Women cheer on Harris’s ‘I’m speaking’ response in debate: ‘I hope every little girl heard that’

by Brooke Seipel - 10/07/20 11:02 PM ET

Women on social media cheered on Sen. Kamala Harris (D-Calif.) over a viral exchange with Vice President Pence during their vice presidential debate Wednesday night.

Harris twice interjected “I’m speaking,” when interrupted by Pence, with clips of the moments being widely shared online and appearing to resonate with many of the women who were watching.

“im speaking” get em sis #VPDebate pic.twitter.com/xa73nshhnw

— Luc (@luciianofuoco) October 8, 2020

“I’m speaking. I’M speaking.” I hope every little girl heard that. #VPDebate

— Uzo Aduba (@UzoAduba) October 8, 2020

“I’m speaking.” This should be a 101 taught to all young girls. Nobody taught us this in the ’80s.

— Elizabeth Hackett (@LizHackett) October 8, 2020

The moderator verbally admits Pence has had more time than @KamalaHarris but still gives him more time. This is the story of Black women in a nutshell. #VPDebate

— Anne Charity Hudley (@ACharityHudley) October 8, 2020

Some weren’t so keen on the moment, however, with conservatives saying it was “obnoxious.”

The “I’m speaking, *I’m* speaking” thing worked at first. Now it’s getting old.

— Megyn Kelly (@megynkelly) October 8, 2020

Omg this “I’m speaking, ‘kay?” is sooooooo cringe.

— Jenna Ellis (@JennaEllisEsq) October 8, 2020

This whole “I’m speaking” is obnoxious.

— Kathleen McKinley (@KatMcKinley) October 8, 2020

Harris, whose father is Jamaican and whose mother was Indian, is the first woman of color on a major party presidential ticket. Both of her parents immigrated to the U.S. for their education.

The sole vice presidential debate follows last week’s first debate between President Trump and Democratic nominee former Vice President Joe Biden, an event marked by numerous heated interruptions and loud acrimony between the two presidential nominees. Wednesday’s event was far more cordial, though both Harris and Pence repeatedly refused to give direct answers to questions from moderator Susan Page, the Washington bureau chief of USA Today.