Pence, Harris face off in VP debate with diverging views of America

Page asked both candidates how they would react if Trump refuses to accept a peaceful transfer of power if Biden were to win the election.

Both candidates dodged the question and used the opportunity to begin pitching their closing message to voters. 

"Joe and I are particularly proud of the coalition that we have built around our campaign. We probably have one of the broadest coalitions of folks that you've ever seen in a presidential race," Harris said. 

"It is within our power, and if we use our society, and we use our voice, we will win," she added. "And we will not let anyone subvert our democracy."

Pence suggested any concerns over a peaceful transfer of power are unfounded and that he expects Trump will win reelection.

"President Donald Trump has launched a movement of everyday Americans from every walk of life," Pence said, "and I have every confidence that the same Americans are delivering it in 2016."

PENCE'S CLAIM: "It was an outdoor event, which all of our scientists regularly and routinely advise."

FACT CHECK: Vice President Mike Pence defended the 200-person event the Trump administration held at the White House on Sept. 26 when President Donald Trump announced he would nominate Judge Amy Coney Barrett to the Supreme Court -- despite the fact that over a dozen guests who attended have since tested positive, including the president and first lady Melania Trump.

While the main ceremony was held outside in the Rose Garden, numerous guests, including Trump, attended an indoor reception in the Diplomatic Room in the White House afterward. At least five people who attended the indoor portion of the event have since tested positive, including former New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie, Sen. Thom Tillis, R-N.C., and Sen. Mike Lee, R-Utah.

Public health experts have repeatedly advised against indoor events, which has found renewed importance in light of recent Centers for Disease Control and Prevention guidance advising that the virus can spread beyond 6 feet indoors.

Even for outdoor events, public health experts encourage wearing masks and maintaining 6 feet of distance from others. The Rose Garden event did not follow either of these social distancing norms; chairs were not spaced out, few guests opted to wear masks and guests hugged and shook hands.

The coronavirus outbreak has infected "34 White House staffers and other contacts" in recent days, according to an internal government memo, an indication that the disease has spread among more people than previous known in the seat of American government, according to an ABC News report.

ABC News' Olivia Rubin and Leah Croll

PENCE'S CLAIM: "Before there were more than five cases in the United States, all people who had returned from China, President Donald Trump did what no other American president had ever done. And that was, he suspended all travel from China, the second-largest economy in the world."

FACT CHECK: At the end of January, President Donald Trump issued a proclamation to restrict travelers who had visited China in the previous 14 days from entering the United States, but it was more narrow than Pence described. The orders did not apply to U.S. citizens, green card holders and their close family members. Health care workers were also exempt. 

Nearly 760,000 people entered the U.S. from China between December of last year and February, according to an ABC News review of traveler data. 

Restrictions on travelers from Europe started in March. An April study from researchers at the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai found the first coronavirus cases in New York originated from Europe, not China.

--ABC News' Quinn Owen

Harris said that she does not not believe justice was done in the case of Breonna Taylor and she called for policing and justice reform, touting her history as a prosecutor.

"And that's why Joe Biden and I have said on this subject, look -- and I'm a former career prosecutor, I know what I'm talking about -- bad cops are bad for good cops," Harris said. "We need reform of our policing in America and our criminal justice system, which is why Joe and I will immediately ban chokeholds and carotid holds. George Floyd would be alive today if we did that."

Pence said that his "heart breaks" for the loss of innocent life and the family of Breonna Taylor, but he said that he trusts the justice system and the findings of the Grand Jury in the Breonna Taylor case. Pence criticized protestors and rioters who caused damage in the wake of the death of George Floyd while in police custody.

"With regard to George Floyd -- there's no excuse what happened to George Floyd -- and justice will be served," Pence said. "But there's no excuse for the rioting and looting that followed. I mean, it really is astonishing."