Vice presidential nominees traditionally play the role of attack dog for the top of their tickets – in this case, Democratic Vice President Kamala Harris and Republican former President Donald Trump. Walz earned the Democratic vice presidential nod in part because of his branding of the GOP ticket as “weird” in television interviews that served as semi-auditions for the role. Vance and Trump, meanwhile, have at times struggled to get on the same page on the issue of abortion. Walz could play the part Biden once did in a debate against another rising young conservative, when the then-vice president stymied Mitt Romney’s running mate, Paul Ryan in a crucial 2012 debate. When Trump brought up Springfield during the presidential debate last month, the moderators fact-checked him in real-time.

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