Vice Presidential Debate Live Updates: Tim Kaine, Mike Pence Best Quotes, Memes, Twitter Reaction And Analysis As It Happens

UPDATE: 10:37 p.m. EDT — The final question at the vice presidential debate Tuesday night in Virginia between Democrat Tim Kaine and Republican Mike Pence was about how, should their side win, each campaign would work to bring the country together.

"Hillary Clinton has a track record of working across the aisle," Kaine said, focusing on his running mate.

Pence criticized the administration of President Barack Obama then said, "I think the best way we can bring people together is through change in Washington, D.C."

Pence said of his running mate, "When Donald Trump is the next president, the United States is going to be stronger."

UPDATE: 10:27 p.m. EDT — Both vice presidential nominees, Democrat Tim Kaine and Republican Mike Pence, are Christians and were asked at the VP debate Tuesday night how their beliefs affected their public service. Kaine, a Catholic, said he has a deep faith but since the U.S. doesn't "raise any religion over the other" he does not allow it to shape his policy decisions.

"For me, the hardest struggle — the Catholic Church is against the death penalty," Kaine said about being governor of Virginia, which has the death penalty. "It was very very difficult to allow executions to go forth," he said, adding he did just that because it was the law of the state.

Pence, meanwhile, challenged Kaine on his stance on abortion, which he is personally against while supporting the right for women to choose. "For me, my faith informs my life," Pence said about his anti-abortion views.

UPDATE: 10:17 p.m. EDT — Tim Kaine, the Democratic vice presidential nominee, argued intensely at the vice presidential debate Tuesday about Russia and its president Vladimir Putin. Kaine mentioned that Republican nominee Donald Trump and his running mate Mike Pence have praised Putin.

"You've got to be tough on Russia, so let's start with not praising Vladimir Putin as a great leader," Kaine said. "If you don’t know the difference between dictatorship and leadership, you need to go back to a fifth grade civics class."

Pence said he and Trump were not praising Putin. When asked how the U.S. under a Trump administration would stand up to Putin, he said, "Strength. Plain and simple."

UPDATE: 10:07 p.m. EDT — Donald Trump promised to live-tweet the vice presidential debate Tuesday night, but he mostly seemed to be having a restrained night. Halfway through the debate, most of his tweets didn't represent his usual flurry of comments, and were instead re-tweets from supporters.

UPDATE: 10:02 p.m. EDT — Republican Indiana Gov. Mike Pence said the United States needs to "exercise strong leadership" to protect Syrian civilians, while Democratic Sen. Tim Kaine of Indiana said Donald Trump isn't telling the truth when he promises to expand the military.

"Donald Trump supports our troops," Pence said.

"He won't pay taxes," Kaine said. "That is about our troops."

UPDATE: 9:50 p.m. EDT — Republican vice presidential nominee Mike Pence Tuesday tied Democratic presidential nominee Hillary Clinton to the rise of the so called Islamic State group, also known as ISIS. "This administration created a vacuum in which ISIS was allowed to grow," Pence said, referring to Clinton's tenure as secretary of state.

UPDATE: 9:48 p.m. EDT — Democratic Vice Presidential nominee Tim Kaine and his Republican counterpart Mike Pence argued over which campaign had levied more insults so far during the 2016 campaign. Kaine said during Tuesday night's vice presidential debate that Republican nominee Donald Trump has called women "slobs," said African Americans "are living in hell" and called Mexican "rapists" and "criminals."

Pence didn't really address those insults, instead saying that Clinton had said more insults, including putting half of Trump's supporters into a "basket of deplorables."

UPDATE: 9:41 p.m. EDT — The vice presidential nominees, Democrat Tim Kaine and Republican Mike Pence, addressed the hot-button issue of police brutality Tuesday night at the vice presidential debate in Virginia. "People shouldn't be afraid to bring up issues of bias in law enforcement," Kaine said.

Pence said that "police officers are the best of us" adding they are a force for good. Kaine said he couldn't believe Pence would "deny" implicit bias.

UPDATE: 9:33 p.m. EDT — A discussion of Donald Trump's taxes Tuesday night at the vice presidential debate resulted in the two VP nominees squabbling over the GOP presidential nominee's resistance to releasing his tax returns. Republican vice presidential nominee Mike Pence said Trump, who may not have paid taxes for two decades, used the law "brilliantly."

"Donald Trump is a businessman, not a career politician," Pence said. "He faced some pretty tough times 20 years ago."

Kaine continued to press the issue saying Trump didn't follow through on a promise to release his taxes.

UPDATE: 9:28 p.m. EDT — Republican vice presidential nominee Mike Pence and his Democratic counterpart Tim Kaine got into the first real squabble during Tuesday night's VP debate. Pence responded to a criticism on Republican nominee Donald Trump's insults, saying, "Senator, you and Hillary Clinton would know a lot about an insult-driven campaign,"

Kaine tried to jump back in, which led the two candidates to talk over one another.

UPDATE: 9:20 p.m. EDT — Democratic vice presidential nominee Tim Kaine was asked during Tuesday night's vice presidential debate about Americans' lack of trust in his running mate Hillary Clinton. "Let me tell you why I trust Hillary Clinton," Kaine said. "She has been focused on serving others, with a special focus on empowering families and kids."

