The first showdown between Vice President Harris and former President Trump showcases a far different race than the debate that sunk President Biden’s campaign if voter enthusiasm is any measure.
Why it matters: Since Biden bowed out following his shaky debate performance, Harris has erased Trump’s comfortable lead in the polls, setting up a razor-thin election with less than two months to go.
State of play: The face-off Tuesday in Philadelphia’s National Constitution Center won’t have a live audience and also won’t feature live mics despite Harris’ push for the feature.
- “Vice President Harris, a former prosecutor, will be fundamentally disadvantaged by this format, which will serve to shield Donald Trump from direct exchanges with the Vice President,” her campaign told ABC in a letter The Washington Post obtained.
- “We suspect this is the primary reason for his campaign’s insistence on muted microphones.”
What they’re saying: Jason Miller, a Trump campaign senior adviser, told Axios in a statement that the campaign “accepted the ABC debate under the exact same terms as the CNN debate” planned when President Biden was still in the race.
Zoom in: The 90-minute debate will be moderated by “World News Tonight” anchor David Muir and ABC News Live “Prime” anchor Linsey Davis.
- It will run at 9pm ET on ABC News with two commercial breaks and stream on ABC News Live, Disney+ and Hulu, per ABC News. Other networks, including Fox News, will also carry the debate live.
- A coin flip that Trump won on Tuesday earned him the privilege of choosing either podium placement or closing statement order, ABC News reported.
- The former president opted to go last, giving Harris her selection of podium positioning. Hers will be on the right side of the screen.
Zoom out: Rules dictate much of the structure of the debate from where candidates will stand (behind their podiums) to what they will be given (water, a pen and pad of paper.)
- ABC maintains no candidate will have access to topics or questions early, there won’t be opening statements, and closing statements will be held to two minutes for each candidate.
- No props or earlier drafted notes are allowed, and candidates won’t be able to ask each other questions.
- They will have two minutes to respond to questions, the same for rebuttals, and they will have an extra minute for any followup.
