The claim: Video shows Mike Pence endorsing Kamala Harris for president
An Oct. 13 Facebook post (direct link, archive link) shows a video of Republican former Vice President Mike Pence sitting on a stage and speaking.
“Vote for Kamala Harris as president of the United States or Tim Walz as her running mate,” Pence says at the start of the clip. “Period. Paragraph.”
Both the post’s caption and on-screen text in the video characterize the statement as Pence’s endorsement of the 2024 Democratic ticket.
A version of the claim shared to Threads received more than 2,000 likes in two days. Similar versions circulated widely on Facebook and were reposted thousands of additional times on X, formerly Twitter.
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The video was edited to cut the start of Pence’s sentence and change the meaning of his statement. Pence did not endorse Vice President Kamala Harris in the video, he said he couldn’t vote for her.
In unedited video, Pence says ‘I could never’ vote for Harris
The clip in the Facebook post came from Pence’s appearance at an August 2024 event in Atlanta hosted by conservative commentator Erick Erickson. During his roughly 30 minutes on stage with Erickson, Pence referenced former President Donald Trump and the future of conservatism and the Republican Party.
But at no point during that event did he endorse Harris for president. The clip in the Facebook post was edited to remove the first three words of his statement and reverse its meaning.
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The unedited version of the video shows Pence saying, “I could never vote for Kamala Harris as president of the United States or Tim Walz as her running mate. Period. Paragraph.”
He made that statement after listing several criticisms of the Biden-Harris adminsitration. Then, he appeared to acknowledge his rift with Trump and his subsequent March announcement that he would not endorse his former running mate, stating, “I saw some people the other day who’ve defected to the other side who were wondering where I would come down in this campaign. Let me go on the record here at ‘The Gathering.’”
The clip in the Facebook post combines edited versions of three statements Pence made during the event with significant context removed. For example, the video in the post shows Pence referencing his refusal to endorse Trump and “this growing abandonment of our allies on the world stage.” But it leaves out Pence’s criticisms of both the Biden administration and the Harris-Walz ticket along with his declaration that “I’m staying out of the presidential campaign.”
USA TODAY previously debunked a false claim that Pence said he “will not be voting for Donald Trump.”
USA TODAY reached out to several social media users who shared the clip but did not immediately receive any responses.
Snopes also debunked the claim.
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This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Mike Pence didn’t endorse Kamala Harris. Clip is doctored | Fact check