2024 vice presidential debate in New York City between Republican Sen. JD Vance and Democrat Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz.
Hosted by CBS News, the debate was moderated by “CBS Evening News” anchor Norah O’Donnell and “Face the Nation” moderator Margaret Brennan.
PolitiFact has previously fact-checked Vance 20 times since 2018 and Walz 6 times since August 2024. Tonight, we drew from that archive to verify the accuracy of the candidates’ statements. Stay tuned as this story continues to be updated. Please refresh this page for the latest fact-checks.
Vance: Trump “salvaged” the Affordable Care Act.
False.
The Trump administration cut millions in marketing and enrollment support for the ACA’s health plans and backed failed efforts to overturn the law through Congress and the courts. In June 2020, Trump asked the Supreme Court to overturn the law, which was rejected. During his presidency, ACA enrollment dropped by over 2 million, and the number of uninsured Americans increased by 2.3 million, including 726,000 children, from 2016 to 2019, according to the U.S. Census Bureau.
Walz: “Donald Trump hasn’t paid any federal tax in the last 15 years. The last year as president.”
This claim is misleading. A congressional committee released portions of Trump’s tax records from 2015 to 2020. In some years, Trump paid no federal income tax, but in 2018, Trump and his wife Melania paid $999,466 in federal taxes on a reported income of $24.4 million. In 2019, they paid $133,445. Trump’s taxes prior to his presidency were minimal because he reported significant financial losses, according to The New York Times.
Vance: “We have 320,000 children that the Department of Homeland Security has effectively lost.”
This is false. The claim stems from a report about unaccompanied minors who entered the U.S. without a parent or guardian. The report mentioned 32,000 children who failed to appear for immigration court hearings and 291,000 who had not received a “Notice to Appear.” This claim has been mischaracterized by some lawmakers and media outlets as the government “losing” children, but the report does not make such a claim.
Walz: “Their Project 2025 is gonna have a registry of pregnancies.”
This is false. Project 2025 calls for states to submit more detailed abortion reporting to the federal government, including statistics for miscarriages and stillbirths. However, it does not propose a federal registry for pregnant women or mention any such system.
PolitiFact Executive Director Aaron Sharockman and a team of correspondents and researchers contributed to this story. Fact-checks rely on new and previously reported work, and in some cases, ratings may differ from earlier versions if statements were reworded or presented differently.