Every Republican running for office should be asked about the question Pence dodged

By Editorial Board,

WEDNESDAY’S VICE-PRESIDENTIAL debate was a calmer affair than the presidential debate that President Trump blew up last week, but both candidates dodged questions about the future of the nation’s political system — questions that would have been almost unthinkable not so long ago.

The first came when Vice President Pence challenged Sen. Kamala D. Harris (Calif.) to say whether she and Democratic presidential nominee Joe Biden favor expanding the Supreme Court. Instead of answering, Ms. Harris criticized Republicans’ hypocritical efforts to jam Judge Amy Coney Barrett onto the court at the last minute, and she lamented the quality of the district and appeals court judges Mr. Trump has pushed through with the help of a pliant GOP Senate.

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Transcript: Columnists’ real-time commentary on the vice-presidential debate
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Certainly, Republicans have played dirty on judges. But voters are entitled to know how Mr. Biden and Ms. Harris think Democrats should respond. Is expanding the court the only justified answer, or would it lead to further destabilizing tit for tat? The candidates should not duck a question so consequential for the nation’s political system.

Yet the question Mr. Pence dodged at the end of the debate goes beyond consequential. It is existential for America’s democracy. Moderator Susan Page asked the vice president what he would do if Mr. Trump refused to accept a peaceful transfer of power, should Mr. Biden win the election. Mr. Pence responded by attacking Democrats for impeaching Mr. Trump, rehashing conspiracy theories about the Obama administration and even going after Hillary Clinton. While he expressed “confidence” in the election, he only did so as he insisted that Mr. Trump would win, and he repeated the dangerous myth that mass mail-in voting risks rampant fraud.

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What to know about the 2020 presidential debates
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Rather than assure Americans that their vice president’s first loyalty is to the republic, Mr. Pence inflamed fears that he and Mr. Trump would conjure outlandish excuses for a loss — the Democrats cheated; foreign countries printed up fake ballots; state officials conspired to steal the vote — and encourage their supporters to deny the election’s legitimacy. Their irresponsibility could lead to irreparable fissures and even civil strife. Mr. Trump has set the stage with his constant attacks on ballot procedures that were not controversial until he decided they might enable more people to vote against him. Now the vice president has shown he will play along.

Ms. Harris’s silence on court-packing was disrespectful to voters, but Mr. Pence’s failure to commit to accepting the election results was unconscionable. One concerns how the nation’s democratic institutions might evolve. The other concerns whether the nation will have a democracy at all. The fact that Mr. Trump and Mr. Pence both failed to answer what should be an easy question is an outrage that every other Republican running this year should be challenged to address.

Read more: Karen Attiah: America hates to let Black women speak Greg Sargent: Trump just nixed the second debate. Mike Pence showed us why. Stephen Stromberg: Pence provided a friendly face for the same-old Trump climate reality denial Marc A. Thiessen: Mike Pence’s debate master class Power Ranking: Here’s how Pence and Harris (and the fly) scored in the debate