Pence, Harris take debate stage tonight
SALT LAKE CITY — Vice President Mike Pence and his Democratic challenger, California Sen. Kamala Harris, are poised to meet tonight for a debate that will offer starkly different visions for a country confronting escalating crises.
The faceoff in Salt Lake City is the most highly anticipated vice presidential debate in recent memory.
It will unfold while President Donald Trump recovers at the White House after testing positive last week for the coronavirus and spending several days in thehospital, a serious setback for his campaign that adds pressure on Pence to defend the administration’s handling of the pandemic.
For Harris, the debate is her highest-profile opportunity to vocalize how the Democratic presidential nominee, Joe Biden, would stabilize the U.S. — especially when it comes to resolving the pandemic and addressing racial injustice.
She’ll be able to explain her views on law enforcement, an area in which she’s viewed warily by some progressives, given her past as a prosecutor.
Ultimately, the debate is a chance for voters to decide whether Pence and Harris are in a position to step into the presidency at a moment’s notice.
That’s hardly a theoretical question as the 74- year-old Trump combats the virus, and Biden, at 77, would become the oldest person to become president if he’s elected.
While the debate likely will cover a range of topics, the virus will be at the forefront.
Pence and Harris will appear on stage exactly 12.25 feet apart separated by plexiglass barriers. Anyone in the small audience who refuses towear a mask will be asked to leave.
Pence, who was with Trump and others last week who have since tested positive, has faced questions about whether he should be at the debate at all.
The vice president repeatedly has tested negative for the virus, and his staff and doctors insist he doesn’t need to quarantine under Centers for Disease Control and Prevention guidelines.
Pence’s team objected to Harris’ request for plexiglass barriers, arguing it was medically unnecessary.
Pence’s chief of staff, Marc Short, said there is “zero risk” of the vice president pulling out of the debate over the plexiglass spat. He said Pence “will be there” because it’s “too important for the American people.”
Sabrina Singh, a spokesperson for Harris, said the senator “will be at the debate, respecting the protections that the Cleveland Clinic has put in place to promote safety for all concerned.”
Pence is eager to seize on Harris and Biden’s liberal policies, but it may be difficult to shift the conversation away from the Republican administration’s uneven handling of the pandemic.
Pence serves as chairman of the president’s coronavirus task force, which has failed to implement a comprehensive national strategy even as Trump himself recovers from the disease and the national death toll surges past 210,000.
It’s unclear how aggressive the candidates will be with eachother.
Some Harris allies fear a conservative approach will prevent her from shining.
“Overly scripting K am ala Harris is tantamount to removing five bullets out of her gun before you walk into a gunfight,” said Nathan Barankin, who served as Harris’ chief of staff in the Senate and when she was California attorney general.
Harris plans to focus on failures of leadership by the Trump-Pence administration but avoid personal attacks against Trump, as Biden has done since the president was hospitalized for the virus, according to a campaign aide who wasn’t authorized to discuss debate planning publicly and spoke on condition of anonymity.
Aides note Pence’s criticism has focused almost exclusively on Biden and his record instead of Harris. It’s likely to stay that way Wednesday, but he hasn’t completely ignored Harris.
In an interview with a conservative talk show host in Iowa last week, the vice president cast the California senator as a left-wing extremist.
“In Kamala Harris, you have someone who actually was the most liberal member of the United States Senate in 2019,” Pence said.