Majority of NY Times columnists agree JD Vance won debate: ‘Much more forceful speaker’

A majority of the 13 columnists and contributors polled by The New York Times agreed that JD Vance won the debate against Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz on Tuesday night. 

Multiple New York Times columnists, including Binyamin Appelbaum, said that Vance was overall effective in his presentation on the debate stage. Seven of the columnists and contributors said that Vance defeated Walz in the debate, with two saying that the face-off was a draw and three writers concluding that Walz won. 

“He made Trumpism sound polite, calm and coherent,” Appelbaum said of Vance. 

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“Vance was far nimbler than the nervous Tim Walz, especially in the first half of the debate. But as the debate went on, Vance stumbled on two issues — abortion and the 2020 election — where his rhetorical skill could not salvage the very unappealing material he was working with,” Josh Barro, author of the newsletter Very Serious, wrote. 

“Walz won,” Times columnist Charles M. Blow wrote. “You could tell that he was a teacher, because he clearly did his homework. Anyone afraid that Vance would roll over him could breathe easily.” 

Newsletter writer Matt Labash said that “Nobody truly dominated.” 

“But I’m giving the slight edge to Walz, since Vance embarrassingly soft-pedaled Jan. 6 and Trump posted this to Truth Social during the debate: ‘More Notes! Why Can’t Walz just remember what he has to say? Low IQ!’ Reminding us that Vance’s boss should watch more Hallmark Channel, less Newsmax.”

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Other writers said that the debate outcome was more even. 

Contributing Times Opinion writer Jane Coaston wrote that “Vance seemed smoother and more practiced, but ‘won’ is a very strong term here.”

Times columnist Gail Collins said that the debate was a “draw” because “Walz was so bad in much of his delivery. Vance was a much more forceful speaker while spewing lies on everything from abortion to Biden’s foreign policy.”

Contributing Times opinion writer Peter Wehner said that Vance proved he was “sharp and in command and … an excellent debater.” 

“At times he tried too hard to appear likable; I came away more convinced that he’s a hollow man, radioactive and incendiary one day, conciliatory and agreeable the next,” Wehner said. “But the ‘good Vance’ did a lot to repair his tattered image.”

Trump campaign spokesman Steven Cheung told Fox News Digital, “Senator JD Vance completely dominated the debate and showed why we need to return President Trump to the White House.” He added that Trump’s vice presidential nominee “gave clear answers how the Trump-Vance ticket will turn around our economy, secure our southern border, make our streets safe once again, and restore peace in the Middle East.”

Cheung continued by saying that Vance “exposed Kamala Harris and Tim Walz for being failed, radical leftists who are all slogans with zero substance.” 

“He called out Kamala Harris for destroying our southern border. He called out Harris for creating the record inflation making life unaffordable for millions of Americans. And he called out Harris for enabling Iran, leading to the current attacks on Israel,” the spokesman added. 

The Harris-Walz campaign did not immediately respond to a request for comment from Fox News Digital.