What’s notable here is the way that Vance — a Yale-educated lawyer who wrote "Hillbilly Elegy," a bestselling memoir that endeavored to “explain” the white working class to coastal elites — was able to code-switch from his usual MAGA audience to more moderate swing voters concerned about the end of Roe v. Wade (and inclined to vote Democrat because of it).

The question is whether Vance’s effort was so slick as to seem deceptive. For Walz, it certainly was — and he went on to point out that it’s Harris who wants to strengthen the federal safety net for families, not Trump.

“Just mind your own business on this,” he said. “Things work[ed] best when Roe v. Wade was in place. When we do a restoration of Roe, that works best. … [Stop] hiding behind ‘we're going to do all these other things’ when you're not proposing them in your budget. Kamala Harris is proposing … all those things to make life easier for families.”

JD Vance has refused to say whether he thinks Donald Trump lost the 2020 election, and whether he would contest the 2024 vote if Democrats win next month.

The Republican vice-presidential candidate - who has previously said he would have challenged the 2020 result if given the chance - avoided giving answers on both issues during Tuesday night's debate.

[...]

The exchange unfolded after the CBS News moderators asked Vance if he would try to challenge the results of November's election, even if every US state governor certified them - as was the case in 2020.

Vance did not directly answer, instead saying he was "focused on the future".

But Walz persisted with the events of 2020 - challenging Vance to answer whether Trump had lost the poll. When Vance again sought to change the topic, Walz said: "That is a damning non-answer."