Vice presidential nominee Kamala Harris has tapped former 2020 Democratic primary candidate Pete Buttigieg to play Vice President Mike Pence as she prepares for their one and only debate, according to a report.
Buttigieg was chosen based on his relationship with the vice president, according to Bloomberg.
Buttigieg’s tenure as the former mayor of South Bend, Ind., overlapped Pence’s time as governor of Indiana.
In a crowded, 20-something field of candidates in early 2019, the then-37-year-old first made waves during a CNN town hall in March, when he lambasted his state’s former chief executive for espousing Christian values while appearing alongside President Trump.
As he began to gain national attention, Buttigieg, the first openly gay man to run for the Democratic nomination for president, continued going after Pence for his conservative religious stances.
Harris’ debate prep team is being led by Karen Dunn, a lawyer at Paul Weiss who helped in the preparations for former President Barack Obama, 2016 presidential candidate Hillary Clinton and her running mate, Sen. Tim Kaine (D-Va.), Bloomberg reported.
The California senator is also being prepped by Biden senior advisers Bruce Reed and Symone Sanders, Harris senior adviser Rohini Kosoglu and Harris communications director Liz Allen.
In addition to assisting Harris, Buttigieg has become an ally of and surrogate for the Joe Biden campaign.
While she still has some time before the Oct. 7 debate, Harris has said she feels enormous pressure to meet the moment.
Asked during a fundraiser Monday about debating Pence, Harris did not even wait for the question to finish before saying, “He’s a good debater.”
“Let me just say something. He’s a good debater. So, I’m so concerned, like I can only disappoint, because literally, he’s a very, he’s a very good debater. He’s a very good debater. So, I definitely am going to prepare for this debate like I have for previous debates.
“But I take this debate very seriously. And I think we can expect he’s going to be very good,” the vice presidential hopeful said.
The Biden campaign declined to comment when reached by Bloomberg.
