On climate change, Walz attacked Trump for calling it a “hoax” in the past and for suggesting that rising ocean levels will provide more beachfront property.

Both JD Vance and Tim Walz voiced sympathy for those affected by Hurricane Helene, the storm that has ravaged North Carolina and the southeast, but sparred over the role of climate change. Vance said

As Hurricane Helene made climate change an early focus of the vice-presidential debate, the running mates quickly demonstrated the stark differences between the parties on the issue.

When asked if he believed climate change is a hoax, Ohio Sen. JD Vance suggested that Vice President Kamala Harris doesn’t believe in it herself, saying she would agree with former President Donald Trump’s economic policies if she did.

The devastation wrought by Hurricane Helene has brought climate change to the forefront of the presidential campaign.

It may be weeks, months or even years before we fully understand the catastrophic impact of Hurricane Helene. While still over water, Helene first flattened many shoreside communities along the Gulf Coast of Florida before it ripped ashore in North Florida and rampaged through five more states,

Scientists have suggested that climate change may have played a more than significant role in turning Hurricane Helene into the destructive force it became.