Mike Pence prepares for biggest ever vice president debate with weight of faltering election campaign on his shoulders

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Mike Pence, the US vice president, announced yesterday he would be holding a “Make America Great Again” campaign event next week even as he braces to potentially take over presidential duties should Donald Trump’s health deteriorate. Mr Pence will be in Peoria, Arizona - a battleground state - on Thursday with an unspecified number of supporters in attendance, despite criticism at the way the Trump campaign has handled in-person events during the pandemic. The US vice president is set to play a much more significant role on the campaign trail in the final month now that both Mr Trump and Trump family members have postponed all in-person events that had been arranged. The debate scheduled between Mr Pence and Kamala Harris, the Democratic vice presidential nominee, for Wednesday evening in Utah is still set to go ahead, despite the outbreak upending the campaign schedule. Event organisers have announced that the two politicians will now be 12 feet apart during the debate, further than the usual gap needed to safely socially distance, in an abundance of caution.