The first and only vice-presidential debate this election cycle will be held Tuesday, October 4. The debate will air on the major news networks at 6 p.m., from Longwood University in Virginia.
UA students can watch Tim Kaine and Mike Pence share the stage at The Cellar in the Student Union Memorial Center. The Associated Students of the University of Arizona will host this debate-watching party and provide food and refreshments.
Elaine Quijano, a CBS news correspondent, will moderate the vice-presidential debate, making history by being the first Asian-American to moderate a national debate.
The vice-presidential debate will last approximately 90 minutes and will be divided into nine 10-minute segments.
Each segment will focus on a unique topic and will begin with a single question and each candidate will have two minutes to respond to that initial question.
Quijano will utilize the remaining segment time to ask followup questions that explore the topic in a greater depth.
Kaine, Hillary Clinton’s running mate, is a sitting senator from the state of Virginia. Previously, he has served as the chair of the Democratic National Committee, governor of Virginia and mayor of Richmond, Virginia.
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Pence, Donald Trump’s running mate, is currently serving his first term as Indiana’s governor. Before that, Pence represented the state in the House of Representatives for six terms.
Trent Prynn, a computer science major, said he wants the candidates to be asked what initiatives they would put forward as the vice president and to hear their stances on their tickets’ policy.
Robert Alpin, a biochemistry major, said he will be voting for a third party this election and is upset that Gary Johnson and Jill Stein’s vice presidential candidates will not be in the debate.
Libertarian William Weld, a two-term governor of Massachusetts, and Green Party VP candidate Ajamu Baraka, a human rights activists, will not appear in the vice presidential debate because their tickets failed to poll an average of 15 percent nationally, per Commission on Presidential Debates rules.
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Many UA students may not have heard of either vice presidential candidate, but in an election with two of the oldest presidential candidates ever, Kaine or Pence could very well become presidents themselves, Prynn said.
It’s very important to listen to Kaine and Pence talk about how they would handle the office of the presidency, Prynn said, and the policies they would pursue if they were to be elevated to America’s highest office.
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