Tim Walz Campaigns in Central PA Following Vice Presidential Debate

Tim Walz made a grand entrance from his campaign bus at a rally in York, Pennsylvania this afternoon. During the event, Walz spoke on last nights vice presidential debate-- highlighting his exchange with Senator J.D. Vance on January 6.

"Mike Pence did his duty. He honored his oath and he chose the constitution. Over Donald Trump. Understand in that 88th minute last night, with that damning non-answer, Senator Vance made it clear he will always make a different choice that Mike Pence made."

Over a thousand people attended the rally. Vice President Kamala Harris was set to join Walz at the event, but she instead went to North Carolina as the state starts its path to recovery from Hurricane Helene.

Recent polling shows Harris and Donald Trump neck and neck in Pennsylvania. Tim Walz’s campaign tour today focused in on rural communities, where the campaign hopes his Midwestern charm will relate to voters.

Harris supporters who attended today’s rally said they overall thought Walz performed well in the debate.

"Started out kind of slow. But I thought I thought he got a few really pretty good pretty good jabs in towards the end,” said Bill Felter, a Harris supporter from Lancaster. 

The Minnesota Governor did have a few memorable stumbles last night; for example, his response was convoluted when confronted about the time line for a visit to Hong Kong in the 80s.

Previous in the campaign, he said he visited the city during a historic moment of unrest. Later, it was confirmed he went a few months later. In last night’s debate, he said he misspoke. He clarified that today with reporters when he arrived at the airport to start his campaigning for the day.

"Look, I have my dates wrong. I was in Hong Kong and China in 1989,” said Walz. “It had a profound impact on me- it was the summer of democracy."

Voters today gave credit to both candidates for showing decorum in their exchange, something that has been noticeably lacking in national political debates in recent years.

"It was so obvious that there was such civility between these two men. They didn't yell at each other. They didn't bully one another,” said Judy Guiest. She’s a registered Republican, but says she won’t vote for Trump. When asked if last night’s debate would sway her ballot at all...

"I’m really not so probably swayed either way by the vice president,” said Guiest. "I was just interested to hear more about them."

National pundits say both candidates passed a threshold of ‘do no harm’ to their corresponding candidate— several say Vance won with a better performance.

Right now, the trending hash tag on X is #liarliarVanceOnFire, ironically being used by both Democrats and Republicans to express their sentiments with the debate last night.