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Politics

Kamala Harris and Mike Pence to face off in debate

  • Kamala Harris and Mike Pence to face off in debate
    Kamala Harris and Mike Pence to face off in debate
Region:
USA
Category:
Politics
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President Donald Trump’s battle with COVID-19, his age and the age of his Democratic challenger Joe Biden provide an unusual backdrop to Wednesday’s debate between Vice President Mike Pence and Democratic vice presidential nominee Kamala Harris.

Pence and Harris are set to take the stage at the University of Utah in Salt Lake City separated by plastic barriers for a 90-minute debate, a reminder of how the coronavirus pandemic has affected the race ahead of the Nov. 3 election.

The Republican president announced last Friday that he had tested positive for the novel coronavirus amid a White House outbreak and was hospitalized in Maryland for three days receiving a variety of treatments. His doctor said on Wednesday Trump had no COVID-19 symptoms in the past 24 hours.

Either Pence, 61, or Harris, 55, would be a heartbeat away from assuming the presidency, depending on the election’s outcome. How they handle themselves during the debate may be scrutinized even more closely than usual given Trump’s health and the age of both presidential candidates.

Now 77, Biden would be 78 upon taking office in January, which would make him the oldest U.S. president in history. Trump is 74, making his COVID-19 particularly dangerous considering his age and underlying health issues. Trump already is the oldest president to seek re-election.

Biden is leading Trump in national polls, including an advantage of 12 percentage points in the latest Reuters/Ipsos survey of likely voters. Polls show the race to be closer in some of the election battleground states that could determine the winner, although a Reuters/Ipsos poll on Wednesday showed Biden leading Trump in pivotal Florida.

Harris, who will be on the biggest stage of her political career, is a U.S. senator from California picked by Biden in August as his running mate. The daughter of immigrants - her father from Jamaica and her mother from India - Harris is the first Black woman nominated by a major party for vice president as well as the first person of Asian descent.