Sen. Tim Kaine, D-Va., on Thursday defended his performance in the vice presidential debate against Indiana Gov. Mike Pence, but also conceded he missed some opportunities, including a chance to underscore his opponent’s record on LGBT issues.
As governor of Indiana, Pence signed and then amended the state’s Religious Freedom Restoration Act, which claims to protect people’s religious liberties from encroachment by the state or federal government. Critics of the original version of the law claimed it would allow business owners to discriminate against LGBT people.
During Tuesday’s vice presidential debate, neither Kaine nor the moderator mentioned Pence’s role in Indiana’s RFRA. On Thursday, Kaine indicated he would have liked a shot to bring up that issue.
“Hillary and I are strongly for LGBT equality, including marriage equality. And a Trump-Pence ticket is deeply against it, especially Gov. Pence. So, yes, that was an opportunity. I would have loved to have had a 93-minute debate instead of a 90-minute debate,” he said.
He also agreed that the criticism that he missed that opportunity and others against Pence was “probably accurate.”
“I viewed this as, fundamentally, a debate that was about Hillary Clinton and Donald Trump, not about Tim Kaine and Mike Pence,” Kaine said. “And so, I went in with the thought that look, Hillary Clinton’s the top of the ticket and Donald Trump is the top of the ticket and that’s where I’m going to focus. And so, that was my goal and I think we succeeded in doing it.”
Kaine was criticized by many for interrupting Pence too much during the debate, and Kaine joked earlier this week that even his wife had the same complaint.
Trump and Democratic nominee Hillary Clinton are scheduled to face-off again this Sunday.
