Debate time and channel: Where and how to watch vice presidential debate tonight

The vice presidential debate, which is scheduled for Tuesday, will be Tim Walz and JD Vance's first and possibly only opportunity to debate before the election.

The highly anticipated evening event will air nationally on NBC Chicago and be streamed online.

The CBS News debate in New York will provide Vance, a Republican freshman senator from Ohio, and Walz, a Democratic two-term governor of Minnesota, with the opportunity to introduce themselves, support their running mates, and attack the opposing ticket.

What you need to know:

When does the debate begin tonight?

On Tuesday, October 1, the 90-minute debate begins at 8 p.m. CST.

It will be moderated by Margaret Brennan of CBS' "Face the Nation" and anchor Norah O'Donnell of "CBS Evening News."

Where to watch the debate between VPs: Channel, streaming, and more Beginning Tuesday at 8 p.m. CT, NBC Chicago will provide a live feed of the debate on television and in the player above.

The entire debate will be broadcast live on NBC News, which will also provide extensive primetime coverage of the event.

The debate can be watched live on your local NBC station or on the NBC 5 Chicago streaming channel, which is free of charge and available around the clock on nearly every online video platform, including Peacock, YouTube, Samsung TV Plus, and smartphones and smart TVs.

Where is the discussion?

The debate for vice president will take place in New York City.

New York has been viewed as a state that consistently votes Democratic in the general election because it is frequently the location of fundraising events for candidates from both parties. Despite losing the state in his two previous presidential campaigns, Trump, a native New Yorker, has insisted that he has a chance to put it in the Republican column this year and has held events in the South Bronx and on Long Island.

Rules for VP debates: Is there going to be a fact check?

A sticking point from previous debates this year was CBS' announcement on Friday that it will be up to the candidates to keep each other honest at Tuesday's debate.

Jake Tapper and Dana Bash of CNN limited follow-up questions and did not fact check either Trump or Biden during the debate in June.

ABC's David Muir and Linsey Davis intervened in the September debate between former President Donald Trump and Vice President Kamala Harris by making factual corrections to some of Trump's most egregious statements.

The two missions consented to an hour and a half discussion with two four-minute business breaks, as per have CBS. There won't be an audience there, and there won't be any opening statements.

CBS reports that candidates will have two minutes to answer a question and two minutes to respond. They will not be permitted to bring any pre-written notes or props onto the stage. They will have one minute to respond.

According to CBS, candidates may be granted an additional minute to continue a discussion at the discretion of the moderators.

What to know about the candidates Walz, a governor of Minnesota who is 60 years old, and Vance, a senator from Ohio who is 40 years old, have shown potential approaches for weeks. Before Harris chose Walz, he was the Democrat who came up with the term "weird" to describe the Republican ticket. Vance claims that the governor's progressive track record is evidence that Democrats are too far to the left for voters.

Typically, a presidential running mate acts as an attack dog for the top candidate, arguing on stage against the opposing candidate and their proxy. That role has been taken on by both Vance and Walz.

Despite Vance's past sharp criticisms of the former president, including once suggesting that Trump would be "America's Hitler," his appearances on the campaign trail and occasionally confrontational news interviews have demonstrated why Trump selected him for the Republican ticket.

Your guide to voting in the 2024 general election in Illinois Walz, on the other hand, propelled Harris' campaign by describing Republicans and Trump as "just weird." This served as an attack line for Democrats attempting to argue that Republicans are disconnected from the people of the United States.

Last week, Vance told reporters that because he had "well-developed views on public policy," he didn't "have to prepare that much" for the debate.

However, Vance has been participating in debate preparation sessions with Miller, his senior aides, his wife Usha Vance, and Minnesota Representative Tom Emmer. who has played Walz, according to a person who requested anonymity to discuss strategy but was familiar with his preparations. Monica Crowley, who was in the Trump administration, hosts a podcast, and contributed to Project 2025, a conservative plan for remaking government that Trump claims he "knows nothing about," moderated their mock debates.

According to a person familiar with the procedure who requested anonymity to discuss the internal dynamics of the campaign, Walz's debate preparation has included sessions hunkered down in a Minneapolis hotel with Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg acting as Vance. Rob Friedlander and Zayn Siddique, who helped Harris prepare for her debate with Trump, as well as other aides to Walz and the campaign, contributed to the preparations.

The debate matchup on Tuesday could have significant consequences.

According to polls, Harris and Trump are locked in a close race. This gives more weight to anything that can sway voters on the margins, like how the vice presidential candidates come across. If the Harris and Trump teams can't agree on a new meeting, this could also be the final debate of the campaign.

Walz is more popular than Vance, according to a new AP-NORC poll, posing a challenge for the Republican.

Allies of both men were lowering expectations that their candidate would deliver a decisive performance prior to the debate.

Minnesota senator Amy Klobuchar, compared Vance to Walz by stating that he was "not a lawyer-debater type," calling Vance "an accomplished debater." According to Klobuchar, Walz spent his childhood thinking about football rather than debating.

Walz was portrayed significantly differently by senior Trump adviser Jason Miller than by Klobuchar.

Tim Walz is very, very good in debates. He has been a politician for close to two decades. Miller told reporters on Monday that he would be very well prepared for tomorrow night. He stated, "That’s not to say that JD Vance won’t be prepared tomorrow, or that somehow he isn't up to the challenge," but that the Democratic governor of Minnesota will be much more "buttoned up" than he is on the campaign trail and ready to defend his record.

According to Klobuchar, Walz will contrast Vance with the American people by demonstrating "a real person" who brings "buoyancy" and positivity to the debate stage, but "he is not going to be shy about pointing out the problems."

She stated, "He’s not a pushover just because he’s an optimistic, positive person."