The Hinckley Institute Radio Hour — It has been two weeks since the historic inauguration of Vice President Kamala Harris as the 49th vice president of the United States. Harris is the first woman, first African American, first Asian American and first Indian American to hold the office. While the choice of vice president is often seen as an electoral strategy during the campaign, the vice president also presides over the Senate and is the tiebreaker in the case of a 50-50 vote split. This is especially pertinent after the runoff wins of Senators Raphael Warnock and Jon Ossoff in Georgia, which now splits the Senate evenly by party. Vice President Kamala Harris is now the critical factor in keeping the chamber in Democratic control.
This week’s panelists discuss these institutional powers of the vice president and how they have changed since the founding of the country. The panel includes Jim Curry, associate professor of political science at the University of Utah; Juliet Carlisle, associate professor of political science at the University of Utah; and Boyd Matheson, opinion editor for the Deseret News and host on KSL Radio. Moderating this week’s discussion is Jennifer Napier-Pearce, former editor of The Salt Lake Tribune and Governor Spencer Cox’s Director of Communications.
This forum was put on in partnership with the University of Utah’s Political Science Department.
This forum was recorded on October 5, 2020.
Here is your moderator, Jennifer Napier-Pearce.
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