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Joe Biden fly swatter sells out after buzzy Mike Pence debate moment

The candidate's campaign acted on the fly following Wednesday's debate and sold 35,000 of the buzzy items.

Gael Cooper
CNET editor Gael Fashingbauer Cooper, a journalist and pop-culture junkie, is co-author of "Whatever Happened to Pudding Pops? The Lost Toys, Tastes and Trends of the '70s and '80s," as well as "The Totally Sweet '90s." She's been a journalist since 1989, working at Mpls.St.Paul Magazine, Twin Cities Sidewalk, the Minneapolis Star Tribune, and NBC News Digital. She's Gen X in birthdate, word and deed. If Marathon candy bars ever come back, she'll be first in line.
Expertise Breaking news, entertainment, lifestyle, travel, food, shopping and deals, product reviews, money and finance, video games, pets, history, books, technology history, generational studies. Credentials
  • Co-author of two Gen X pop-culture encyclopedia for Penguin Books. Won "Headline Writer of the Year"​ award for 2017, 2014 and 2013 from the American Copy Editors Society. Won first place in headline writing from the 2013 Society for Features Journalism.
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Gael Cooper
swatter

The fly swatter was a buzzy idea.

 Twitter

During Wednesday night's debate between Vice President Mike Pence and Sen. Kamala Harris, a now-famous fly landed on Pence's hair and stayed there for two minutes, apparently unnoticed by the VP. Viewers spotted it, however, and so did the Biden-Harris campaign. 

This story is part of Elections 2020, CNET's coverage of the voting in November and its aftermath.

The campaign acted uh, on the fly, by immediately putting a fly swatter up for sale on its official site. The $10 swatter has sold nearly 35,000 units, according to the campaign, and is now sold out.

The blue fly swatter has the words, "Truth Over Flies" and "Biden Harris" printed on it. 

After Pence's run-in with the fly at Wednesday night's debate in Salt Lake City, Biden's official Twitter account immediately posted a photo of Biden holding a swatter, and the words, "Pitch in $5 to help this campaign fly." 

The swatters went on sale shortly afterward. "Oh yeah, we did that," McNamara tweeted.

Not everyone approved of the swatters. People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals said on its site that it was sending the Biden campaign a "humane bug catcher," a device that captures insects alive so they can be safely put outside.

Wednesday's event was the only vice presidential debate scheduled. Two more presidential debates are scheduled for Oct. 15 and Oct. 22, but President Donald Trump said Thursday that he would not participate in a virtual debate.