He then segued into an attack on Republican nominee Donald Trump. "Donald Trump always puts himself first," Kaine said. "I can’t understand how Gov. Pence can defend the insult-driven, me-first temperament of Donald Trump."

UPDATE: 9:13 p.m. EDT — Republican vice presidential nominee Mike Pence opened Tuesday's vice presidential debate saying he was proud to run with Donald Trump. His first remarks went off mostly without a hitch, detailing his experience leading, but he did have a minor hiccup when he got the name of the host college, Longwood University in Virginia, wrong. Pence called it Norwood University, which quickly trended on Twitter.

UPDATE: 9:10 p.m. EDT — The first question of the vice presidential debate Tuesday night was about presidential leadership and stepping in to lead should it be necessary. Democratic nominee Tim Kaine said he was proud to run with Hillary Clinton, running through her talking points.

Mentioning the civil rights history of the host college, Virginia's Longwood University, he said, "I am so proud to be running with another strong, history-making woman, Hillary Clinton."

He then said his experience as a civil rights lawyer and in multiple government positions would help him assist Clinton to do right by Americans.

UPDATE: 8:55 p.m. EDT — Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump will be live-tweeting the vice presidential debate Tuesday night but with a safety net of sorts. NBC News' Vaughn Hillyard tweeted that Trump, who has been known to tweet controversial comments, had four campaign aides with him: Steve Bannon, Hope Hicks, Stephen Miller and Dan Scavino.

UPDATE: 8:52 p.m. EDT — Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump seems ready to follow through with his promise to live tweet the vice presidential debate Tuesday night. Just minutes before the event was scheduled to start, he sent out a pair of tweets saying CNN was being unfair to him and that he was ready to live tweet the entire event.

You can follow his Twitter timeline here.

UPDATE: 8:45 p.m. EDT — Just ahead of Tuesday night's vice presidential debate, CNN posted a video highlighting some of the key moments in past versions of the event. Some of the moments highlighted included Vice President Joe Biden laughing with current Speaker of the House Paul Ryan in the 2012 campaign, and Lloyd Bentsen telling Dan Quayle during the 1988 VP debate, "You're no Jack Kennedy."

Check out the highlights below ahead of the 2016 vice presidential debate, which is scheduled to begin shortly at 9 p.m. EDT.

UPDATE: 8:27 p.m. EDT — A good first impression goes a long way. And Tuesday night's vice presidential debate likely marks the first time much of the U.S. will meet Republican vice president nominee Mike Pence and Democratic vice president nominee Tim Kaine.

An ABC News poll ahead of the debate found more than 40 percent of Americans could not name the vice presidential nominee for either party. Roughly 64 percent said of respondents they planned to watch Tuesday's event.

UPDATE: 8:14 p.m. EDT — The Republican National Committee got a bit overzealous on its website ahead of the vice presidential debate Tuesday. It published, seemingly by mistake, an article declaring GOP VP nominee Mike Pence the "clear winner" after the "dust settled" following the debate.

The GOP eventually caught on to the issue, it seems, since a link that once led to the story now shows an error message. The debate is scheduled to begin at 9 p.m. EDT.

Original story:

As the nation inches toward Election Day — just 35 days or so now — Tuesday night brings another major milestone on the path to decision day. Vice presidential nominees Tim Kaine and Mike Pence, the Democratic and Republican running mates, respectively, were set to square off in a debate at Longwood University in Farmville, Virginia.

Heading into the debate Democratic presidential nominee Hillary Clinton had extended her lead over Republican nominee Donald Trump. She convincingly won the first debate in September over Trump, according to scientific polls of voters and most political observers. That win, coupled with an avalanche of bad news in recent days for Trump, has earned Clinton increased support in recent polls. In a four-way race YouGov/Economist had her up by 3 percentage points, CNN/ORC had her up by 5 points, while CBS had her up 4 percentage points. The Real Clear Politics average of polls had Clinton up 3.7 percentage points.

A Pence victory could do a lot to shift the narrative for Trump. In recent days, his campaign has been forced to respond after a Newsweek article detailed alleged illegal Trump business dealings in Cuba, the New York Times published Trump's 1995 tax records that showed a nearly $1 billion loss and that he may not have paid taxes for two decades, Trump Twitter-ranted in the early hours about former Miss Universe Alicia Machado (who he mocked for a weight gain years ago) and the GOP nominee seemingly suggested to a room full of veterans that some people with PTSD simply aren't strong.

The vice presidential debate was scheduled to begin at 9 p.m. EDT and go until 10:30 p.m. EDT. The event will be broken down into nine segments, each 10 minute long. CBS's Elaine Quijano, who will serve as moderator, will ask a question then give each VP nominee two minutes to respond.

The debate is expected to air, sans commercial breaks, on nearly every major television network, including CBS, NBC, ABC, Fox, PBS, Univision, CNBC, CNN, Fox News, MSNBC and C-SPAN. For viewers who prefer to watch online, click over here to International Business Times' live stream page.