Former Harris Adviser Upset Over Walz’s ‘Niceties’ Toward Vance

An MSNBC host and former adviser to Vice President Kamala Harris has expressed frustration with Minnesota Governor Tim Walz for his approach toward Senator JD Vance following their debate on Tuesday.

Symone Sanders-Townsend told a panel on the left-leaning network that Governor Walz seemed to align too closely with Vance, leading to a situation where "Democrats essentially had little reason to vote" for his ticket.

The debate between Walz and Vance was notably polite, despite their differing ideologies. Sanders-Townsend, who previously served as chief spokesperson and senior adviser to Vice President Kamala Harris before joining MSNBC in 2022, commented that if Walz and Vance seemed so similar, it was difficult to understand why voters would choose not to support the Republican ticket, as noted by Fox News.

“Debates are about performance, and they are about policy. And why this debate was very important is that there are many Americans out there, not just moderate Republicans, there are base Democratic voters that are saying they want to and need to hear more,” Sanders-Townsend said.

“Now, I think it is very fair for people to want to criticize those base Democratic voters who say, ‘Well, what more do you need?’ You can do that. But that is their lived reality, and so if you are trying to win their votes, you have to meet them where they are,” she added. “There were so many niceties on that debate stage tonight, I am just kind of like, well, if you agree so much with JD Vance, why should they vote for you?”

Sanders-Townsend then suggested that both candidates were being strategically disingenuous during the debate.

“I fully believe that Gov. Walz went out there tonight and did what was practiced in debate prep, did what the strategy was that the team put together. That was not the Gov. Walz that we — that I had seen out on the campaign trail. That’s not the Gov. Walz that I had seen during the veepstakes, right?” she said.

“That was not the JD Vance that I know to be true. I mean, goodness! JD Vance was on that stage, he was sorry about Amber Thurman, he was — he was sorry about — a lot of stuff. He said, ‘We get things wrong.’ But do you agree with the policy?” the MSNBC host added.

Sanders-Townsend, who also has a weekend show on MSNBC, criticized CBS moderators Norah O'Donnell and Margaret Brennan.

“That’s not the Margaret and Norah that I know! Margaret doesn’t do that on Sunday morning,” she said.

Following the debate, Walz faced criticism for appearing anxious.

“I think JD Vance strategically went in to do ‘Midwestern nice’ to disarm Tim Walz. And Tim Walz kind of took the bait so he wasn’t in fighting mode. There were some fact checks he could have done that he dropped the ball on,” said "The View" host Alyssa Farrah Griffin, a former Trump administration official, as noted by Fox.

“Vance was far nimbler than the nervous Tim Walz, especially in the first half of the debate. But as the debate went on, Vance stumbled on two issues — abortion and the 2020 election — where his rhetorical skill could not salvage the very unappealing material he was working with,” commented Josh Barro, author of the newsletter "Very Serious."

Just hours before the much-anticipated debate, CNN released a report shedding new light on Walz's past claims. Walz is facing renewed scrutiny for repeatedly and inaccurately stating that he was in Hong Kong during the Tiananmen Square massacre on June 4, 1989. CNN’s K-File investigative team, led by Andy Kaczynski, found audio recordings and previous statements where Walz referenced being in China during the protests—a claim that has now been proven false.