Tim Walz says he'll debate JD Vance 'if he's willing to get off the couch'

In his debut speech, Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz joked that he can't wait to debate Trump's VP pick, JD Vance, "if he's willing to get off the couch."

• Vice President Kamala Harris on Tuesday announced her VP pick: Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz.
• In his debut speech, Walz called out Sen. JD Vance and referenced viral jokes about the GOP candidate.
• Walz said he can't wait to debate Trump's VP pick "if he's willing to get off the couch."

When Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz took the stage on Tuesday to announce his candidacy for vice president alongside Democratic nominee Vice President Kamala Harris, he wasted no time taking aim at his new political rival: Sen. JD Vance.

Walz lambasted Vance several times in his debut speech, saying the senator from Ohio and running mate of former President Donald Trump doesn't represent Middle America as he does.

"Like all regular people I grew up with in the heartland, JD studied at Yale, had his career funded by Silicon Valley billionaires, and then wrote a best seller trashing that community," Walz said. "Come on —that's not what Middle America is!"

He added: "And I got to tell you: I can't wait to debate the guy. That is, if he's willing to get off the couch and show up."

Representatives for Walz and Vance did not immediately respond to requests for comment from Business Insider.

Walz's quip could have been a reference to a viral joke on social media that baselessly suggested Vance, in his 2016 New York Times bestselling novel "Hillbilly Elegy" admitted "to fucking an Inside-out latex glove shoved between two couch cushions."

Vance's novel did not include such an admission, and there is no evidence to suggest he has ever been inappropriate with any piece of furniture. The joke's author previously told Business Insider he knew he was rolling "in the mud" when he made the post but believes it is an example of an "ecstatic truth." Regardless, the suggestion took off online and has dogged the GOP vice presidential nominee ever since.

In classic Midwestern dad fashion, Walz laughed at his own joke, adding: "You see what I did there?"