Donald Trump and Kamala Harris meet tonight for the first — and perhaps only — debate of their closely fought presidential contest.
The stakes are exceedingly high.
The June face-off between Trump and President Biden resulted in the incumbent’s withdrawal from the race following his disastrous performance. Vice President Harris was nominated as his replacement.
Tuesday’s debate will be the first time she and former President Trump have ever met face to face.
Los Angeles Times columnists Lorraine Ali, Mark Z. Barabak, Anita Chabria and Doyle McManus will offer color and a running commentary as the debate unfolds, starting at 6 p.m. Pacific time. Keep it here for live updates.
How to watch the debate| Debate moderators| What to expect
5:10 p.m.: Tuesday’s 90-minute debate will be the most important job interview of Kamala Harris’ life.
Polls show a close race, but many voters say they have not chosen whom to vote for (or whether to vote at all) because they don’t know enough about the vice president.
So Harris’ most important mission is to define herself in the eyes of those voters: Is she commanding enough to look presidential? Does she have credible answers to voters’ top concerns, including high prices and border security? And can she parry Trump’s relentless charges that she is a radical leftist?
Trump’s mission is to do the opposite: to “disqualify” Harris, as campaign strategists put it. He’ll undoubtedly do his best to cast her as an underqualified candidate who, if elected, would continue all the aspects of Biden’s presidency that voters haven’t liked.
Which Harris shows up? The prosecutor on the attack, or the optimist promising “a new way forward”? The progressive Harris who ran for president in 2019, or the increasingly moderate, center-left Harris who has softened many of her earlier positions?
Which Trump will show up? Will it be the uncaged Trump of his mass rallies, promising to deport millions of undocumented immigrants in a process he promises will be “bloody,” and charging that Harris and the Democrats are “communists and fascists”? Or will he temper his message to try to win back some of the independent and moderate voters who have drifted away from him since 2016?
—Doyle McManus