After months of campaigning in smaller, lower-profile settings — from greeting voters at roadside diners to addressing blue-collar workers deep in the Rust Belt — Pence will step into the spotlight this week for a high-stakes debate against Democratic vice presidential nominee Kamala Harris, a MAGA rally in Arizona and a brief stop in his home state of Indiana to cast an early ballot in the 2020 race…

The vice president himself has presented a positive face about representing the GOP ticket in a moment of crushing uncertainty, despite pressure from White House aides and allies to hunker down in Washington until Trump gets the all-clear. The president remains a patient at Walter Reed National Military Medical Center, where he has been receiving a variety of therapies and drugs to combat the potentially fatal disease.

Despite pressure to stay put, Pence allies insist he was made for a moment like this given his soothing temperament, grasp of the virus and unfailing loyalty to Trump. But other people close to Pence bemoaned his decision to fly halfway across the country while the commander in chief remains hospitalized and administration officials are given limited updates on his status, noting the protocols used to protect the vice president on the campaign trail are the same ones that failed to shield Trump from exposure to the virus.

“You can no longer say, ‘There’s no way he’s going to catch this,’ because that’s what we told ourselves about the president and it still happened,” said one White House official.