Eager Republicans Eager for JD Vance VP Debate with Kamala Harris, But They Could Be in for a Big Surprise

Republicans are celebrating former President Donald Trump’s decision to select Sen. J.D. Vance as his running mate and are eagerly anticipating a debate between the Ohio senator and Vice President Kamala Harris.

Vance will formally accept his nomination as Trump’s running mate on Wednesday night at the Republican Party convention in Milwaukee.

Harris and Vance spoke by phone on Tuesday after the vice president’s first attempt to contact her new rival on Monday failed.

According to reports, the conversation was cordial and both candidates agreed to a debate.

But that is just the first step in a series of negotiations, the details of which have yet to be confirmed.

Both campaigns agreed in May to a proposed debate to be hosted by CBS on July 23 or Aug. 13. Trump also proposed a vice presidential debate on Fox News at the time.

Biden’s campaign also suggested August 12 on Wednesday as an additional date for a debate with Vance.

Representatives from both the Biden and Trump campaigns did not respond to requests from DailyMail.com for comment on setting a date for the debate.

Meanwhile, eager Republicans are looking ahead to a debate competition in which they expect Vance to easily defeat the vice president.

“He’s going to do very well, I’ve served with both of them,” Sen. Steve Gaines (R-MT) told DailyMail.com during the convention. “I would be concerned if I were Kamala Harris running against J.D. Vance.”

Matt Schlapp, chairman of the Conservative Political Action Conference, also did not see Harris as a threat to Vance.

“Kamala strikes me as a vice president with little information, so I think he’ll be fine,” he told DailyMail.com.

Schlapp recalled that Harris was “terrific” as a senator during the confirmation hearings for Supreme Court Justice Brett Kavanaugh, but that she did not perform well as vice president.

“She just seemed dumb from that point on,” he said. “So I don’t want to be cocky, but it doesn’t make me sweat.”

Rep. Byron Donalds told DailyMail.com that the prospects for Harris were “not good,” for the vice president, because “JD knows how to debate, he’s talented.”

Former Republican candidate Vivek Ramaswamy said Vance would easily win a debate with Harris during an interview at the party convention.

Ramaswamy, however, left open the possibility that Harris would even run for vice president at that point in the campaign.

Harris, he said, could run for president as Biden’s replacement.

“I think so. If it’s Kamala Harris, JD will wipe the floor, but we’ll see whether it’s Kamala Harris or not,” Ramaswamy told Sky News.

Vance, who is 20 years younger than Harris and has been a senator for only a year, has less political experience than Harris, who is often dismissed by Republicans as a lightweight with little political experience.

But Harris’ allies don’t deny his debating skills.

Ashley Etienne, Harris’ former communications director, warned the Harris campaign in June on CNN not to underestimate Vance, calling him the “biggest threat.”

“I mean, he’s an incredible debater,” she said, adding, “I think he just has a certain quality about him where he’s super intelligent and sharp and witty.”

Harris’ supporters point to her famous debate moment during the 2020 presidential election, when she challenged then-Vice President Joe Biden on racial issues, sending him into a tailspin that threatened to damage his campaign.

They also point to the contest between Harris and Mike Pence. According to them, she was the winner of the debate with the governor of Indiana, until a fly landed on his head and sat there for more than two minutes while he spoke. That was the most memorable moment of the evening.

“She’s going to do a great job,” Democratic strategist Johnny Palmadessa said, referring to Harris’ debate experience. “The stress is really on Senator Vance’s plate. … I imagine he’s going to be nervous.”

But Harris struggled to respond to Congresswoman Tulsi Gabbard’s fierce attack on her law enforcement record during the 2020 presidential debate, a segment that has Trump supporters in raptures.

Trump supporters have long been convinced that Harris is incompetent. Clips of her “word salad” moments from her early years as vice president have gone viral online.

Democrats are seizing the opportunity to attack Vance during the debate on key campaign issues like abortion and immigration, to paint him as a dangerous radical.

But Vance successfully raised these issues during his Senate debates.

Vance successfully made a well-considered plea to voters during Ohio’s frenzied Republican primary debates and emerged victorious in 2022.

Despite his criticism of Trump, Vance admitted he was wrong about the president and voted for him.

“We all say stupid things, and I happen to say stupid things in public,” he said during a March 2022 debate with his Republican rivals, who were more ardent supporters of the president.

Fans of Vance point to clips in which he speaks compassionately about the pro-life issue, which resonated during his Senate debate with Democratic rival Rep. Tim Ryan, who tried to paint him as a dangerous radical MAGA Republican.

Ryan at the time referred to his comments about the “great replacement theory” on immigration and accused him of being a racist or even a “white nationalist.”

Vance, whose wife is the child of Indian immigrants, has repeatedly dismissed the allegations as “disgusting” because he is the father of “mixed race children.”

He accused Ryan of inciting “thugs” online to attack his family.

“We’re tired of this,” he said, referring to his family in a 2022 debate with Ryan. “You can believe in a border without being racist.”