By Karrin Vasby Anderson
Few people expected the campaign to elect the first woman president to spark a referendum on masculinity, but what it means to be a man has become “arguably the most dominant theme of this year’s elections,” according to MSNBC’s Ja’han Jones.
The debate between vice presidential nominees Democrat Tim Walz and Republican JD Vance on Oct. 1, 2024, showcased two candidates who not only had contrasting debate styles but also competing views of women’s and men’s autonomy.
As a political communication scholar, I have written about how gender shaped the dynamics of presidential and vice-presidential debates featuring opponents of different genders. The 2024 Walz-Vance debate illustrated how gender can become a focal point in a debate between two men.
Trust was an important theme throughout the debate, one that – perhaps surprisingly – revealed a key distinction between Walz, Vance and their respective political parties.
During an extended discussion about abortion rights, Vance reinforced his running mate Donald Trump’s assertion that women’s reproductive health care decisions should be made by state legislatures. Vance then introduced a new argument, suggesting that what the GOP should focus on is earning women’s trust by proving that the party can somehow make it more palatable for women to … not have an abortion.
Later in the debate, Vance stated that he supports “a family care model that makes choice possible,” but the range of choices referred to child care options, not choices about whether to have children.
Walz, conversely, urged that women should be free and trusted to make their own reproductive and child care decisions.
Throughout the debate, Vance subtly suggested that authority and autonomy are the purview of men, reinforcing how patriarchy is shaping the Republican strategy.
Joe Raedle/Getty Images
Masculinity on the campaign trail
Both the Republican and Democratic parties have featured masculinity prominently in their campaigns for the White House.
Although Vance and Walz have each presented themselves as typical “Midwestern guys,” they differ on what that means.
Walz has embraced the moniker of “America’s dad” in ways that are both recognizable and revolutionary.
Esquire reported that he inspired “social media posts by the thousands” that “imagined Walz doing nice, midwestern-dad-like things.”
Using the “BigDadEnergy” hashtag, Walz supporters imagined, “Tim Walz will take your little league team to Dairy Queen even after you lose a game, because doggonit, you played your best” and “Tim Walz brushed the snow off of your car too, since you were parked next to him and he already had the darn brush out.”
But he also expanded that stereotype by ceding his status as patriarch to become Kamala Harris’s dutiful running mate and proving that pheasant-hunting football coaches can also advocate for gay and trans kids.
Vance featured his dad credentials in his speech at the 2024 Republican National Convention, but his status as a prominent member of the “manosphere” – an unofficial network of reactionary men’s groups promoting the supremacy of patriarchy – has given his masculine persona a hard and sometimes extreme edge.
Independent political groups have also made masculinity one of the presidential campaign’s central concerns. The Lincoln Project – an organization comprised of current and former Republicans opposed to Donald Trump – recently released a campaign ad aimed at moderate swing voters that featured the iconography of the American heartland made famous by President Ronald Reagan’s 1984 “Morning in America” re-election campaign ad.
The ad is voiced by actor Sam Elliott, a frequent silver-screen cowboy with a deep bass drawl, who asks voters, “So, what the hell are you waiting for? Because if it’s the woman thing, it’s time to get over that. … It’s time to be a man and vote for a woman.”
The group “White Dudes for Harris” took a different approach to the same pitch, putting out an ad with a brash male narrator who observes that men are “pretty sick of hearing how much we suck,” but contends that “Trump and all his MAGA buddies are out there making it worse, shouting nonsense in their stupid red hats and acting like they speak for us when they don’t.”
The narrator then says that Harris and Walz “are actually talking to guys like us” and offering “real solutions that protect our freedoms and help us take care of the people who matter.” The ad concludes: At the “end of the day, you’re your own man. It’s your call. But if anyone gives you crap about it, tell them it’s none of their damn business,” echoing one of Walz’s most popular applause lines.
The debate put Walz’s and Vance’s competing views of masculinity in direct competition as they made their pitches to swing voters.
Deference and doubling down during the debate
Before the debate, Washington Post politics reporter Ashley Parker wondered whether Walz’s “flannel-wearing, gutter-clearing, football-coaching Everyman shtick” might play better in front of a “friendly rally crowd” than it would “while facing an attack dog opponent.”
