⁍ U.S. Vice President Mike Pence, next in line for the Oval Office, has tested negative for COVID-19.

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⁍ Pence’s test result cast a spotlight on Pence, a Christian conservative former lawmaker who has been one of the few constants in the Republican president’s tumultuous administration.

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⁍ Pence, 61, is scheduled to debate his Democratic rival, Joe Biden’s running mate Senator Kamala Harris on Wednesday.

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– Vice President Mike Pence “remains in good health and wishes the Trumps well in their recovery,” a rep says after Pence and the second lady tested negative for coronavirus on Friday. Pence is next in line for the Oval Office should President Trump become incapacitated, and he and the president will work from separate residences if necessary, a White House official tells Reuters. Pence’s staffs will also be separated, the official says. Pence, a Christian conservative former lawmaker, has played a largely behind-the-scenes role in Trump’s White House, although he is known to have presidential ambitions of his own. His deference has endeared him to Trump, helping Pence survive in a White House with near-constant turnover among top officials. Earlier this year Trump put Pence in charge of the US response to the coronavirus pandemic, a brief that has not gone well. House of Representatives Speaker Nancy Pelosi is next in line of succession after Pence. She said on Friday that she had been tested for COVID-19 and should know her results soon. Harris tested negative on Thursday as part of her campaign’s routine screening for the virus.