Sen. JD Vance is gearing up for next Tuesday’s vice presidential debate by preparing for two very different directions Gov. Tim Walz could take the exchange.
Vance and Walz don’t personally know each other, but Vance is using a stand-in for his opponent who is more than familiar with the Minnesota governor and his “Minnesota nice” style: Rep. Tom Emmer.
Emmer, the No. 3 House Republican who represents a district surrounding Minneapolis, has known Walz for more than a decade, with the two crossing paths in state politics even before they served in the House together at the start of Donald Trump’s presidency.
According to a person directly involved in the debate prep, Emmer was chosen because he can simulate Walz’s “Minnesota nice” persona, and Emmer has been taking the role seriously. This source and another person familiar with the preparations said Emmer has spent the last month watching hours of Walz’s past debate performances to better imitate the Minnesota governor — trying to pick up on Walz’s mannerisms, his policy positions and his debate style — and Emmer has been reading up on Vance opposition research to hit the Ohio senator with unexpected attacks.
But Vance is also preparing for a very different debate, leaning on a team of people to prepare for a potentially much sharper-edged opponent.
“For over a month now, JD has been doing murder board prep sessions, both over Zoom and in person,” the person directly involved in the debate prep told NOTUS.
This person said Vance had been doing his prep sessions with longtime political advisers, Trump campaign senior adviser Jason Miller and his wife, Usha Vance. And the point is to be ready for Walz to really go after Vance.
“Murder board sessions have been just hammering JD with question after question,” the person directly involved said. “Essentially, his team acts as the moderators and just hammers him with questions to see how he naturally responds to stuff.”
As Vance prepares for his dress rehearsal with Emmer, Trump’s vice presidential pick will also have Monica Crowley acting as the moderator, the source said. Crowley, a former Fox News personality who became a Treasury spokesperson during the Trump administration, is expected to simulate some of the fact-checks that ABC moderators threw at Trump earlier this month during his debate.
Crowley did not respond to a request for comment.
According to the person directly involved, Vance’s strategy is to focus on Walz’s left-wing policies. “One of the overarching goals of the debate next week is to cut down Walz’s fake moderate branding to expose him as a leftist,” the person directly involved told NOTUS.
Meanwhile, The New York Times also reported Monday that Vance will go after Walz for his military record, which Republicans believe Walz has misrepresented. (The Trump campaign has attacked Walz because he wasn’t deployed to an active war zone, claiming that Walz has repeatedly suggested he is a combat veteran. Walz has said he’s at times misspoke — “My grammar is not always correct” — but he has said his record as the highest-ranking enlisted service member to ever serve in Congress speaks for itself.)
A spokesperson for Vance declined to comment, and a spokesperson for Walz did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
Vance’s place on the debate stage next Tuesday will likely be the last time America sees a debate this presidential election. Vice President Kamala Harris has agreed to a second debate with CNN, but Trump has made clear — at least for now — that he will not be participating in another.
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Reese Gorman is a reporter at NOTUS.