Vance, conversely, has embraced the vice-presidential nominee’s traditional role of “attack dog.” He campaigns by “borrowing his boss’s playbook of openly sparring with the media and rarely, if ever, apologizing for what he says,” as Vivian Salama of The Wall Street Journal reports.
But Vance took a different tack during the debate, making confident but cordial assertions while magnanimously agreeing that he and Walz shared good intentions for the American people.
He was less magnanimous when speaking to or about women.
Twenty-eight minutes into the debate, Vance’s mic was turned off after he mansplained immigration law to moderator Margaret Brennan.
Brennan, importantly, was correcting Vance’s claim that illegal immigration was harming the citizens of Springfield, Ohio, noting that the influx of Haitian migrants to Springfield was a product of legal immigration.
After Vance continued to speak beyond his allotted time, producers turned off his mic. Tellingly, Vance violated the rules of the debate when a woman moderator corrected him.
Vance also indicated, repeatedly, that Walz could be trusted but Kamala Harris could not.
It is, of course, not unusual for a vice-presidential candidate to attack the opposing ticket. Traditionally, that’s a vice-presidential candidate’s first priority in the VP debate.
But Vance took particular care to defer to his white, male counterpart and insist that the Black woman leading the Democratic ticket was the real problem.
For example, when responding to a question about housing prices, Walz argued that immigrants should not be blamed for the rising costs of housing, responding to a claim that Vance made about housing in Springfield, Ohio.
Rather than objecting to Walz’s fact check – as he had Brennan’s earlier in the debate – Vance said, “Tim just said something that I agree with. We don’t want to blame immigrants for higher housing prices, but we do want to blame Kamala Harris for letting in millions of illegal aliens into this country, which does drive up costs, Tim.”
Vance was careful to defer to his white male opponent while doubling down on criticism of immigrants and the Black woman running for president.
It’s a subtle strategy, but one that could be potentially effective with swing voters who have responded positively to Walz’s “Big Dad Energy” but who, consciously or unconsciously, are inclined to be skeptical about voting for a Black woman candidate.
Karrin Vasby Anderson is Professor of Communication Studies at Colorado State University.
Al says
You proved you’re another ultra liberal running their mouth using a useless degree to justify it. What I saw was a man ( Vance) and a cuckold boy child ( waltz ). I do hope you and your kind get all the abortions you can so we have less screwball in this country.
Just Asking says
Do you know what a cuckold is? And then I have to ask, what exactly is a cuckold boy child?
Sherry says
@ nothing but a “hate filled” comment from truly despicable person. . . immediate counseling on how to be a “human being” is highly recommended!
Samuel L. Bronkowitz says
I like Walz and while his public image seems to be that of a stand up guy, ultimately he’s a VP pick and isn’t running for president. While the VP debate was important in illustrating the difference between a politician whose every utterance is a lie and one that at least doesn’t lie during a debate, it was a meaningless gesture by two parties that are gladly willing to sacrifice human lives for a bump in their stock portfolios. Congrats dems, you picked someone for VP that might be ok. Too bad you can’t do that for offices that matter.
jake says
Stolen Valor is hardly a charastic of a “stand up guy”.
Samuel L. Bronkowitz says
Not to defend him but the stolen valor accusation is specious nonsense based on the idea that he never deployed as a soldier, related to his statement of having carried weapons “in war.” I’m sure he knows what an ar-15 looks like and what it’s used for.
Joe D says
I don’t think Americans (male OR female) are REALLY ready for the Trump version of the America of the 1950’s and early 60’s!
Trump will “PROTECT” women? From what? The only thing I see in Trump’s platform, is the 1950/1960’s view that women are the WEAKER sex, and the “BIG STRONG MEN” in their lives need to make their decisions for them, and tell them what to do…because MEN are the head of the household/family!
I can tell you my adult married daughter is a FULL partner in her marriage, her family, her career and her personal life. She doesn’t need PROTECTION, she needs to be allowed to manage her OWN life. I am SO PROUD of her, and the woman her generation , and this Country of personal FREEDOMS has allowed her (so far at least) to become.
