Incumbent vice president Mike Pence and California senator and vice presidential candidate Kamala Harris will face off from 13 feet apart in the 2020 vice presidential debate this evening at the University of Utah in Salt Lake City. The two candidates will be separated from one another by plexiglass, in light of the coronavirus that has spread throughout the White House.
The plans for plexiglass have the support of the Cleveland Clinic, which is helping to set health protocols for the forums amid the pandemic.
USA Today Washington bureau chief Susan Page will serve as moderator for Wednesday evening’s festivities, which should be different in tone and substance from what we saw last Tuesday evening.
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Below are the networks’ in-depth coverage plans, in case you’re interested.
ABC:
- As it did for the presidential debate, ABC will present three hours of special prime-time coverage of this evening’s vice presidential debate, 8-11 p.m. ET on ABC TV.
- Chief anchor George Stephanopoulos will lead coverage from New York, joined by World News Tonight anchor David Muir and ABC News Live Prime anchor Linsey Davis.
- Network coverage begins at 8 p.m. ET with a one-hour special, Pence vs. Harris: The Vice Presidential Debate—A Special Edition of 20/20.
- ABC News’ political team will provide context and analysis following the debate.
- ABC News Live will begin coverage at 7 p.m. ET previewing the debate on the network’s streaming news channel.
- ABC News’ political team reporting the latest on the race, campaigns and the issues includes senior congressional correspondent and lead campaign correspondent Mary Bruce and White House correspondent Rachel Scott reporting from Salt Lake City.
- Nightline anchor Byron Pitts, chief global affairs correspondent and This Week co-anchor Martha Raddatz, chief justice correspondent Pierre Thomas, chief White House correspondent and This Week co-anchor Jonathan Karl, senior White House correspondent Cecilia Vega, World News Tonight weekend anchor and chief national affairs correspondent Tom Llamas, senior national correspondent Terry Moran, FiveThirtyEight editor in chief Nate Silver, special correspondent Matthew Dowd and chief legal analyst Dan Abrams will participate.
- Contributors Yvette Simpson, Rahm Emanuel, Kate Shaw and Sara Fagen will provide analysis on the debate and campaigns.
- ABC News Live will kick off debate coverage at 7 p.m. ET on ABC News Live Prime with Linsey Davis.
- ABC News Live will then simulcast the network’s pre-debate special, the debate and the network’s post-debate analysis, and immediately after, a roundtable will add additional context and analysis for streaming audiences.
- Earlier in the day, Anchor Diane Macedo will anchor ABC News Live Update at 9 a.m. ET and 11 a.m. ET, and Your Voice Your Vote: The Breakdown, ABC News Live’s issues-oriented political program airing at 3 p.m. ET, along with Moran, will preview the debate and have complete wrap-up coverage the following day with reaction from voters on the issues that are important to them.
- ABC News will have comprehensive digital coverage of the debate on ABCNews.com, the ABC News mobile app and Apple News, with live updates, fact checks, key takeaways, breakout moments during the debate and post-debate analysis.
- Content includes an Issues VP video featuring where Vice President Mike Pence and Sen. Kamala Harris stand on multiple issues.
- FiveThirtyEight will preview the debate on the FiveThirtyEight Politics podcast and in its weekly politics chat. Working with the polling firm Ipsos, FiveThirtyEight will also survey voters both before and after the debate to gauge the debate’s impact. After the event, the team will publish a post-debate episode of the Politics podcast and a post-debate Ipsos poll that looks at who voters think won the debate and how the debate changed (or didn’t change) the race.
- ABC News Radio will offer three hours of live, anchored coverage the night of the debate, including a one-hour pre-show, followed by the debate and post-debate analysis.
- Correspondent Aaron Katersky will anchor coverage with reporting and analysis by correspondent Karen Travers, political analyst Steve Roberts, political director Rick Klein, deputy political director MaryAlice Parks and others from ABC News’ and FiveThirtyEight’s political teams.
- ABC News Radio will also offer multiple one-minute Status Reports throughout the night.
- ABC NewsOne, the affiliate news service of ABC News, will provide full coverage with multiplatform Reporter Zohreen Shah reporting from the site of the debate and analysis from Klein. NewsOne provides news content and services for more than 200 ABC affiliates and international news partners.
- Marc Burstein is the senior ep of ABC News Special Events, and David Sloan is the senior ep of Network Primetime Content.
NBC:
- Starting at 9 p.m. ET, NBC Nightly News anchor Lester Holt and Today co-anchor and NBC News chief legal correspondent Savannah Guthrie will anchor from NBC News headquarters in New York
- Meet the Press moderator and NBC News political director Chuck Todd and NBC News chief foreign affairs correspondent and senior Washington correspondent Andrea Mitchell will anchor from Washington, D.C.
