The claim: A video shows Mike Pence endorsing Kamala Harris for president

An October 13 post on Facebook (direct link, archive link) features a video of the former Republican Vice President Mike Pence sitting on a stage and speaking.

In the clip, Pence states, “Vote for Kamala Harris as president of the United States or Tim Walz as her running mate. Period. Paragraph.”

The video’s caption and on-screen text present this statement as Pence’s support of the Democratic ticket for 2024.

A similar claim shared on Threads gained over 2,000 likes within two days. Variants of this claim have also been widely circulated on Facebook, being shared thousands of times on X, previously known as Twitter.

Our verdict: Manipulated

The video was edited to omit the beginning of Pence’s sentence, altering the intention of his words. Pence did not back Vice President Kamala Harris; rather, he expressed that he could not vote for her.

In the full video, Pence states ‘I could never’ support Harris

The clip featured in the Facebook post derives from Pence’s attendance at an event in Atlanta in August 2024, hosted by conservative commentator Erick Erickson. During his approximately 30-minute appearance with Erickson, Pence discussed former President Donald Trump alongside conservatism and the future of the Republican Party.

At no moment did he endorse Harris as a presidential candidate during that event. The shared clip was manipulated to skip the opening three words of his statement, changing its context.

The unedited 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.”

This remark followed a series of criticisms he made about the Biden-Harris administration. He appeared to touch on his tensions with Trump and mentioned his decision in March not to endorse his former running mate, stating, “I saw some individuals the other day who’ve shifted to the other side wondering where I stand in this campaign. I want to clarify my position here at ‘The Gathering.’”

The clip from the Facebook post combines edited segments of three different statements Pence made at the event but removes much of the context. For instance, while the video shows Pence discussing his reluctance to endorse Trump and references “the increasing abandonment of our allies on the global stage,” it omits his critiques of the Biden administration and the Harris-Walz ticket and his assertion that “I’m staying out of the presidential campaign.”

YSL News previously dismissed a false claim alleging that Pence stated he “will not be voting for Donald Trump.”

YSL News reached out to various social media users sharing the edited clip, but did not receive any immediate feedback.

Snopes has also refuted this claim.

Sources used for our fact-check:

• Erick Erickson (YouTube), Aug. 12, Vice President Mike Pence at The Gathering