How to watch the presidential debate between Trump and Harris
WASHINGTON — The second general election debate of the 2024 campaign season has begun, but it is the first confrontation between the current nominees.
Vice-Chairman Kamala Harris and former president Donald Trump participate in Tuesday night’s debate in Philadelphia. After a disastrous performance in the first general election debate of this cycle in June, president Joe Biden ended his re-election campaign, upending the campaign in its final months and kicking off the lightning-fast process that allowed Harris to become the Democratic nominee.
Here’s how to watch the debate:
The debate begins Tuesday at 9 p.m. EDT and is expected to last 90 minutes. It will be moderated by “World News Tonight” host David Muir and “Prime” host Linsey Davis.
ABC News will broadcast the debate live on its broadcast network and on its streaming platform ABC News Live, Disney+ and Hulu. Several networks have also agreed to broadcast the event live.
The second general election debate of this cycle will take place at the National Constitution Center in Philadelphia. As with the June debate, there will be no audience.
Pennsylvania is perhaps the most important swing state in the country, and both candidates have spent a lot of time campaigning in Pennsylvania. Trump held a rally in Butler, in western Pennsylvania, in mid-July when he almost killed by a gunman sitting on a nearby roof. Harris chose Philadelphia as the place where she unveiled the governor of Minnesota. Tim Walz as her running mate in August.
In 2020, it was Pennsylvania’s electors who Putting Biden Over the Top and put him in the White House four years after Trump won the state. Biden’s victory came after more than three days of uncertainty as election officials scrambled to process a flood of mail votes, delaying the processing of some ballots, and the Trump campaign took several legal steps.
Two candidates — Harris and Trump — will be on stage, and it will be the first time they’ve met. It’s also Harris’ first debate since 2020, when she and Trump’s running mate — then-Vice President Mike Pence — discussed through plexiglass screens during the COVID-19 pandemic.
With Biden leaving the campaign after the first debate, there was some concern about whether Trump and Harris would face each other at all. As the vice president worked his way from Biden’s running mate to Democratic nominee, Trump said he had struck his first debate deal with Biden, casting doubt on whether he would face Harris on a debate stage.
Then there was the commotion about muting microphones — except for a candidate’s turn to speak — something Biden’s campaign made a condition of his decision to accept debates this year. Some aides have said they regret that decision, saying it shielded voters from Trump’s outbursts. Harris’ campaign said she wanted all microphones to be live, and while Trump said he would “probably prefer” microphones on, his campaign agreed to the same mic muting for Biden’s June debate.
The current ABC framework The same rules for muting the microphone apply for the second debate: no live audience and no written notes.
So far, the candidates have not managed to reconvene for a debate.
CBS News will host a vice presidential debate on October 1 between Walz and Trump’s running mate, a senator from Ohio. JD VanceThis event is scheduled to take place in New York City.
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Meg Kinnard can be reached at http://x.com/MegKinnardAP.