MSNBC:
- Beginning at 8 p.m. ET, Rachel Maddow, Nicolle Wallace, Joy Reid and Brian Williams will anchor MSNBC’s special Decision 2020 coverage of the vice presidential debate on Wednesday, Oct. 7 live from NBC News headquarters in New York.
- Maddow, Wallace, Reid and Williams will be joined by a team of MSNBC political correspondents and experts with reporting and insight throughout the night including NBC News national political correspondent Steve Kornacki, who will be stationed at the Big Board with the latest numbers and polling data.
- Once the debate wraps, Maddow, Wallace and Reid join Williams for post-debate coverage and analysis. Ari Melber continues special coverage at 12:30 a.m. ET.
- NBC News Digital:
- NBC News Now will provide debate coverage for free, including a pre-show hosted by Chuck Todd and joined by Kasie Hunt at 8 p.m. ET, available to stream live and on demand on Peacock, NBCUniversal’s streaming service, as well as on YouTube TV, Fubo, Xumo, Pluto and NBC News’ OTT apps on Roku, Fire TV and Apple TV.
- The NBC News digital politics team will live-blog the debate with minute-by-minute updates, highlights and takeaways. The live blog will feature reporting from Alex Seitz-Wald and Sahil Kapur, debate analysis from Jonathan Allen and fact checks by Jane Timm and Adam Edelman.
- The NBC Stay Tuned team will cover the most important moments and will partner with Snapchat to create near-live highlights of the debates. The dynamically updating episodes will be an edited highlights show from key debate moments within Stay Tuned’s channel.
- The NBC News Data Graphics team will be tracking topics covered throughout the debates in a digital interactive format, in addition to its continuously updated interactives on voting, polling, early results and user predictor tools.
- NBC News and MSNBC correspondents and reporters will contribute to debate coverage and provide the latest reporting and analysis across both networks and online, including Geoff Bennett, Mike Memoli, Ali Vitali, Lauren Egen and Janell Ross on the ground in Utah.
- Chris Jansing will report live from nearby battleground Arizona and will speak with undecided voters before and after the debate.
- NBC News’ County to County reporters will be embedded in key bellwether counties across the country, including Dasha Burns in Beaver County, Pa.; Ellison Barber in Miami-Dade County, Fla.; Vaughn Hillyard in Maricopa County, Ariz.; and Shaquille Brewster in Milwaukee County, Wis.
CNN:
- Erin Burnett and Anderson Cooper will kick off pre-debate coverage at 7 p.m. ET.
- At 8 p.m. ET, Cooper will be joined by Wolf Blitzer, Jake Tapper, Dana Bash and Abby Phillip, who will pick back up for post-debate coverage when the debate concludes at 10:30 p.m. ET.
- John King will be at the Magic Wall.
- Chris Cuomo and Don Lemon will lead the conversation from 1-3 a.m. ET.
- Ryan Nobles, Kyung Lah and Jason Carroll will be on the ground in Salt Lake City.
- Reporting and analysis will also be provided by CNN’s Gloria Borger, Nia Malika Henderson, Jeff Zeleny and Mark Preston.
- CNN commentators will include David Axelrod, Van Jones, Kirsten Powers, Rick Santorum, Michael Smerconish, Andrew Yang, Scott Jennings and David Gregory.
- David Chalian will share the findings of a post-debate poll of debate watchers, and Sara Sidner will be with a swing state voter focus group in Arizona.
- In addition, CNN’s Daniel Dale will contribute real-time fact-checking throughout the evening.
- On digital platforms, CNN’s political team will break down news live throughout the debate, with analysis on CNN’s Live Story and on every screen you find CNN.
- CNN Politics will cover every exchange between the candidates, with details delivered straight into one’s inbox from the teams behind What Matters, The Point with Chris Cillizza and for international audiences Meanwhile in America, where CNN delivers daily analysis of U.S. politics for global readers.
- CNN’s team of fact checkers will hold both vp candidates accountable by pointing out what’s true and what’s not across all platforms and at CNN.com/FactsFirst.
- The debate will stream live, without requiring a cable log-in, on CNN.com’s homepage and across mobile devices via CNN’s apps for iOS and Android. It can also be viewed on CNNgo (at CNN.com/go on your desktop, smartphone and iPad and via CNNgo apps for Apple TV, Amazon Fire, Android TV, Chromecast and Roku) and will be available on demand to subscribers via cable/satellite systems, CNNgo platforms and CNN mobile apps.
Fox News:
- Fox News presents special live programming surrounding the 2020 vice presidential debate.
- Coverage will be available across all of Fox News Media’s platforms, including Fox News Audio and Fox News Digital, as well as streamed abroad on Fox News International.
