Local Republican and Democratic leaders discuss expectations for Vice Presidential debate
MACON, Ga.-- As the country gears up to watch Vice President Mike Pence and Senator Kamala Harris in the vice presidential debate, local Republican and Democratic leaders are discussing what they expect and want to see from their party's candidate.
State Representative Heath Clark (R), tells WGXA he wants to see a level a preparedness on part of each of the candidates.
"What I'm hoping to see is that they talk about the issues, that they seem prepared if something happens that they are equipped to and prepared to take over the presidency of the United States of America, that they have a firm grasp on the issues that are facing America and have solutions," he says.
State Representative Miriam Paris (D), says she too wants to see the issues that Americans are grappling with addressed from a policy standpoint.
She also hopes to see more decorum out of the Pence and Harris compared to the first presidential debate.
Clark says Georgians, and all Americans need to see from both Harris and Pence are "two people who are aware of the issues, have a grasps of the issues, and have solutions to those issues."
Paris says what the people need to see from the Biden-Harris ticket during the debate is that "these are people that are going to listen to science and acknowledge that there is some real truth in the world and not everything is up for question, that we can tackle climate change and health care."
Clark wants his candidate to show his strengths, which Clark believe is a certain level of stability and experience that Pence brings to the ticket.
Clark says he would like Pence to specifically focus on the success of the current administration regarding the economy and the response to COVID-19.
"Talk about the successes that we've seen and what you plan on working with the president going forward, what another four years are going to look like and some of the plans they have to continue to the success of the current administration," says Clark.
He mentions that it is also important for Pence to discuss challenges that the administration has had and how they have learned from those challenges to improve.
On the other hand, Paris says Harris should not only focus on her policies as vice president, but focus on holding the current vice president's accountable.
"I want to see her hold Mike Pence's feet to the fire with his failed leadership on the pandemic task force," she says. "I'm expecting her to ask him the tough questions that American's want to hear the answers to."
Paris mentions that there have been 200,000 American deaths due to COVID-19, and that is 200,000 too many.
WGXA asked both Clark and Paris if they believed the vice presidential debate had more riding on it than in previous elections.
Paris doesn't think there are many undecided voters at this point in time.
However, she believes people lost a lot of hope and time with the first debate, but hopes the vice presidential debate will show different aspects of what the administrations could look like.
"Hopefully because the two personalities are changing on this debate seen we will get a little more decorum and a clearer view of what the administration will look like," she says. "We see what the current one looks like and now what we need to show is what a different administration would look like."
Clarks thinks this debate might be more important than usual for the undecided voters left, however at the end of the day people are looking at the top of the ticket-- who will be their next president?
"People are going to be going to the polls to vote for the top of the ticket," he says.
Both representatives encouraged people to watch the debate to be informed, and then get out and exercise their rights to vote in November.
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