In 2006, Walz made headlines by defeating a Republican incumbent in a rural Minnesota district to win a seat in Congress. After serving six terms in the U.S. House, he ran for governor in 2018 and won by 11 points, beating Republican Jeff Johnson.

"Rather than setting expectations and influencing the burden of proof in the debate, an alternative Walz strategy might be to out-appeal Vance as the extraordinary ordinary citizen appealing to the ordinary voters, and point out past contradictions of the opposing presidential candidate," Preston added.