- From 9-11 p.m. ET, chief political anchor and Special Report’s Bret Baier and The Story’s Martha MacCallum will co-anchor coverage live from Salt Lake City.
- Throughout the special, the anchors will be joined by a team of commentators for analysis, including Fox News Sunday’s Chris Wallace, senior political analyst Brit Hume, co-host of The Five and The Daily Briefing anchor Dana Perino, as well as co-host of The Five and political analyst Juan Williams.
- FNC contributors Donna Brazile, Karl Rove and Katie Pavlich will also offer analysis throughout the evening.
- Additionally, FNC will offer all Fox affiliates special debate coverage from Salt Lake City anchored by FNC’s Bill Hemmer.
- Stations will also have the opportunity to livestream Hemmer’s coverage on digital and social platforms without interrupting their regularly scheduled programming.
- Additionally, FNC’s The Daily Briefing, Bill Hemmer Reports and The Five will broadcast from Salt Lake City while all other programs will originate from the network’s Washington, D.C., and New York bureaus.
- Hemmer will co-anchor America’s Newsroom from Salt Lake City, while Sandra Smith will remain in New York.
- Later that evening, Hannity will be presented live at 11 p.m. ET, followed by special editions of The Ingraham Angle at 12 a.m. ET and Fox News @ Night with Shannon Bream at 1 a.m. ET.
Fox Business:
- Beginning at 8 p.m. ET, FBN svp and managing editor of business news Neil Cavuto will anchor a prime-time special entitled Fox Business Network Presents Democracy 2020: The Vice Presidential Debate featuring pre- and post-debate analysis, as well as live coverage of the debate itself.
- Throughout the evening, Cavuto will be joined by a rotating panel of business and political experts, including host of Lou Dobbs Tonight Lou Dobbs, WSJ at large host Gerry Baker, After the Bell co-anchor Connell McShane, Lisa “Kennedy” Montgomery and financial correspondent Jackie DeAngelis, among others, to provide reaction on the night’s event and its potential impact on the political economy.
- In addition, FoxBusiness.com will feature live updates throughout the evening, including real-time futures and international market reaction to the debate. The platform will also livestream the debate, beginning at 9 p.m. ET.
CBS:
- CBS News’ live, prime-time coverage of the debate will air on the CBS Television Network from 9-11 p.m. ET led by CBS Evening News anchor and managing editor Norah O’Donnell from Washington.
- CBS This Morning co-host Gayle King and 60 Minutes correspondent and CBS News senior political analyst John Dickerson will join O’Donnell.
- CBS News chief Washington correspondent Major Garrett will provide fact-checks during the post-debate coverage.
- Valerie Jarrett, former senior adviser to President Obama, and CBS News political analyst and President Trump’s former chief of staff Reince Priebus will offer insight and analysis. CBS News correspondent Nikole Killion will report live from the debate site in Salt Lake City. CBS News White House correspondent Ben Tracy will report from the White House.
- CBSN, CBS News’ free 24/7 streaming news service, will provide coverage of the debate starting at 5 p.m., ET with Red & Blue followed by a debate pre-show at 8:30 p.m. ET.
- CBSN will stream the debate live and will follow up with a post-show at 11 p.m. ET. The coverage will be anchored by CBSN’s Elaine Quijano. CBSN political reporter Caitlin Huey-Burns will report from Salt Lake City.
Univision:
- Univision News announces its special coverage of the U.S. vice presidential debate of the 2020 electoral season will air live on Wednesday, Oct. 7, 2020, from 8:55 p.m. to 11 p.m. ET on Univision.
- Univision News will air and livestream the debate with simultaneous Spanish-language translation, co-anchored by Ilia Calderón and Jorge Ramos.
- Calderón and Ramos will be joined by:
- Luis Miranda Jr., Democratic political analyst, founding member of The MirRam Group and board chair of Latino Victory, a grassroots organization that supports Biden’s presidential candidacy.
- Jesús Márquez, Republican political analyst, radio personality and Latinos for Trump advisory board co-chairman.
- Rosario Marín, former treasurer of the United States who served under President George W. Bush and now supports Biden’s presidential candidacy.
- Univision News anchor Patricia Janiot will bring viewers the minute-by-minute fact-checking of the candidates statements, which will be verified in real time by the team that runs elDetector, Univision’s data-checking platform.
- Viewers will also be able to interact directly with the FactCHAT bot through a WhatsApp chat and consult on the statements and data that matters most to them during the debate.
- Univision senior correspondent Pedro Rojas will report from the University of Utah in Salt Lake City, the side of the debate.
- In addition, UnivisionNoticias.com will have a pre-debate special edition of Politiqueando with Univision senior politics editor Carlos Chirinos from 8:30 p.m. to 8:55 p.m. ET.
