US Vice-Presidential debate: Everything you need to know
- Published
A live TV debate between the two candidates who are battling it out for the vice-presidency of the United States took place in Salt Lake City last night. Kamala Harris (left) is representing the Democrat party and hopes to become the vice-president with Joe Biden as president. Mike Pence (right) is the current vice-president. He's President Donald Trump's running mate in the election which is due to take place on 3 November 2020.
As expected, the debate was dominated by questions about the handling of the coronavirus pandemic. Both candidates had to be socially distanced 3.6 metres apart from one another and there was a big sheets of plexiglass in-front of the two desks. Kamala Harris accused Mike Pence and the president, Donald Trump, of deliberately misleading Americans about the danger of the virus, which has killed 200,000 Americans to date. However, when asked whether she'd take a government-backed vaccine she said she would not take a jab promoted by Mr Trump without the say-so of medical professionals. Mr Pence said this stance undermined "public confidence in a vaccine" and was not right.
Kamala Harris is the first black woman and South Asian American to ever be nominated for the vice-president role. In the debate, she said that America is systemically racist and that police are biased against ethnic minorities. Her comments were in reference to the death of unarmed black man George Floyd, who died after he was stopped by police. His death led to protests all over the world.
Mike Pence said he was shocked by the death of George Floyd but also said "there is no excuse for the rioting and looting that followed" in America. He denied that the country is racist and argued that Harris was being hypocritical because she had been tougher on ethnic minority Americans than white Americans in her former role as a prosecutor in San Francisco.
However, the main talking point of the debate was a fly, which stole the show by landing on Mike Pence's head while he was trying to answer one of Kamala Harris's questions! Loads of people on social media said they were really distracted by the fly and, as a result, couldn't focus on the answers from Pence and Harris.
- Published21 January 2021
- Published3 November 2020
