Tim Walz shares his assessment of his debate performance against ‘gaslighting’ J.D. Vance in ‘aggressive’ Pennsylvania campaign push

Kamala Harris’ running mate Tim Walz attempted to take a post-debate victory lap Wednesday as he led Central Pennsylvania, where he touted his debate performance and accused his opponent of “gaslighting” Americans.

“Did anyone see the debate last night?” Walz asked the crowd gathered in York County. “Not bad for a football coach, not bad.”

Walz appeared on the debate stage in New York City with rival JD Vance on Tuesday night, where he got off to a nervous start and made a major blunder before finding his footing at the end of the nearly two-hour showdown.

On Wednesday, Walz accused Vance of being a “slick talker” who was trying to rewrite history.

“You can’t rewrite history and try to mislead us about Donald Trump’s record, that’s gaslighting,” Walz said. “They tried to tell us last night, ‘Wow, you should be happy, Donald Trump tried to save Obamacare.’ Are you kidding?’

Walz also emphasized that Vance refused to say Trump lost the 2020 election. He said he felt Vance was speaking to “an audience of one” and praised former Vice President Mike Pence for certifying the last election.

“Senator Vance has made it clear that he will always make a different choice than Mike Pence,” Walz said. “And as I said then, and I’ll say it now: That should be absolutely disqualifying if you’re asking to be vice president.”

Walz didn’t mention some of his gaffes during the debate, but he was asked about two notable moments while speaking to reporters during an earlier stop in Harrisburg.

At that stop, tThe vice presidential candidate tried to clarify a comment he made on the stage where he said he was friends with school shooters.

Walz suggested he meant to say victims of school shootings and specifically mentioned David Hogg who survived the Parkland shooting and befriended the families of those killed in Sandy Hook.

“I need to be more specific about that, but I’m passionate about this,” he said of gun violence.

He also addressed the discrepancies in his story about his stay in Hong Kong during the 1989 Tiananmen Square massacre, which he was also asked about on stage.

“Look, I got my dates wrong,” Walz claimed. He said he was in Hong Kong in August 1989 and “it was profound for me – that was the summer of democracy.”

Tim Walz arrives at his rally in York, PA as he makes his way through Central Pennsylvania on a post-debate bus tour

Walz embarked on an aggressive post-debate campaign that would take him through several battleground states while also participating in a fundraising blitz.

On Wednesday, the Democratic vice presidential nominee headed out for a bus tour of central Pennsylvania as the Harris campaign wades into deep Trump country as the crucial swing state is key to their victory.

The trip marked Walz’s second time campaigning in Central Pennsylvania and his fifth visit to the state since joining the Democratic party.

The Minnesota governor had stops in Harrisburg, Reading and York, where he held a meeting with Democratic Senator John Fetterman. During the swing, he also met with union leaders, rural voters and members of the Latino community.

Walz arrived in Harrisburg for his tour, where he was joined by Senator John Fetterman. The Pennsylvania lawmaker told his supporters that his state will choose the next president

On Saturday, Walz heads to Ohio for fundraising stops before heading west with fundraising events in California and Washington before heading through the Sunbelt with stops in Nevada and Arizona.

At the same time, Minnesota’s governor will step up his media appearances after giving relatively few interviews. He will attend two national television interviews in the coming days and make his late-night TV debut during his visit to California.

Exclusive polling for DailyMail.com by JL Partners found that 50 percent of likely voters said Vance won the debate, compared to just 43 percent who said Walz was the winner.

Political strategists told DailyMail.com that Vance had a better evening on the debate stage in a much more civil event than many expected. However, they largely rejected that the winner of the VP debate would sway voters with just over 30 days to go.

Participants at Walz’s meeting on Wednesday also had mixed reactions about who won, but their minds were made up.

“Tim stumbled at first, but then got back on track,” says Greg Wynn of York. “JD Vance was a lot more articulate than I thought, and he came across as normal instead of weird, so I give him a slight edge in that regard, even though I’m for everything Tim Walz said.”

Attendees at the Walz rally in York, PA, had mixed reviews of his debate performance, with some praising it while others said he initially stumbled. However, several accused his rival JD Vance of lying

Meanwhile, the Harris campaign has already removed an ad less than a day after the vice presidential debate focusing on Vance’s refusal to say Donald Trump lost the 2020 election.

Called “JD Vance’s damn non-answer,” the 30-second spot features a clip of Vance declaring on the debate stage that Trump was peacefully surrendering power as video of the Jan. 6 attack played on the screen.

The ad then shows Walz pressuring Vance as he asks, “did he lose the 2020 election?”

“Tim, I’m focused on the future,” Vance responded.

Walz called it a “damn non-answer” and said it’s about who will honor democracy and who will honor Trump.

The discussion of the 2020 election was one of Walz’s strongest moments of the evening, as the vice presidential candidates had their first and only confrontation.