VP debate live: Kamala Harris slams Mike Pence over coronavirus response and healthcare

On climate change, I wanted to quickly circle back to something Pence said: That there were no more hurricanes than there were 100 years ago. The vice president made this point as evidence that Democrats were exaggerating the impacts of climate change – and it was a bit misleading.

My colleague Oliver Milman addressed this during last year’s hurricane season:

While the overall number of hurricanes has remained roughly the same in recent decades, there is evidence they are intensifying more quickly, resulting in a greater number of the most severe category four and five storms.

The proportion of tropical storms that rapidly strengthen into powerful hurricanes has tripled over the past 30 years, according to recent research. A swift increase in pace over a 24-hour period makes hurricanes less predictable, despite improving hurricane forecasting systems, and more likely to cause widespread damage.

The devastation unleashed by recent hurricanes has led to warnings that premiums may rise as insurers face ballooning claims. A record $135bn was paid out by insurers in North America in 2017, mostly as a result of hurricane damages. “We have a new normal,” says Ernst Rauch, a senior executive at insurance company Munich Re. “We must have on our radar the trend of new magnitudes.”

Pence – in contrast to Donald Trump – delivered his message in a calm, measured tone. But he repeated many of the false claims made by the president.

Most notably, he misconstrued and overplayed the impact of travel restrictions on the US’ coronavirus case count, and misleading Americans on the administration’s stance on healthcare protections for people with preexisting protections.

In other cases, Pence declined to correct Trump’s record. Asked if Pence would accept the results if Republicans lose the presidential election, Pence dodged.

“First and foremost, I think we’re going to win this election,” he said. “When you talk about accepting the outcome of the election, I must tell you, Senator, your party has spent the last three and a half years trying to overturn the results of the last election. It’s amazing.”

Harris didn’t directly respond when asked what she and Biden would do if Pence and Trump refused to step aside, Harris urged: “Please vote. Vote early, come up with a plan to vote.”

When discussion turned to the police and the nationwide protests against police brutality, Pence broached Harris’ record as attorney general of California and her prosecutorial record.

It’s an issue that often came up during the Democratic primaries, and took on new relevance after the police killing of George Floyd triggered protests across the nation. As the Guardian has reported before, while Harris has sought to present herself as a “progressive prosecutor”, her record is more complicated. Her approach to sex work, police reform, prisoners’ rights and truancy have drawn criticism from activists in her home state.

Though she initially disregarded calls to investigate a series of police shootings in San Francisco after the 2014 killing of Michael Brown in Ferguson, Missouri, she did begin to evolve by the end of her tenure as attorney general – and in 2016 suggested some reforms to increase her office’s power to investigate police.

But these criticisms are odd coming from Pence – and Trump, who has brought them up before – given the administration’s harsh “law and order” rhetoric.

The fly on Mike Pence’s head seems to be the breakout star of this debate.

Both vice-presidential candidates, meanwhile, swatted away direct questions – pivoting to topics they wanted to discuss rather than what was actually asked. The 90 minutes flew by, as the candidates buzzed over the moderator’s pleas to stick to time limits.

Sorry … (not sorry)

Pence dodged a question about what he’d do if Trump loses, and refuses to accept the results.

Watching the debate tonight, we’re reminded of something Trump once said about the vice president after Pence dodged a journalist’s question about healthcare earlier this year: “I think that’s one of the greatest answers I’ve ever heard because Mike was able to speak for five minutes and not even touch your question.”

Pence, muttered “Not true,” when Harris referenced Trump’s comments on the Proud Boys.

Harris’ assertion was true – and witnessed by everyone watching on TV. Pence has repeatedly questioned Harris’ grasp of the facts tonight – even as he has continued to make false and misleading statements.

Asked if Breonna Taylor was denied justice, Pence responded: “I trust our justice system,” Pence said.

“This idea that America is systemically racist, that there’s implicit bias in law enforcement,” Pence said, “is a great insult to the men and women who work in law enforcement.”

Harris hit back: “I am the only one on this stage who has personally prosecuted” a range of crimes, she said. She then attacked Trump’s refusal to condemn white supremacists. The president told Proud Boys to “stand back and stand by” during the first presidential debate. “This is part of a pattern,” Harris said, pointing to the president’s racist rhetoric about Mexicans, and his response to white supremacists marching in Charlottesville.

Harris twice avoided answering whether a Biden administration would pack the supreme court.

Biden has taken a similar approach, largely avoiding a straight answer on whether he’d support adding seats to the supreme court if Trump’s nominee Amy Coney Barrett is confirmed.

Asked what they would do in their states if Roe v Wade is overturned by the supreme court, Pence completely evaded the question, and Harris pivoted to healthcare.

Pence began by responding to a previous topic and then accused Democrats of attacking supreme court nominee Amy Coney Barrett – a conservative who is expected to overturn American’s women’s right to abortion – based on her faith.

Harris said she will “always fight for a woman’s right to make choices about her body”. She then pointed out that abortion isn’t the only issue that could be decided by Barrett – the future of the ACA is currently being challenged in the supreme court.

Neither directly said what they’d do in Indiana and California, respectively.

Susan Page gave Pence a talking to, after he repeatedly rolled through her warnings that his time to speak was up.

“You have 15 seconds,” Page warned Pence.

“I gotta have more than that,” he insisted.

Through the night, Page has tried to interrupt, ineffectively, with “thank you, Vice-president Pence” – even as she’s talked over.

On foreign policy, Harris says Trump has “ embraced dictators around the world,” and sided with Russia over American intelligence. “America’s intelligence community told us Russia interfered in the election in 2016,” she said. “But Donald Trump prefers to take the word of Vladimir Putin over word of the U.S. intelligence community”