(28 September 2024) The US election campaign remains as close as ever ahead of Tuesday’s vice-presidential debate. The debate will feature GOP nominee and Ohio Senator JD Vance facing off against the Democratic Governor of Minnesota, Tim Walz. While VP debates rarely influence the final outcome of the election, this one could be relatively more important since there has only been one presidential debate between Kamala Harris and Donald Trump. The lack of interaction between the candidates suggests that there could be more at stake as the voters get another opportunity to scrutinize the platforms of both camps.
While we don’t know the birth time of Tim Walz, I would nonetheless say JD Vance has a somewhat better horoscope at the time of the debate. The dominant transit on Tuesday, October 1 will be the Sun-Mercury conjunction and the near-exact semisextile (30 degree) aspect with Venus. As it happens, this alignment sets up on Vance’s Sun-Saturn square. Now any time Saturn is involved in an alignment, there is an elevated risk of unwanted outcomes. That is also the case here as transiting Venus conjoins his natal Saturn at 16 Libra. By itself, this is not a great combination and can sometimes translate as sadness or disappointment as the pleasure-seeking nature of Venus is thwarted by the harsh reality of Saturn. But Venus-Saturn alignments are not always negative, especially if there are other planets involved, as is the case here.
The Sun-Mercury conjunction at 16 Virgo will also blend with his natal Sun-Saturn square and suggests a more significant event. Saturn’s preference for order and discipline is likely to be activated by these transits, for better or worse. Since Vance was born with Saturn in a square aspect with the Sun, he may be able to better handle the constraining effects of Saturn more than most. It is therefore possible that this Sun-Mercury-Venus alignment with his Sun-Saturn square could produce a constructive, albeit constrained debate performance. Vance may therefore be able to exert some self-discipline and avoid going off on ill-advised tangents such as Trump’s infamous cat and dog-eating episode in the presidential debate.
Another broadly positive influence is transiting Jupiter’s (27 Taurus) aspect to his natal Moon (25 Virgo). This Jupiter-Moon aspect is now past exact but it will soon be re-activated as the Sun and Mercury get closer to their conjunction with his natal Moon Since these additional transits will not be exact until next weekend at the earliest (Oct 5-6), they may not directly influence Vance’s debate performance. But they could still reflect debate perceptions as new polling becomes available over subsequent days.
Now let’s compare Tim Walz’s chart. In the absence of a birth time, we can cast it for noon. The most obvious transit influence is the Moon-Ketu conjunction that will activate his natal Mars by opposition. The Moon (7 Virgo) won’t be exactly opposite his Mars (13 Pisces) but it may be close enough since it is in the company of Ketu which is in a near-exact opposition — and thus Rahu in a near-exact conjunction — with Mars within one degree. The Moon-Mars-Rahu-Ketu influence heightens a sense of stress, conflict and even anger. While some conflict is understandable in an adversarial debate situation, the Moon-Mars pairing implies emotionalism which may not work well for Walz. His style and approach will likely be fairly aggressive and combative in any event, even if the outcome of his efforts is not immediately apparent. Nonetheless, this looks like a trouble spot for him and does not increase his chances of winning the debate.
Of course, the lack of a birth time makes it harder to assess his debate prospects since the exact position of the Moon and the Ascendant are unknown. If he was born in the morning, then the transiting Moon (7 Virgo) would form a very nice Grand Trine with his Venus (9 Taurus) and the Moon (4-9 Capricorn). While the Moon-Ketu-Mars alignment would still be within effective range, it could be offset by the Moon-Moon-Venus alignment. An afternoon or evening birth, however, would move the Moon to 11-16 Capricorn which would weaken any potentially offsetting influence of the Moon and Venus. Predicting Walz’s performance is therefore more speculative than usual.
Like Vance and his Saturn alignments, Walz’s Mars alignment also draws our attention to the possible negative impact of a naturally malefic planet. Mars and Saturn transits are normally associated with unwanted outcomes, even if there are numerous exceptions to this tendency. The possibility of positive outcomes from Saturn transits was clearly demonstrated by Kamala Harris’ Saturn-Venus opposition in July. Not only wasn’t this transit bad for her, it actually coincided with her ascension to the nomination of the Democratic party. Sometimes bad planets bring good things. Let’s see how Mars and Saturn will bestow their favors on Tuesday in the debate.
