As Democrats repeatedly call for the remaining debates to be cancelled, tonight may be the last opportunity for a clear contrast between the candidates in this year's presidential election. Less than a month from election day, Vice President Mike Pence and the Democrat's vice-presidential nominee, Senator Kamala Harris (D-Calif.), will go head-to-head in a debate tonight.
It's hard to imagine a sharper contrast in a vice-presidential debate. Mike Pence stands for pro-life, pro-family values, and since the beginning has helped the Trump administration achieve the strongest pro-life, pro-family record of any president in living memory. Meanwhile, California Senator Kamala Harris stands for the abortion and LGBT agenda, and was named the most liberal senator in 2019.
In the Senate, Kamala Harris has consistently voted against pro-life legislation, including the Pain-Capable Unborn Child Protection Act, the No Taxpayer Funding for Abortion Act, and the Born-Alive Abortion Survivors Protection Act. As Attorney General of California, she targeted pregnancy resource centers to force them to post pro-abortion messages on their doors in violation of their First Amendment rights. The abuse of the First Amendment was so egregious the U.S. Supreme Court rule in favor of the pro-life clinics. A recipient of Planned Parenthood largess, Harris also targeted David Daleiden for exposing Planned Parenthood's illegal sale of aborted baby body parts.
Senator Harris was an original cosponsor to the poorly named Equality Act, which would codify the policy wish list of the LGBT lobby. She also supported the Do No Harm Act (again poorly named), which would gut religious freedom protections on LGBT issues.
Senator Harris engaged in religious tests for judicial nominees, including Paul Matey, Judge Brian Buescher, Judge Allison Rushing, and Judge Peter Phipps. In fact, she has voted against a long list of officials nominated by President Trump, including Supreme Court Justices Gorsuch and Kavanaugh, Judge Amy Barrett, Secretary of State Mike Pompeo, former Attorney General Jeff Sessions, Ambassador Sam Brownback, and OMB Director Russ Vought. As attorney general of California, Harris filed briefs against religious freedom in the Hobby Lobby case and for the abortion center in the Whole Women's Health case.
Senator Harris then bucked the traditional wisdom of appearing moderate when she joined the 2020 presidential race, leaning into her progressive record rather than trying to hide it. She pledged to codify Roe v. Wade, repeal the Hyde Amendment, and unconstitutionally require state abortion restrictions to be pre-cleared by her Department of Justice. She even attacked her current running mate, Joe Biden, for not being sufficiently progressive on racial issues.
All of this contrasts with the record of Vice President Mike Pence, who served as a pro-life, pro-family representative and then Governor of Indiana. He was the first sitting Vice President to address the March for Life, and the first to visit a pro-life pregnancy resource center. Amid their relentless attacks on officials in the Trump administration, the liberal media criticized him hardest for, of all things, observing the common-sense Billy Graham rule of having someone else in the room when meeting with a woman.
It's hard to predict how tonight's debate will go. But the records of the candidates in the vice-presidential debate show a stark contrast on policy issues affecting religious freedom, the LGBT agenda, and the lives of the unborn.
