Former President Donald Trump and Vice President Kamala Harris will square off for the first time Tuesday night to debate the nation’s biggest issues in front of a national audience, as ABC News hosts the event live from Philadelphia.
The two candidates are locked in a neck-and-neck race, according to the latest polls. As Harris’ honeymoon period begins to fade after the excitement over her entry as the Democratic frontrunner, the vice president is trying to lay out her policies before the nation. Trump, who the nation knows well as a former president and de facto GOP leader, will likely be on the offensive as he tries to define Harris in terms of Biden’s unpopular decisions.
Key issues for Americans will be on the agenda in Philadelphia, as ABC News anchor David Muir and Sunday edition of World News Tonight host Linsey Davis are set to ask the candidates tough questions about the economy and inflation, immigration and border issues, and the country’s involvement in multiple protracted wars around the world.
In the lead-up to the debate, the controversy over muting Harris and Trump while the opposing candidate was speaking made headlines. Harris's camp finally agreed to mute their microphones on Tuesday. But in a letter to ABC News, her campaign officials said the inability to directly address each other would leave Harris “fundamentally disadvantaged” in the debate.
“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. We suspect this is the primary reason for her campaign's insistence on muted microphones,” Harris' campaign letter to the network reads, according to a CNN report.
Eric Trump, the former president's son, and his wife, RNC co-chair Lara Trump, are expected to attend the event with the former president. Many of his campaign brass will be in Philadelphia, including co-campaign managers Susie Wiles and Chris LaCivita, his senior advisers Corey Lewandowski, Jason Miller, Steven Cheung and Taylor Budowich.
Harris has decided to invite guests who could irk Trump: The vice president will bring two former members of her administration to the city of brotherly love: Former White House communications director Anthony Scaramucci and former national security official Olivia Troye will be at Harris’s court as she squares off with the former president. Both Scaramucci and Troye defected to the blue side of the aisle after leaving Trump’s White House and are staunch opponents of their former boss. Scaramucci has become a prolific anti-Trump pundit, appearing on several shows and podcasts to speak out against his policies, and Troye appeared at the Democratic National Convention in August to call on Republicans to reject a second Trump administration.
The Harris-Trump presidential debate will air on multiple networks, including: ABC, CNN, CBS, NBC, MSNBC, Fox, Univision, PBS, Fox News, The CW. Viewers can also stream the debate online on: Hulu + Live TV, DirecTV Stream, Fubo, and Sling.