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US Vice President Mike Pence and his Democratic rival, California Sen. Kamala Harris, are meeting for a debate that will offer completely different views of a country facing ever-increasing crises.
The showdown started at 2 p.m. NZT, or Wednesday night in Salt Lake City, is the most anticipated vice presidential debate in recent memory. It works for 90 minutes.
Getty Images / Getty Images
The Democratic candidate for the vice presidency of the United States, Kamala Harris, and Vice President Mike Pence will take the stage in a single debate.
Candidates are separated by Plexiglas barriers in an auditorium where any guests who refuse to wear a mask will be eliminated.
Pence seeks to boost the Republican ballot, which lags behind in the polls.
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The debate unfolds as US President Donald Trump recovers in the White House after testing positive for the coronavirus last week and spending several days in the hospital, a serious setback for his campaign that puts pressure on Pence to defend the management of the pandemic.
For Harris, the debate is his highest-profile opportunity to express how Democratic presidential candidate Joe Biden would stabilize America, especially when it comes to solving the pandemic and addressing racial injustice. She will be able to explain her views on law enforcement, an area some progressives view her with suspicion, given her past as a prosecutor.
Ultimately, the debate is an opportunity for voters to decide whether Pence and Harris are fit to assume the presidency at any time. It’s not a theoretical question as Trump, 74, is fighting the virus, and Biden, at 77, would become the oldest person to become president if elected.
Julio Cortez / AP
A camera operator is surrounded by Plexiglas panels to protect himself against Covid-19 before the vice-presidential debate between Mike Pence and Kamala Harris at the University of Utah in Salt Lake City. The vice presidential debate takes place at 2pm on Thursday NZT.
Pence and Harris appeared on stage exactly 3.7 meters apart, separated by Plexiglas barriers.
Pence, who was with Trump and others last week who have since tested positive, has faced questions about whether he should be in the debate. The vice president has repeatedly tested negative for the virus, and his staff and doctors insist he does not need to self-quarantine according to the guidelines of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
Pence’s team opposed Harris’s request for Plexiglass barriers, arguing that it was medically unnecessary. But the Presidential Debate Committee had already accepted the barriers, and Pence’s attendees said his presence would not deter him from attending the event.
Julio Cortez / AP
A production staff member holds up a seating chart as he labels socially distanced chairs before the vice presidential debate at the University of Utah.
Despite early discussions, the debate is unlikely to be a repeat of the chaotic debate between Trump and Biden last week.
Pence is eager to take advantage of the liberal policies of Harris and Biden, but it can be difficult to divert the conversation from the unequal handling of the pandemic by the Republican administration. Pence is serving as chair of the president’s task force on coronavirus, which has failed to implement a comprehensive national strategy even as Trump himself recovers from the disease and the death toll nationally exceeds 210,000 with no clear end to the view.
Biden has raised questions about whether he will participate in his next scheduled debate with Trump, telling reporters on Tuesday: “I think if you still have Covid-19, then we shouldn’t have a debate.”
Patrick Semansky / AP
Workers clean protective plastic panels on stage between tables for Vice President Mike Pence and Democratic vice presidential candidate Sen. Kamala Harris.
The vice president is a 61-year-old former Indiana governor and radio host, an evangelical Christian known for his country charm and unwavering loyalty to Trump.
Harris is a 55-year-old senator from California, the daughter of a Jamaican father and an Indian mother. She is also a former prosecutor whose sharp questioning of Trump appointees and court nominees and a genius on the campaign trail made her a Democratic star.
She will make history as the first black woman to appear in a vice presidential debate. Democrats hope the storied nature of his candidacy will help energize key groups of likely Democratic voters, particularly African Americans and youth, who have shown less enthusiasm for Biden.
