Vice President Kamala Harris and former President Trump will meet for the first time on a debate stage in Philadelphia on Tuesday night, giving Americans their first chance to assess the candidates side-by-side less than two months before Election Day.
What time is the debate?
The debate begins at 6 pm PDT on Tuesday, September 10.
It will last 90 minutes and there will be two commercial breaks, according to ABC.
How to watch the debate
ABC will broadcast the event on television and on several streaming networks, including ABC News Live, Disney+ and Hulu. It will also be available on the ABC app and online at ABC.com.
Several other networks will broadcast the debate live via simulcast.
Streaming or other networks will likely be an option for DirecTV subscribers who can't access the debate. Due to a dispute over a distribution agreement, channels owned by Walt Disney Co., including ABC stations, were removed from DirecTV platforms on Sept. 1, and it's unclear when the dispute will be resolved.
Who moderates the debate?
ABC's “World News Tonight” hosts David Muir and Linsey Davis will serve as moderators.
How will it work?
The two candidates will meet on stage at the National Constitution Center in Philadelphia, with no studio audience. There will be no opening statements. After each candidate is introduced, moderators will move on to questions.
Harris and Trump, who will be behind lecterns, will not be allowed to bring props or pre-written notes. They will be given a pen, a pad of paper and a bottle of water.
They will have two minutes for responses and rebuttals, and an extra minute for follow-ups, according to the rules of the debate.
Despite the Harris campaign's request to leave microphones on throughout the debate, a candidate's microphone will be on only when it is his or her turn to speak.
After a coin toss, Trump decided to have the last word and deliver the final two-minute closing statement.
The last debate
Tuesday’s debate marks two and a half months since President Biden and Trump faced off, kicking off the rapid decline of Biden’s presidential bid. The president appeared to ramble and be confused throughout the debate, giving incomplete answers and seemingly losing his train of thought at several points.
Trump also gave incomplete and confusing answers, including a multitude of falsehoods. But Biden’s disastrous performance alarmed Democrats, who feared it could cost them the presidential race. Pressure in his own party for Biden to drop out mounted, and less than a month after the June 27 debate, Biden heeded the call.
He immediately endorsed Harris as his replacement to become the Democratic nominee. She launched a whirlwind campaign, secured the nomination, named Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz as her running mate and quickly overtook Biden in the polls.
The Trump campaign scrambled to reorganize around a new opponent, criticizing Harris for her work on the border and the Biden administration’s economic record, and launching a series of personal insults, including questioning Harris’ race.
The Biden-Trump debate on CNN in June averaged 51.3 million viewers, well below the audience for the first time they debated in September 2020, when 73 million viewers tuned in.
