Many sources claim that the Vice Presidential debate tonight is the most important in history, as President Donald Trump has tested positive for COVID-19 and Joe Biden is 77 and reportedly does not want a second term if he is elected. How much do you think you know about the two candidates?

Kamala Harris has had a long, impressive political career which has led her to her nomination as the Democratic Vice Presidential candidate. Harris was born in Oakland, California and graduated from Howard University and the University of California. She began her career in the district attorney’s office in Alameda county and rose through the ranks until 2003, when she became the district attorney of San Francisco. She was elected as attorney general of California in 2010 and was re-elected in 2014. She then became the first South Asian American to serve in the Senate after defeating Loretta Sanchez in 2016. During her term in the Senate, Harris has advocated for healthcare reform, decriminalization of marijuana, a path to citizenship for undocumented immigrants, the DREAM act, a ban on assault weapons, and a progressive tax reform. Kamala Harris is most controversial for overseeing 1,900+ convictions for marijuana offenses during her time as San Francisco’s attorney general. She is known to have been tough-on-crime in her days as an attorney general and the laws that she protected harmed predominantly black and brown communities. This reputation haunts her image to this day. Harris ran for the 2020 Democratic Presidential nomination and ended her campaign on December 3rd, 2019, and she was announced as Joe Biden’s running mate on August 11th. She is the first Black and Asian American to run as a Vice Presidential candidate, and the third woman to do so.

Mike Pence has had a long, but only recently successful political career. He is known to be a fundamentalist Christian conservative, and he is currently the vice president. Mike Pence was born and raised in Columbus, Indiana and earned a law degree from Indiana University. He lost two bids for a congressional seat in 1988 and 1990 and became a conservative talk show host from 1994 to 1999. During his time hosting his show, Pence was known to criticize the “myth” of global warming and the “monster” Dr. Jack Kevorkian, a doctor that advocated for the right to euthanasia. It is believed that after his election failures, learning how to communicate with his base using his talk show readied him for his successes soon after. Pence was elected to the House of Representatives in 2000, in which he took office from 2001 to 2013. In 2012, Pence won the Republican nomination for the governor of Indiana and took office in 2013. As governor, he implemented the largest tax cut in Indiana’s history and signed bills to restrict abortions, even one that justified abortion on the reason of birth defect and disability. Pence is most controversial for his views on reproductive rights, LGBTQ+ rights, his support for conversion therapy and his Religious Freedom Restoration Act. During a speech after he was nominated for Vice President, Pence described himself as “a Christian, a conservative, and a Republican, in that order.” Mike Pence was inaugurated as the Vice President of the United States on January 20th, 2017 and is running with President Donald Trump for re-election.

The debate is on from 9:00pm to 10:30pm. Fill out a bingo card while watching!