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VP Debate 2020: Pence branded a 'bully' for interrupting Harris 10 times, which is twice as much as she did

During the debate, Harris consistently rapped Pence for interrupting her statements multiple times by saying: 'Mr Vice President, please let me speak'

Vice President Mike Pence reportedly interrupted Senator Kamala Harris twice as much during the first and the only vice presidential debate of the year on Wednesday night, October 7. The Republican interrupted Harris at least 10 times during the discourse, while Harris interrupted the former a total of five times, according to CBS News data.

Bo Erickson of CBS took to Twitter after the debate to write: "VP Mike Pence interrupted Sen. Kamala Harris twice as much, per our @CBSNews count: Interruptions by... Pence: 10 Harris: 5 [counted as vocal reactions & interruptions while other candidate was speaking]."

During the debate, Harris also consistently rapped Pence for interrupting her statements multiple times by saying: "Mr Vice President, please let me speak." The swipe was also reminiscent of the nature of the first 2020 presidential debate where President Donald Trump incessantly interrupted Democratic nominee Joe Biden.

Several social media users chimed in on the interruptions, as some claimed that Pence and Trump's strategy to talk over their opponents showed that they were afraid. 

One user wrote: "Pence and trump's strategy to over talk the opponent shows how fearful they are, about how they have made things worst not making America great! Four years and no plain for anything has come into play, except how the Republicans has wrecked the nation!" While another called Pence a bully and said, "Just a calmer form of a bully. Not only that, he didnt answer several Q's given to him, he rambled on about whatever HE wanted to talk about. How is this even allowed?" A third suggested that Pence continued to ignore moderator Susan Page's request and spoke over her: "Much more important is how many times did he ignore Page and keep talking and going over his time."

Page also faced the heat post Wednesday's debate as several Twitter users denounced her for letting Pence dominate her as he continued to speak over her. A few users even compared her performance to Fox News' Chris Wallace, who moderated the first presidential debate last month and was criticized for letting Trump speak overtime. Many suggested that Page fared worse than Wallace. 

During the debate, Harris also slammed Pence and told him that she will not be lectured by him over criminal justice reform. People on social media backed the senator and accused Pence of "mansplaining", a pejorative term which means to explain something to a woman in a condescending, overconfident or oversimplified manner. "I will not sit here and be lectured by the vice president on what it means to enforce the laws of our country," Harris, a top prosecutor, told Pence. She made the remarks shortly after Pence noted that she prosecuted trials on varying issues, ranging from child sexual assault to homicide.

The Vice Presidential candidates of 2020, Mike Pence and Kamala Harris, faced off on October 7 at 9 pm ET for the first and only general election vice presidential debate of the year in Salt Lake City, Utah. The discourse was moderated by Page and the two candidates were separated by plexiglass barriers and given a distance of 12 feet.