Sen. JD Vance is attacking his debate preparations with an approach that sits in contrast to Donald Trump’s preferred methods.
Vance, alongside a small group of his longtime advisors, his wife, and Trump advisor Jason Miller, has been holding various in-person and Zoom meetings for over a month in an effort to prepare for the Oct. 1 debate against Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz, two people directly involved in the preparations told Semafor. Some of these meetings have been “murder board” sessions, designed to shore up anticipated weak spots and prepare for counterattacks. The goal is to “acquaint” Vance with Walz’s debate style, provide him with relevant research on policy positions, and work at some of the tougher potential questions.
Tom Emmer, a Republican congressman from Minnesota, will be playing the role of Walz during an upcoming formal mock debate. One person directly involved in the debate preparations told Semafor that Emmer has been preparing for his role by studying old debate and interview footage of Walz, going over his record, and diving into the Trump campaign’s own opposition research on Vance. That said, there’s been less emphasis on probing Vance’s vulnerabilities overall — there’s an expectation that his robust media schedule, which has included by far the most interviews and press events of any of the candidates on either ticket, has given him a feel for tougher topics.
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Shelby’s view
While he was picked for his shared MAGA credentials with Trump, Vance’s style is very different and his debate preparations reflect that. The Ohio senator is more comfortable discussing policy details (perhaps too comfortable, some allies worry) and seems to be taking the kind of disciplined, research-based approach to debate prep you’d expect from a Yale Law graduate.
Trump, by contrast, has always been uncomfortable with traditional debate practices and seems to resent the idea he’d arrive to his matchups with overly canned answers. While he brought in allies like Tulsi Gabbard ahead of last month’s debate for “policy time” conversations, there was no talk of mock debate sessions with Gabbard or others playing the role of Harris. Nor did he have anyone play the role of President Joe Biden of their June debate, opting again for informal meetings where advisors discussed topics and potential questions.
That style of preparation didn’t pan out during his debate with Harris: Although Trump publicly insists he won, some close to him privately admitted the event didn’t go well, and that the former president ended up falling for bait about things like crowd sizes and his family inheritance. Those are indeed the kinds of things that live mock debates can help candidates prepare for — a good stand-in for an opponent won’t be shy about bringing up nastier lines of attack and making sure they don’t catch them off guard.
Notable
- Kamala Harris’s campaign said she’s accepted an invitation by CNN to debate again on Oct. 23, but Donald Trump said over the weekend that it’s “too late” to host another one.