Tim Walz and J.D. Vance Take the Stage in New York City: VP Debate Live

Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz and Ohio Sen. J.D. Vance are at the CBS Broadcast Center in New York City for their first and only vice presidential debate of the 2024 election cycle. The 90-minute showdown on Tuesday, Oct. 1, is expected to be the last major political event before Election Day, and the running mates are under considerable pressure to not screw things up.

Walz, an experienced governor who's still a newcomer on the national stage, was tasked with matching Vice President Kamala Harris' confidence and preventing any hiccups from disrupting her hard-fought momentum. Though he hit the ground running with strong favorability ratings, he has big shoes to fill after Harris was overwhelmingly declared the winner of her Sept. 10 debate in polls.

Vance, who was elected to his first position two years ago, was tapped as former President Donald Trump's running mate after proving that he could withstand criticism and calmly defend even the most controversial policy positions. As the least popular VP pick in modern history according to polls, he has little to lose and everything to gain while he aims to remind Trump why he was entrusted with carrying on the MAGA brand.

PEOPLE is unpacking all the major moments from the 2024 vice presidential debate as Walz and Vance aim to make their running mates proud. Follow along below for highlights from the long-anticipated VP debate night.

Green, Yellow & Flashing Red: How the Candidates Are Keeping Track of Time

In an effort to keep the program moving without cutting candidates off, CBS News has set up a couple of ways that candidates can track how much time they have left for their responses. 

Lights have been set up in front of the candidates, which will remain green until they only have 15 seconds remaining. The lights will then turn yellow until they have only five seconds left. The light will then flash red for the last five seconds of their allotted response time, and turn solid red when the time is up. The studio will also display numeric clocks to count their time down.

The Candidates Are on the Stage

Walz and Vance have taken the stage at CBS News' Broadcast Center in Midtown Manhattan. They entered one at a time.

J.D. Vance Won a Coin Toss for the Last Word

A virtual coin toss held on Thursday sorted out some final logistics for the vice presidential debate. J.D. Vance won the coin toss, meaning he got to decide the order of closing statements. Vance opted to deliver his closing statement last, so he will get the final word of the evening.

Since Vance got to choose the order of closing statements, Walz was allowed to pick which podium he wanted. Walz decided to stand at stage left, which means he will appear on the right side of TV screens.

Microphones Will Be Hot Tonight —  These Are CBS News’ Debate Rules

Unlike the presidential debates held in June and September, CBS News will not keep candidates’ microphones on mute while their opponent is speaking — though the network reserves the right to mute microphones at any point if needed.

Aside from having unmuted microphones, the vice presidential debate will look very similar to previous debates this election cycle. Here are CBS News’ official debate rules, which both campaigns have agreed to:

What to Know About the Debate Moderators

CBS News’ Norah O’Donnell and Margaret Brennan have been tasked with moderating the 2024 vice presidential debate.

O’Donnell, 50, is the CBS Evening News anchor and managing editor, as well as a 60 Minutes contributing correspondent. In July, O’Donnell announced that she would be leaving her role at the Evening News

Why Did Travis Scott’s ‘Days,...

>anchor desk after the 2024 election and taking on a new position at the network.

Brennan, 44, serves as the moderator for CBS News' Face the Nation and is the network's chief foreign affairs correspondent. Every Sunday she invites political newsmakers on her show for pointed discussion about hot-button issues, and she has previously interviewed former President Trump during his presidency and President Biden while he was campaigning in 2020.

Donald Trump Will Be Live-‘Truthing’ During the Debate

While the vice presidential nominees prepare to face off, their running mates will be following along — and in Trump’s case, he’ll be commenting in live time.

“President Trump will be live TRUTHING play-by-play throughout the debate!” Karoline Leavitt, Trump’s national press secretary, tells PEOPLE.

Harris' campaign has not confirmed where she will be watching from.

Tom Emmer and Pete Buttigieg Have Been Helping the Candidates Prepare

Walz and Vance have spent considerable time rehearsing for Tuesday night, and sources familiar with each side’s preparation tell PEOPLE that they roped in some high-profile friends to help.

Walz asked Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg to get into character as Vance and help him practice. Buttigieg — who also helped Kamala Harris prepare for her 2020 VP debate — is one of the sharpest political communicators in the Democratic Party, and shares a similar background to Vance: they’re both Midwesterners, Ivy League graduates and military veterans.

Vance, meanwhile, called on Minnesota Rep. Tom Emmer for help. Emmer is the House majority whip, which makes him a professional salesman of the Republican platform. Emmer previously served in Congress alongside Walz, and said that he studied Walz’s past interviews and debates so that he could mimic the Democrat’s speaking style in rehearsals.

How to Watch the VP Debate

Hosted by CBS News, the debate will take place from 9 to 10:30 p.m. ET and can be viewed in full on the CBS News television network. It will also be available for streaming on CBS News 24/7 and Paramount+.

Additionally, the debate will be simulcast on most other networks and streaming platforms, including PBS News, C-SPAN, NewsNation and Fox News.

Do Vice Presidential Debates Matter?

Vice presidential debates aren’t known for being deciding factors in White House races, and tonight’s broadcast will be only a drop in the large bucket of things impacting Americans’ votes. Still, there’s reason to believe that the stakes of the VP debate are higher than normal this year.

Perhaps more than ever before, vice presidential nominees are being seriously vetted as potential future presidents. The importance of a strong vice president became apparent when Harris unexpectedly replaced Joe Biden on the presidential ticket in July, and after the oldest presidential nominee in history — Trump — survived two assassination attempts on the campaign trail. Voters have it fresh on their minds that vice presidents are only a heartbeat from the Oval Office, and in a race where both running mates are still introducing themselves to the world, a primetime stage can make all the difference.

The 2024 election also appears to be a nail-biter where only a handful of votes in an important battleground state could determine the winner. Vice presidential nominees might normally be an afterthought when voters cast their ballots, but one disastrous performance or stunningly strong showing by Walz or Vance could leave a lasting impression in Americans’ minds.

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