The debate between former Vice President Mike Pence and Senator Kamala Harris took place on October 7, 2020. During the debate, there were moments where the candidates made claims or statements that went unchallenged by the moderators, David Muir and Martha Raddatz. Some examples include.
1. Vice President Pence claimed that President Donald Trump never threatened a “bloodbath” if he lost the election. However, in context, Trump was referring to the potential impact on the US auto industry if Democrats won, not about violence during the election itself.
2. Senator Harris mentioned Trump’s statement about there being “very fine people on both sides” of the Charlottesville race riot. While some of his supporters argue that he was not referring to white supremacists involved in the event, the context and the phrasing of his statement have been widely criticized for its perceived dog whistle nature.
3. Vice President Pence claimed that the Supreme Court recently ruled in favor of police immunity, which is a contentious issue in policing reform. However, this ruling was made by a lower court and not the Supreme Court.
4. Senator Harris stated that four police officers died on January 6 during the Capitol riot. In reality, no law enforcement officers died as a direct result of the insurrection.
5. Both candidates made claims about each other’s stance or actions without providing evidence to back up their statements. For example, Vice President Pence accused Senator Harris of supporting a plan to defund the police, while she claimed that he was undermining efforts to fight the coronavirus pandemic.
The moderators did not fact-check these claims during the debate, leading some to argue that they appeared biased in favor of one candidate or that they were attempting to control the narrative by fact-checking only one side. Critics also questioned why the moderators did not challenge Senator Harris’ claim about a police officer dying on January 6 when it is widely accepted as false information.
In response to the perceived lack of fairness in the debate, some conservative commentators and former Trump administration officials took to Twitter to express their frustration with the moderators’ approach, accusing them of only fact-checking statements made by the former president and not those made by Senator Harris.
