Times Opinion asked 13 of our columnists and contributors to watch the vice-presidential debate on Tuesday night and assess who won and who lost. We also asked them to weigh in on the quality of the debate. Were the candidates inspiring, or was their face-off a depressing sign of everything that’s wrong with American politics?

Here’s what our columnists and contributors thought of the event. In a new feature, readers can score the debate, too, by dropping a pin on the scorecard to see how they stack up against other readers, as well as our contributors.

Who won and why

Binyamin Appelbaum, member of the editorial board JD Vance was more effective in presenting a version of his party’s ticket that might broaden its appeal. He made Trumpism sound polite, calm and coherent. The question is whether voters will credit a performance so strikingly at odds with the behavior and views of the man he was purporting to represent.

Josh Barro, author of the newsletter Very Serious Vance was far nimbler than the nervous Tim Walz, especially in the first half of the debate. But as the debate went on, Vance stumbled on two issues — abortion and the 2020 election — where his rhetorical skill could not salvage the very unappealing material he was working with.

Charles M. Blow, Times columnist Walz won. You could tell that he was a teacher, because he clearly did his homework. Anyone afraid that Vance would roll over him could breathe easily. Vance seemed to have been told not to come across as a condescending valedictorian. But he might have heeded that advice too well. Vance’s performance was anemic. Also, he had to contort himself to dodge Donald Trump’s statements and his own past statements.

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