The only Vice Presidential debate to occur this election cycle has concluded from the University of Utah in Salt Lake City. Democratic Vice Presidential candidate Sen. Kamala Harris and Vice President Mike Pence took the stage to discuss topics like the coronavirus pandemic, the economy, the Supreme Court nomination, and health care.
Following the debate, there were many discussions about the number of times Sen. Harris had to remind Vice President Pence to not interrupt her. Despite this, former Los Angeles City Councilmember Jan Perry tells Inside the Issues the former attorney general of California kept her composure, despite the multiple interruptions by Vice President Pence throughout the evening.
“I think what I saw was someone who is a very good lawyer and was probably very good at what she did when she was in the courtroom, because she was composed, she was measured, but she did put him in check when she says, ‘Excuse me, I’m talking,’ because that whole tactic of interrupting your opponent is a tactic,” said Perry. “It’s intended to disrupt or knock your opponent off their train of thought, or suck up time that they may or may not be able to get back and it’s a tactic. But she did put him in check.”
Alex Cohen, host of Inside the Issues, was on the ground in Utah during the debate and said tallies after the debate showed speaking time was roughly equal between the candidates but the interruptions created conversations online about how women and men are perceived in similar situations.
“The real discussion around this, which a lot of women who have ever been at a staff meeting or a gathering where they are talked over is: How do you reclaim that time? How do you take back your moment without being perceived as aggressive or much worse?,” she asked. “And that is a very difficult line for women and I would say, and this is something I can’t speak of from lived experience, but women of color, that is a real question of them of how do they do that without being perceived as aggressive and it’ll be very interesting to see how that resonated with voters tonight, not only in Southern California but all across the country.”
Sean T. Walsh, Republican strategist, said Sen. Harris’ performance showed she could step into the role as president should something happen to Joe Biden if he is elected, while Vice President Pence showed there is a calmness in the White House. Walsh said the election will come down to a small percentage of voters in Midwestern states.
“The issue is going to be: Do you want to fire Donald Trump, and then what do you want to replace Donald Trump with?,” he said. “I do think that Vice President Biden’s age is going to be a factor. He has slipped on other areas. Republicans have said 'does he have some sort of less sharp mental acuity', that’s an issue they want to raise and so they will also play to Midwestern states that Senator Harris tends to be more liberal and more progressive and out-of-step, a San Francisco liberal, per se, and it’s out of touch with Ohio, Michigan and rural Pennsylvania.”
Mathew Littman, political strategist, agreed that Sen. Harris is not a threatening figure and though former Vice President Joe Biden is older than President Donald Trump, his mental capacity is not the one to question.
“I think we would say that Joe Biden, mentally, is doing a lot better than Donald Trump seems to be these days. I mean, Donald Trump is melting down on Twitter all day today and all day yesterday, so I don’t see that as being much of a factor,” he said. “I think the problem that the Trump campaign has, the biggest problem is: the record of Donald Trump isn’t good. One thing that Mike Pence did tonight, was very smart, was he stayed away from it a lot, he changed the subject. He talked about the Affordable Care Act. When he was asked about the Affordable Care Act, and getting rid of people being able to [have] pre-existing conditions — he just didn’t talk about it, he moved on to another subject. That’s kind of what he almost has to do. But I think that Kamala serves Joe Biden very well as the VP nominee; not threatening at all.”
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