Honestly, the 2024 election cycle was a total fever dream. One minute we’re looking at a standard rematch, and the next, the entire Democratic ticket does a 180-degree turn in the middle of summer. Usually, the "veep" choice is just a boring exercise in geographic balancing—find a guy from a swing state, make sure he doesn't have any skeletons in the closet, and call it a day. But the 2024 vice president candidates ended up being the ones carrying the actual energy of the campaigns.
Think about it. You had JD Vance, a guy who went from calling Donald Trump "America’s Hitler" to being his hand-picked successor. Then you had Tim Walz, a former football coach who basically "memed" his way onto the national stage by calling Republicans "weird." It wasn't just a political contest; it was a clash of completely different versions of the American Midwest.
The Republican Side: The Rise of JD Vance
Donald Trump’s selection of JD Vance on July 15, 2024, at the Republican National Convention in Milwaukee, was a huge gamble. Vance wasn't an "old guard" Republican. He’s a millennial, a Marine veteran, and the guy who wrote Hillbilly Elegy.
He was essentially brought on to bridge the gap between the MAGA base and the "New Right." His background is fascinatingly messy. Born James Donald Bowman, he went through several name changes—James David Hamel, then James David Vance—reflecting a pretty turbulent childhood in Ohio and Kentucky.
What’s wild is how much he had to walk back. Before he was a 2024 vice president candidate, he was a "Never Trumper." He didn't even vote for Trump in 2016; he voted for an independent named Evan McMullin. By 2024, though, he was the chief defender of the "America First" agenda. He focused heavily on the "forgotten" working class, taking a hard line on immigration and questioning the billions of dollars being sent to Ukraine.
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The Democratic Pivot: Tim Walz Enters the Chat
The Democratic side was even more chaotic. After Joe Biden dropped out in July, Kamala Harris became the presumptive nominee almost overnight. Suddenly, the search for a VP was on a high-speed clock.
For a while, everyone thought it was going to be Josh Shapiro, the Governor of Pennsylvania. He was the safe, moderate choice from a must-win state. But Harris threw a curveball on August 6 when she picked Minnesota Governor Tim Walz.
Walz was different. He was the "Midwestern Dad" archetype. He spent years as a social studies teacher and a high school football coach before getting into politics. He brought this plain-spoken, folksy vibe that the campaign desperately needed to combat the "California liberal" labels.
His strategy? Keep it simple. He leaned into his "regular guy" persona—camo hats, talking about fixing gutters, and his time in the National Guard. But it wasn't all sunshine. He faced immediate heat for how he handled the 2020 Minneapolis riots and questions about the exact timing of his retirement from the military before his unit deployed to Iraq.
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The Third-Party Wildcards
We can't ignore the people running outside the two-party system. Even though they didn't have a shot at winning, they shifted the math in a few key states.
- Nicole Shanahan: Running with Robert F. Kennedy Jr., she was a Silicon Valley lawyer and tech entrepreneur. She brought a lot of money to that ticket but also a lot of controversy, especially regarding her views on vaccines and her past marriage to Google co-founder Sergey Brin.
- Butch Ware: Jill Stein and the Green Party picked Rudolph "Butch" Ware, a history professor at UC Santa Barbara. He was a vocal critic of the war in Gaza, which actually drew some younger voters away from the Harris-Walz ticket in places like Michigan.
- Mike ter Maat: The Libertarian Party went with an economics professor to run alongside Chase Oliver. They were the "don't tread on me" option for people who hated both major parties.
That One Debate That Actually Mattered
Usually, VP debates are a snoozefest. Nobody remembers them. But the October 1 showdown between Vance and Walz in New York City was... weirdly polite?
They actually talked about policy. Vance was polished—maybe too polished for some—defending Trump’s record on the economy and leaning hard into the immigration crisis. Walz, meanwhile, struggled a bit at the start (he accidentally mixed up Iran and Israel in the first few minutes), but he found his footing when talking about abortion and the January 6 Capitol riot.
The "damning" moment, as Walz called it, was when Vance wouldn't say whether Trump lost the 2020 election. That clip played on a loop for weeks. But honestly, for most viewers, the debate just showed two guys who were incredibly good at being "attack dogs" for their respective bosses.
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What Most People Get Wrong
People think the VP pick is about winning their home state. It’s not. 2024 proved that. Neither Vance (Ohio) nor Walz (Minnesota) were from "toss-up" states. Ohio was safely red; Minnesota was safely blue.
Instead, these 2024 vice president candidates were about vibes and demographics. Vance was there to win over the Rust Belt working class in places like Pennsylvania and Wisconsin. Walz was there to make sure the suburbs didn't feel alienated by a ticket led by a woman from San Francisco.
Actionable Insights for Future Elections
If you're trying to make sense of how these roles affect the future of American politics, keep these points in mind:
- Watch the "Successor" Narrative: JD Vance is now the heir apparent to the MAGA movement. His performance in 2024 set the stage for 2028.
- The "Middle America" Battle: Both parties have realized they can't win without the Midwest. Expect to see more "folksy" governors and veterans on national tickets.
- Vetting is Faster Now: The Harris-Walz selection happened in record time. Digital-age campaigns are learning to vet candidates in weeks, not months, which means more "surprises" will likely pop up during the actual race.
- Third Parties Matter in the Margins: In a close race, a few thousand votes for a candidate like Butch Ware or Nicole Shanahan can literally flip a state.
The 2024 race showed that the Vice Presidency isn't just a "bucket of warm spit," as one former VP famously said. It’s the ultimate branding tool for a presidential campaign. Whether it was Vance’s "New Right" intellectualism or Walz’s "Coach" energy, the second person on the ticket defined the conversation as much as the first.