Vice President Kamala Harris and Sen. JD Vance, R-Ohio, former President Donald Trump’s newly tapped running mate, spoke Tuesday by phone, a source familiar with the conversation told USA TODAY.
Harris had tried unsuccessfully to reach Vance by phone on Monday — and left a voicemail — shortly after he was named Trump’s vice-presidential nominee.
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Trump announced Vance as his running mate on Monday afternoon amid the Republican National Convention in Milwaukee, ending months of speculation. The 39-year-old Ohio senator first rose to fame for his best-selling 2016 memoir, “Hillbilly Elegy,” which was also made into a film. He was elected to the U.S. Senate in 2022 — the veteran and former investor’s first public office — and garnered a celebrity-like status among conservatives.
The convention’s pageantry and accompanying celebrations over Trump’s VP pick also come at a tense time for the GOP and larger political climate, unfolding in the shadow of Saturday’s assassination attempt against the former president. One man was killed in the shooting at a campaign rally in Butler, Pennsylvania, over the weekend, and two were seriously injured. A slate of Republican speakers called on Americans across the country to unite in the wake of the attack.
While the pair have made contact, it’s unclear whether voters will see them together on a debate stage.
President Joe Biden’s reelection campaign accepted an invitation by CBS News to a vice presidential debate for either July or August, but there has been no word yet on whether Vance will also accept.
Vice-presidential debates, though less anticipated than presidential nominees, still garner interest from millions of voters.
In 2020, 57.9 million people watched the debate between Vice President Mike Pence and then-Sen. Kamala Harris, according to Pew Research Center, making viewership 8% lower than the least-popular Biden-Trump debate. It’s higher than the 37.2 million who tuned in for the 2016 debate between Pence and Sen. Tim Kaine, but still not nearly as watched as the 2008 debate between then-Sen. Biden and then-Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin. That event drew in 69.9 million, Pew data says.
Trump and Biden have already agreed to a second presidential debate hosted by ABC News on Sept. 10.
This article originally appeared on Palm Springs Desert Sun: VP Kamala Harris and JD Vance speak by phone after VP nomination
