California Democratic, Republican strategists weigh in on Walz-Vance debate
SACRAMENTO — California political strategists weighed in on Tuesday's vice presidential debate between Republican Sen. JD Vance and Democratic Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz.
California and Kamala Harris' record in the state made it onto the debate stage.
"The real family separation policy in this country is unfortunately Kamala Harris' wide open southern border," Vance said.
"She's the only person in this race who prosecuted transnational gangs for human trafficking," Walz said.
California has 1.85 million undocumented immigrants, the most of any state in the country. There are 11 million undocumented immigrants in the U.S., according to Pew Research Center.
Tab Berg is a Republican strategist.
"I think Californians are just as frustrated as the rest of the country with the immigration status," Berg said. "And I think the Walz-Harris campaign is making a colossal blunder trying to sell people on the falsehood that they've actually made a difference."
Vance answered questions about former President Donald Trump's mass deportation plan that Democratic strategist Roger Salazar said danced around the issue of family separation.
"One of the things I noticed with JD Vance is he's trying to walk the line between being an oppressive sort of regime and not sounding like it," Salazar said.
Political columnist and author Dan Morain said Vance softened his image and Walz came off as authentic.
"The question is whether this debate is going to matter much at all," Morain said. "I think Vance and Walz both passed a bar which is sort of medium low."
This was the final debate stage in this race for the White House. This pair of vice presidential candidates survived with no moments of glory and no gaffes.