That could all CHANGE in November with the switch in the control of the White House and Congress.
Given how former President Trump has managed his own PERSONAL life, I see no ROLE MODEL for responsible male behavior!
Laurel says
Any male who states “You can do anything you want, you can grab them by the pussy” or “crazy childless cat ladies” is not a real man to this woman. I see these males as badly behaved little boys.
In case anyone forgot, Trump was found guilty of sexually assaulting a woman. There have also been numerous other claims of assault. He has barged in on teen candidates dressing for a beauty competition. He was having sex with another woman while his wife was recuperating from childbirth. He has committed adultery.
The Heritage Foundation is clear where women stand with their Project 2025, and there is nothing about that supports women’s freedom. They prefer us humble, and controlled. Vance is their scripted little boy.
A masuline, confident man is not so threatened by women that they need to suppress them, quite the opposite. They confidently, comfortably support women.
Walz has commented that “I have no problem picking out doughnuts!” He has no problem with women, either. I will vote for the real man!
Ray W, says
Hello Laurel.
Have you heard yet that on June 27th, Oklahoma’s State Superintendent of Education, Ryan Walters, ordered that all grade 5-12 classrooms must have Bibles, but not just any Bible will do? The bid parameters for the 55,000 Bibles mandate that the content must be the King James Version, with both the Old and New Testament texts, bound in leather or leather-like material, plus it must contain the Pledge of Allegiance, the Declaration of Independence, the U.S. Constitution, and the Bill of Rights. Only one Bible fits the criteria, and it costs $60 per copy, so it will cost $3.3 million to comply with the order.
Can you guess which Bible fits the criteria?
Laurel says
People have simply lost their minds! The closet thing I’ve seen to this, in my lifetime, is the KKK’s newsletter, and simple minded behavior of hate. At least back then, that sort of thing was definitely not acceptable as normal behavior. Now days , people have gone off the rails with their hate, fear and bigotry, AND call it Christian!
To answer you question, it is the world’s greatest grifter, who has bibles, “many of them” just like any hotel has.
You are so right about “the gullible” among Flagler Live readers…and elsewhere.
DennisC Rathsam says
One a real combat vet, the other a liar!One never lied about his rank, the other does often. One lied about how the Haitian people got to Springfield, the other explained how Biden / Harris flew them in under false claims… then his mike was turned off! They didn’t want to know the truth! One never skipped out on his platoon in time of deployment, the other went behind his commanders back to quit, knowing deployment was coming! One a man of character, came from nothing, to be a Senator. The other is a self proclaimed KUCKELHEAD! Ask the folks who homes were devistated, lives gone, no help for days from Biden/ Harris! Ask them where THIER FEMA money is???? All of the invaders got it, that’s where it went!!!! Ask them who THIER voting for…. Its not Harris
Sherry says
FACT CHECKED!
No, Biden didn’t take FEMA relief money to use on migrants — but Trump did
Donald Trump falsely accuses President Biden of redirecting disaster funds, a budget maneuver Trump himself approved in 2019.
Sherry says
Democratic Sen. Mark Kelly of Arizona on Sunday attacked Donald Trump and his family for using misinformation “to lie to the American people” after the former president and his daughter-in-law have pushed false statements about the use of disaster funds.
Republican National Committee co-chair Lara Trump repeated her father-in-law’s baseless claims on CNN onSunday, suggesting that Vice President Kamala Harris redirected disaster money to house illegal immigrants.
“This hurricane is a great tragedy, and I feel for the people of North Carolina, Florida, Georgia, other states that were affected. I mean, Lara Trump comes from North Carolina. I’m kind of shocked that she is willing to spread misinformation,” Kelly said Sunday on CNN’s “State of the Union.”
“But I think the folks know that the Trump family, at every opportunity, uses information — misinformation to lie to the American people.”
Laurel says
Dennis: Vance never saw combat duty, he was a correspondent in an office. Walz has 20 more years of service than Vance, who is nothing more than billionaire Peter Thiel’s protege.
You are a good, caring man. Do yourself a favor and change the channel.