OnPolitics: Time for Pence and Harris to say words

Wednesday, October 7

OnPolitics: What to know about tonight's big debate

Tonight's vice presidential debate comes at a strange time for the country. So expect to see some fireworks.

The stakes couldn't be higher for Wednesday's debate between Vice President Mike Pence and Sen. Kamala Harris, D-Calif.

Pence, the incumbent, and Harris, the Democratic vice presidential nominee, will meet for their only debate, being hosted at the University of Utah in Salt Lake City.

The debate will air at 9 EDT/6 PDT, and like the presidential debates, is scheduled for 90 minutes with no commercial breaks.

How to watch

Viewers can stream the match-up live at USATODAY.com with real-time facts and context from USA TODAY's team of experts showing on-screen during the debate. The debate also will be aired on most major networks and cable news channels, including Fox News, CNN, ABC, CBS, NBC, MSNBC, PBS and C-SPAN.

Susan Page: Five things to know about the moderator of Wednesday's VP debate

How will the debate work?

The debate will be moderated by Susan Page, USA TODAY's Washington Bureau chief.

Page will personally choose the debate topics, which have not been released yet. The debate will be divided into nine segments of approximately 10 minutes each, with both candidates having two minutes each to answer.

She will use the remainder of the time in each segment to continue the discussion.

Where does the race stand now?

The debate will be the first face-to-face match-up between the campaigns since the contentious debate last week between Trump and Democratic nominee Joe Biden.

Trump continues to trail Biden nationally, according to a new CNN/SSRS poll released Tuesday that found 57% of likely voters support Biden while 41% support Trump.

The remaining two more presidential debates are scheduled for Oct. 15 in Miami and Oct. 22 in Nashville, Tennessee.

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