Sept. 10 (UPI) — Former President Donald Trump and Vice President Kamala Harris are engaging in their first presidential debate on Tuesday in the coveted swing-state Pennsylvania as they seek to rally voters in the final two months before the election.
The debate opened with a handshake as Harris approached Trump and introduced herself at his podium.
The debate, scheduled for 90-minutes with two commercial breaks, is broadcasting on multiple television networks and live-stream platforms — such as ABC News Live, Disney+, Hulu, Paramount and CBS platforms. Additionally, SiriusXM users can listen on Channel 370.
The highly anticipated debate at the National Constitution Center in Philadelphia with the Democratic nominee for president, Harris, and the Republican nominee challenging her for White House, Trump, is being moderated by two ABC network faces, “World News Tonight” anchor David Muir and ABC News Live “Prime” anchor Linsey Davis. There is no audience in the room.
Along with ABC, the NBC News live blog on the debate will show latest updates, analysis and fact-checking.
Among the debate rules and stipulations, no live audience will be in attendance and no opening statements will be given by either Trump or Harris. But each candidate has two minutes for closing statements of which the ex-president will give last after Harris as determined by coin flip. Microphones will be live during the time it is a candidates’ turn to speak and muted for the other candidate during the same time.
Two minutes will be given to answer questions by the two ABC moderators, two minutes for rebuttals and one extra minute for any follow-up or clarifications. The vice president will be placed at the podium on the left side, which to television viewers will appear on the right side of a screen. And campaign staffers are not allowed to interact with Harris or Trump during commercial breaks.
It is expected to cover a wide range of topics, for example, such as the economy, inflation, immigration, reproductive rights and individual liberties.
A school shooting days ago by a 14-year-old in Georgia with an AR-15 style weapon — a similar type used in Trump’s attempted assassination in July on the other side of the same state — may be on the topic of crime or gun violence that has gripped the U.S. in the last 20 years or so.
Trump’s baseless claims about election fraud and interference along with what the candidates feel are norms of American democracy will likely blend together in a variety of different questions as topics of foreign policy will take center stage.
Tuesday night’s debate arrives with Harris’ stunning endorsement recently by former Vice President Dick Cheney, a longtime staunch Republican Party leader, Defense Secretary and former GOP-aligned Halliburton oil company CEO.
In doing so, Cheney bridges political ties to the foreign policy ideals of former President Ronald Reagan, whose name is often invoked in reference to Trump.
It may offer stark or confusing contrasts to some viewers on where Trump and Harris stand on particular issues of global diplomacy, more so likely with high-profile names like Cheney endorsing others like Harris “across the aisle” that historically, or normally, would be in opposition.
Meanwhile, an Oct. 1 date is set for the two vice presidential candidates, Minnesota’s Democratic Gov. Tim Walz and Ohio’s Republican Sen. JD Vance, to face off in a New York City debate moderated by “CBS Evening News” anchor Norah O’Donnell and “Face the Nation” moderator and the network’s chief foreign affairs correspondent Margaret Brennan.