U.S. Vice President Mike Pence and Senator Kamala Harris (D-CA) faced off Wednesday evening in the vice presidential debate at Kingsbury Hall in Salt Lake City, Utah. USA Today journalist Susan Page served as the moderator, and she covered numerous topics. Normally the vice presidential debate is unimportant, but with President Donald Trump recovering from COVID-19 and Democratic candidate former Vice President Joe Biden at the age of 77, the second person in the line of succession became significant.
The debate was more polite than the first presidential debate, but Pence did interrupt Harris several times, to which she replied: "I'm speaking." Both, especially Pence, avoided directly answering some questions. The calmer nature of the debate made the policy contrast between the candidates clear.
Harris started by hammering the Trump administration for its coronavirus response and blamed them for the death toll of over 210,000. She criticized Trump for long downplaying the pandemic and failing to supply people with enough protective equipment. She accused Trump of politicizing and attempting to speed up the vaccine development and approval process. She direly warned that Trump would allow the Supreme Court to strike down the Affordable Care Act if reelected.
Pence argued that his administration's COVID-19 response was adequate, though he acknowledged the people's sacrifice during the pandemic. He claimed the death toll would have been worse if Trump had not urged distancing in March. He praised Trump's early move to restrict travel from China and promised that a historic vaccine approval is near. On healthcare, Pence slammed Affordable Care Act as a failure but declined to offer the Republican replacement at this time.
On the economy, Harris said Biden would repeal Trump's tax cuts that disproportionately helped the uber-wealthy and invest in infrastructure, research and development, free public college, student debt relief, and clean energy. She promised Biden would not raise taxes on anyone earning less than $400,000, which Pence objected to. She also accused Trump of taking credit for Obama-Biden's strong economy and then presiding over a horrible recession.
Pence touted the Trump tax cuts as giving an average working family $2,000 annually, and he noted the 11.6 million jobs added since the pandemic. He praised the Republican deregulation agenda, new fair trade deals like the USMCA, and the CARES Act and Paycheck Protection Program for small business. He also claimed Biden would end the U.S.-China trade war, repeal the tariffs, and surrender to China.
On climate, Harris reiterated that Biden will not ban fracking. She then said Biden believes in the science of climate change. She noted the Biden economic plan will create 7 million new jobs, many in renewables. She emphasized the lofty goal of net zero emissions in the U.S. by 2050. Harris accused the Trump administration of not believing in science and rolling back climate progress.
Pence responded that he believes in climate science but is strongly opposed to Biden's version of the Green New Deal and the Paris Climate Accord. He again pointed to the Trump tax cuts and argued Biden's climate plan would hike taxes. His argument was that private sector innovation and natural gas and fracking will reduce carbon emissions without government mandates.
Once again, Pence channeled Trump and refused to commit to a peaceful transition of power if he loses the election. Pence promised they will win and cautioned about voter fraud from universal mail-in voting, though he conceded he believes the election will be free and fair. Overall, the debate had no clear winner, as both sides held their own.
