When Tim Walz and JD Vance face off as vice presidential candidates on Tuesday, it will be the biggest debate stage for the two politicians who are becoming household names.

Walz, the Democratic governor of Minnesota, and Vance, a Republican senator from Ohio, have honed their public speaking skills — and their sharp remarks against each other — in recent months in television appearances and at events around the country.

Their experience in electoral debates has not reached the scale or prominence associated with a presidential campaign, but both have faced opponents in public debates in previous elections.

And given the tensions in the presidential campaign and the poor performance of the first presidential debate between Joe Biden and Donald Trump, more people are likely to watch the vice presidential debate than in previous cycles. While vice presidential debates don’t typically tip the scales, they could be important in a close race – and they profile less prominent politicians who are likely to remain on the national stage for many years to come.

Walz’s debate experience

To practice before Tuesday’s vice presidential debate, Walz tapped Pete Buttigieg, transportation secretary and frequent television news interviewer, to replace Vance – both Buttigieg and Vance are Ivy Leaguers from the Midwest and about the same age.

Walz, 60, first ran for Congress in 2006 in a red-leaning district in Minnesota and held the seat until 2019, when he took over as governor. He first ran for governor in 2018 and then ran for re-election in 2022.

USA Today watched 10 hours of Walz’s debate tapes from past years and concluded, “Walz’s optimism and drive remain alive and well throughout his nearly two decades in politics.” In his first debate, during the 2006 race, in ousting a Republican incumbent, he was alternately offensive and feisty, the newspaper noted, including asking his opponent Gil Gutknecht a climate question and then saying, “I’m not sure I would do that.” Get to it an answer.”

Over the course of these frequent elections, he has debated his opponents in the primary and general elections. At various points, his critics have described his answers in debates and press appearances as “word salad,” meaning that he says a jumble of words that doesn’t quite get to the point. Kamala Harris and Donald Trump have also faced their fair share of criticism over word salads.

In his last election, he debated against Republican Scott Jensen in 2022, the only general election debate he led that year.

In that debate, recently summarized by the Washington Examiner, Jensen attacked Walz over the state’s response to Covid-19, policing, taxes and energy issues. At one point, after Walz defended electric vehicle incentives, Jensen said Walz’s response was “just word salad with no substance.”

Walz tried to attack Jensen on abortion, which Jensen tried to deflect because an abortion issue was not on the ballot in Minnesota.

In August of this year, after the VP debate was announced, Jensen posted a photo of himself and an empty podium, an image from a local public television debate that Walz had not agreed to participate in. “Be careful, Tim Walz knows a thing or two about not showing up to debates,” Jensen wrote.

Vance’s debate experience

Vance, 40, is much newer to public office — and the debate phases that often come with it — than Walz. His first run for office was for the Ohio Senate in 2022. His race was closely watched across the country, in part because of his fame as an author and because of the huge financial investment from right-wing tech investor Peter Thiel.

Congressman Tom Emmer of Minnesota stepped in as Walz for Vance’s debate preparation.

In 2022, Vance ran against Democrat Tim Ryan. They debated twice, with lines of attack more nationalized and focused on their party’s leaders. Politico called their second duel “so ugly that it was a mild surprise that Republican JD Vance and Democratic Rep. Tim Ryan ended up shaking hands.” Ryan claimed that Vance was too close to Trump and said that Vance had “kissed his ass,” a reference to comments Trump made this year in which he claimed that Vance would “kiss my ass any way he wants.” my support so much.” Vance tried to connect Ryan to Nancy Pelosi.

Vance defended Trump during the 2022 debate — something he will likely do during Tuesday’s debate as well. Regarding the ass-hating comments, Vance said Trump was “telling a joke.”

“I know the president very well and he joked about a New York Times story. That was all he did. I didn’t take offense – I spoke to the president beforehand. Afterwards I spoke to the president. Everyone there thought it was a joke.”

Ryan told the Hill that Walz should be himself while simultaneously holding Vance accountable for lies and cover-ups. Danny O’Connor, who served as Vance’s deputy for Ryan’s debate prep, told Politico that Vance will likely stay on message and take the Trump campaign line on key issues even if it is untrue, but that he also has a tendency to be awkward have laughter, something seen in viral clips from his campaign appearances.

“If someone were to say, ‘Senator Vance, you’ve supported a national abortion ban in the past,’ I guarantee they’re going to laugh at it and say that’s not true and then say why they don’t support it,” O said ‘Connor of the publication. “Generally, he will laugh if something is absolutely true that he needs to defuse.”