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The 2020 vice presidential debate

Mike Pence and Kamala Harris will take the stage in Salt Lake City, Utah, on Wednesday night.

Contributors: Vox Staff

Despite health experts’ warnings, Vice President Mike Pence and Sen. Kamala Harris will face off in person in the first and only 2020 vice presidential debate Wednesday night in Salt Lake City, Utah.

USA Today Washington bureau chief Susan Page will moderate the debate, which will run from 9 to 10:30 pm ET. Because President Donald Trump and Democratic nominee Joe Biden are the two oldest presidential candidates in American history, this year’s vice presidential debate takes on extra significance.

That’s only compounded because Trump just spent three days in the hospital and is still being treated for Covid-19, raising the specter that the vice president could have to assume presidential duties. Page could ask the candidates about succession, as well as the more general topics of leadership in the middle of a public health emergency.

With Pence having been exposed to Trump and other top government officials who have tested positive for the coronavirus, there was some question as to whether the debate would still take place in person. The candidates will be positioned 13 feet apart with a plexiglass barrier between them. Neither campaign has called for a remote debate.

The two remaining presidential debates are still on for now, scheduled for October 15 in Miami, Florida, and October 22 in Nashville, Tennessee.

Follow along below for Vox’s debate coverage, including how to watch, breaking news updates, analysis, and more.

21 Total Updates Since
Sep 29, 2020, 10:43pm EDT

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October 9, 2020
The second debate between Trump and Biden is canceled

By Ella Nilsen

After sparring between the campaigns over a remote debate, the event commission reportedly called it off.
October 8, 2020
A post-debate focus group of undecided voters suggests that Kamala Harris faces an uphill battle

By Nicole Narea@nicolenarea

Her debate performance didn’t go over well with a mostly male focus group. But polls show a much more favorable response.
October 8, 2020
Why Mike Pence’s pink-looking eye caused so much speculation

By Terry Nguyen

The vice president’s appearance in the debate is more than a meme, given the White House’s lack of transparency about Covid-19.
October 8, 2020
Mike Pence is the normal Republican conservatives miss

By Jane Coaston

Mike Pence represents the ideal: a Trump administration without the Trumpism — or Trump.
October 8, 2020
Mike Pence tried to blame Kamala Harris for undermining a Covid-19 vaccine. But the public blames Trump.

By Dylan Scott@dylanlscott

Pence’s spin on a Covid-19 vaccine ignored the biggest obstacle to public trust: his boss.
October 8, 2020
Trump reshaped the US immigration system — but it’s been ignored at the debates

By Nicole Narea@nicolenarea

Once the focus of Trump’s 2016 campaign, immigration has been treated as an afterthought this election cycle.
October 8, 2020
The first post-VP debate poll says Kamala Harris won

By Andrew Prokop

59 percent of debate watchers said Harris won, and 38 percent said Pence won.
October 8, 2020
“Mr. Vice President, I’m speaking”: Kamala Harris repeatedly shut down Mike Pence’s interruptions at the debate

By Li Zhou

According to data from NBC News, Pence interrupted Harris nearly twice as many times as she interrupted him.
October 8, 2020
How Obamacare became Democrats’ most powerful political weapon

By Ezra Klein@ezraklein

There’s a reason Trump and Pence keep lying about Obamacare, and Biden and Harris keep bringing it up.
October 8, 2020
About that fly in the vice presidential debate

By Jen Kirby

The one real winner of the vice presidential debate.
October 7, 2020
Mike Pence played a weak hand well

By Matthew Yglesias@mattyglesias

Emphasize your popular positions and your opponents’ unpopular ones.
October 7, 2020
5 winners and 3 losers from the vice presidential debate

By Emily Stewart, German Lopez, Ella Nilsen, Li Zhou, Anna North, and Dylan Matthews

Kamala Harris and Mike Pence faced off in 2020’s only VP debate. Here’s who came out ahead.
October 7, 2020
Susan Page, a veteran political journalist, is moderating the vice presidential debate

By Li Zhou

She’s recently been the subject of scrutiny.
October 7, 2020
How to watch the vice presidential debate between Kamala Harris and Mike Pence

By Benjamin Rosenberg

Harris and Pence will face off on Wednesday night.
October 7, 2020
The double standards Kamala Harris may face at the debate, briefly explained

By Li Zhou

How Harris approaches the debate reflects the sexism and racism she has had to deal with her entire career.
October 7, 2020
Trump’s Operation Warp Speed could be a success. The problem is Trump.

By Dylan Scott@dylanlscott

If the US public doesn’t trust a Covid-19 vaccine, Operation Warp Speed will fail.
October 7, 2020
The fight over plexiglass dividers at the VP debate is a microcosm of Pence’s coronavirus failures

By Aaron Rupar@atrupar

From the start, the VP has put optics over public health.
October 7, 2020
Mike Pence should quarantine, not debate

By German Lopez@germanrlopez

Pence shouldn’t be onstage, but his absence would contradict Trump’s campaign message.
October 7, 2020
What a Pence presidency would look like

By Anna North

We’ve already seen a lot of what he might do.
October 5, 2020
Health experts call for the vice presidential debate to be canceled or made virtual

By Benjamin Rosenberg

An in-person debate would be "astonishingly risky."
September 29, 2020
When is the next 2020 debate? The vice presidential debate is on October 7.

By Nicole Narea@nicolenarea

Kamala Harris and Mike Pence will face off.

The 2020 vice presidential debate

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