1 week Ago By Sacramento Bee
Tuesday night’s vice presidential debate between Republican Ohio Sen. and Democratic Minnesota Gov. offered a stark contrast from last month’s clash between their running mates, former President and Vice President , respectively.
While Vance and Walz disagreed on plenty of topics, they took great pains to acknowledge each other’s points and even occasionally agree with one another. That marked a far cry from when Trump debated Harris, where the Republican nominee clashed bitterly with his Democratic rival. Vance and Walz were a study in contrasts.
Vance was polished, Walz was folksy. Vance argued again and again that immigration is the root of many of American society’s ills, from gun crime to the housing crisis. “You’ve got to stop the bleeding,” Vance said of illegal immigration.
Walz warned against demonizing those migrants, citing scripture to make his case, and took a jab at what he saw as the real cause of the housing crisis. “On housing, we could talk a little bit about Wall Street speculators buying up housing and making it unaffordable,” he said. Vance worked hard to square the circle of his running mate’s often-contradictory policy pronouncements, while Walz did his best to tie Vance to them.
But there were similarities as well. Both men come from humble roots. Vance often mentioned his upbringing in rural Ohio, where he was raised by a mother who struggled with substance abuse issues and a grandmother who struggled to pay the bills.
Walz mentioned growing up in rural Nebraska and having a shotgun in his truck so he could go pheasant hunting after school. It wasn’t all comity, though. Things did get a little heated when Vance complained that the moderators were fact-checking him, resulting in both men’s microphones being cut temporarily.
Still, the debate was considerably more civil than the one before it. And it likely will be the last that we get before Election Day. On Tuesday, the voted to send to the , which has yet to reconvene for the special session called by Gov.
. That bill would require oil refiners to maintain minimum inventories in order to prevent spiking gas prices. For his part, Newsom expressed gratitude for the Assembly vote, which he said will save Californians money at the gas pump.
“Just last year, price spikes cost Californians more than $2 billion – forcing many families to make tough decisions like choosing between fueling up or putting food on the table. This has to end, and with the legislature’s support, we’ll get this done for California families,” Newsom said in a statement. Assembly Speaker , D-Salinas, called the vote “the right thing to do.
” “Now, these bills not only require oil companies to maintain minimum fuel reserves to stabilize gas prices, but they also protect industry workers and frontline communities,” he said. President called the vote a “critical consumer victory that takes away a tactic oil refiners have used for decades to keep gas prices and refiner profits artificially high.” He added that the bill will set a national example of how to prevent gasoline price gouging.
Predictably, the bill met with criticism from Republicans, whose superminority status means they have little sway when it comes to voting. That frustration was palpable from Assembly Republican Leader , R-Yuba City, who in a statement said, “Newsom’s scheme won’t do a damn thing to lower gas prices, and he knows it. As long as Democrat politicians refuse to stand up to the governor, costs at the pump are only going to increase.
” Chair released a statement saying she was unsurprised by the Assembly’s vote, saying it was “perfectly on brand for them.” “Californians are already paying the highest gas prices in the nation, and instead of working with Republicans on commonsense solutions to lower energy costs for everyone, Democrats doubled down on their incompetent agenda. Voters won’t forget Democrats’ slap in the face to hardworking Californians struggling to make ends meet,” she said.
“Sometimes it just is the guns. It’s just the guns.” - Minnesota Gov.
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