- UnivisionNoticias.com will also have a live blog, special content on its politics site Destino 2020 and fact-checking on elDetector.
Telemundo:
- Noticias Telemundo’s live special coverage on Wednesday, Oct. 7 will include the 90-minute debate, analysis from an on-air team of political analysts, fact-checks and a live blog by Noticias Telemundo’s digital news team with highlights and key takeaways.
- Network anchors José Díaz-Balart and Felicidad Aveleyra will anchor Noticias Telemundo’s special Decision 2020 coverage, joined by Julio Vaqueiro.
- Coverage of the debate will begin at 8:55 p.m. ET/7:55 p.m. CT/5:55 p.m. PT.
- Noticias Telemundo post-debate analysis from Telemundo’s political analyst team:
- Victoria DeFrancesco Soto, assistant dean for civic engagement and a lecturer at the LBJ School of Public Affairs at the University of Texas at Austin
- Alfonso Aguilar, president of Latino Partnership for Conservative Principles
- Clarissa Martinez, vice president of policy and advocacy at UnidosUS, a Latino civic engagement organization
- Fact-checks by T Verifica, Noticias Telemundo’s new fact-checking platform, com.
- Anchor Julio Vaqueiro will also present the fact-checks on air.
- Exclusive digital content presented by Telemundo correspondent Damià Bonmatí on Noticias Telemundo’s digital platforms, including its new mobile app, Noticias Telemundo’s YouTube, Facebook and Twitter accounts, com and on Amazon’s Alexa.
PBS:
- NewsHour will cover the debate between Vice President Mike Pence and Democratic vice presidential nominee Senator Kamala Harris tonight from 9-11 p.m. ET.
- The special coverage will be anchored by managing editor Judy Woodruff and include contributions from PBS NewsHour senior national correspondent Amna Nawaz, White House correspondent Yamiche Alcindor, Capitol Hill correspondent Lisa Desjardins and Amy Walter of the Cook Political Report, among others. Nawaz will engage with a panel of voters to discuss their impressions of each debate.
- Free Beacon editor in chief Eliana Johnson will contribute to coverage.
- In addition to its broadcast on PBS stations, the program will stream at pbs.org/newshour and pbs.org; on PBS NewsHour’s Facebook, YouTube and Twitter; and on the PBS Video App (available on iOS, Android, Roku, Apple TV, Android TV, Amazon Fire TV, Chromecast and smart TVs).
C-SPAN:
Bloomberg:
- Bloomberg TV and Radio will provide live coverage and analysis of the Vice Presidential Debate tonight starting at 8:30 p.m. ET.
- Anchor David Westin will be joined by Bloomberg contributor Rick Davis and Jeanne Zaino. Plus, historical perspective from George Washington University’s Lara Brown and reaction from Larry Sabato of the University of Virginia Center for Politics and creator of Larry Sabato’s Crystal Ball.
- Chief Washington correspodent Kevin Cirilli will report from the debate site.
Spectrum Networks:
- Spectrum Networks’ national live coverage of the general election debates will continue this week, with political anchors from across the country providing in-depth analysis, insights and objective commentary of the vice presidential debate on Wednesday, Oct. 7 at 9 p.m. ET/6 p.m. PT.
- Spectrum News’ live network-wide coverage will air on its 30-plus news networks in nine states, including five key battleground states—Florida, North Carolina, Ohio, Wisconsin and Texas—and on the Spectrum News App available to all Spectrum residential customers, including internet-only.
- Following the debate, Spectrum News will air Decision 2020: Spectrum News Post-Debate Special, featuring a roundtable of Spectrum News political anchors from regional markets across the country.
- Hosted by NY1 anchor Errol Louis, the hour-long post-debate special will include analysis from Spectrum News Texas political anchor Karina Kling, Spectrum News 1 North Carolina political anchor Tim Boyum, Spectrum News 13 Anchor Ybeth Bruzual from Orlando, Fla., and Spectrum News 1 Southern California’s Alex Cohen live from the debate site in Salt Lake City.
- NY1 political director Bob Hardt will analyze how the Pence-Harris debate compares to past vp debates and Capital Tonight anchor Susan Arbetter from Upstate New York will fact-check the candidates’ speeches.
- Spectrum’s D.C. bureau and political reporters in each region also will report on the issues at the state and local levels.
- On the Spectrum News App, Spectrum’s political journalists will include Capital Tonight anchor Karina Kling (Texas), Political Connections anchor Holly Gregory (Tampa Bay), Spectrum News D.C. bureau reporters Taylor Popielarz (Ohio), Jeevan Vital (New York), Taurean Small (Wisconsin) and Alex Cohen (Southern California).
- Ybeth Bruzual (Orlando) and Tim Boyum (North Carolina) will live blog throughout the debate.