Before Pence And Harris Debate, Revisit Vice President’s Comments On Women

The internet has plenty of jibes about Vice President Mike Pence debating Senator Kamala Harris, and many of those jokes stem from comments he made over a decade ago. So what did he say about women and married men? Let’s revisit those quotes before their Wednesday night VP debate

In 2017, The Washington Post published a profile on Karen Pence, the Vice President’s wife, and referenced a 2002 article in which the now-VP told The Hill “that he never eats alone with a woman other than his wife and that he won’t attend events featuring alcohol without her by his side, either.”

He called it "building a zone around your marriage."

"If there's alcohol being served and people are being loose, I want to have the best-looking brunette in the room standing next to me," Pence reportedly said of his wife.

Critics took issue, not with his loyalty to his wife, but instead with him seemingly cutting women out of career advancement by not allowing one-on-one business meetings.

Harris responded to these reports in 2019 during her Democratic primary campaign. “I disagree with him when he suggests it’s not possible to have meetings with women alone by himself,” Harris told MSNBC. “I think that’s ridiculous ― the idea that you would deny a professional woman the opportunity to have a meeting with the Vice President of the United States is outrageous.”

Harris can confront Pence Wednesday night during the only 2020 Vice Presidential debate at the University of Utah in Salt Lake City. Find out how to watch.