Washington — Former President Donald Trump was set to face President Biden in the second and possibly final debate before the election, but then things took an unexpected turn in July.
Mr Biden announced on July 21 that he was suspending his election campaign because, following his confused performance in the debate against Trump in June, he was faced with growing skepticism within his own party as to whether he could hold office for another term.
The debate, moderated by ABC Newsis now a showdown between Vice President Kamala Harris and Trump, who have both agreed to go ahead with the event after weeks of back and forth over the details.
What you should know:
When will the debate take place?
The debate begins Tuesday at 9 p.m. Eastern Time.
Who moderates the presidential debate?
“World News Tonight” anchor David Muir and ABC News Live “Prime” anchor Linsey Davis will moderate the debate.
Where will the presidential debate take place?
The debate will take place at the National Constitution Center in Philadelphia.
Pennsylvania is one of seven swing states that could determine the outcome of the election. According to the latest estimate by CBS News, Harris and Trump are tied in the state, which has 19 electoral votes.
The last debate between Biden and Trump also took place in Georgia, a swing state. The two met in Atlanta in the CNN studios.
What rules apply to the debate?
In the days leading up to the debate, the campaign teams and the network negotiated the final rules. The last sticking point was the question of microphones.
Harris’ campaign wanted both microphones to be unmuted throughout the event. Trump’s team wanted a candidate’s microphone to be muted when his opponent was speaking – a rule the Biden campaign had demanded during the last debate. The Harris campaign ultimately gave in.
“Vice President Harris, a former prosecutor, is fundamentally disadvantaged by this format, which is designed to protect Donald Trump from direct interaction with the Vice President. We suspect this is the primary reason his campaign insists on muting microphones,” Harris’ campaign said in a letter to ABC News.
“Notwithstanding our concerns, we understand that Donald Trump poses a risk if he cancels the debate altogether, as he has previously threatened to do if we do not agree to his preferred format,” the letter said. “We do not want to jeopardize the debate. For this reason, we have accepted all of ABC’s proposed rules, including muting microphones.”
The Harris campaign was assured how any overlap would be handled. If there was significant overlap between the candidates, the microphones could be lifted. A candidate who continually interrupted his opponent would be warned by the moderator and his comments could be relayed to the audience. And if the microphones were not picking up the conversations, a group of reporters who would be in the room would report anything of note.
ABC News said the microphones would be “only on for the candidate whose turn it is to speak and muted when another candidate is speaking.” Harris and Trump would not be allowed to ask each other questions.
Last month, Trump said during his campaign rally in Virginia that he would “probably prefer to have it on, but the agreement was that it would be like the last time.”
A coin toss was used to decide where Trump and Harris would stand on the stage and in what order they would deliver their closing arguments. Trump won the coin toss and chose to deliver the last closing argument. Harris chose the podium on the left side of the stage, meaning viewers will see her on the right side of their screens.
Candidates are given two minutes each for their closing statement. There are no opening statements. They have two minutes to answer the moderators’ questions, two minutes for counterarguments and an additional minute for follow-up questions or clarifications.
Although Harris and Trump are not allowed to bring prepared notes onto the stage, they will have a pen, notepad and bottle of water at their lecterns.
During commercial breaks, campaign staff will not be allowed to interact with candidates and there will be no live audience.
Jason Miller, a senior adviser to Trump, said the campaign was “thrilled” that Harris’ team, which consists largely of members of Biden’s campaign, “finally accepted the already agreed-upon debate rules that they originally wrote themselves.”
What topics are under debate?
Any topic is possible. The network has not announced any possible topics and will not do so.
How to watch the presidential debate on cable TV
ABC has allowed other networks to air the debate simultaneously. It will be broadcast on numerous broadcast and cable networks, including CBS. Check your local schedule.
Where can you stream the presidential debate?
Viewers can also watch the debate on ABC News Live, Disney+ and Hulu. It will also stream on CBS News 24/7 and CBSNews.com.
How long will the debate last?
The 90-minute debate ends at 10:30 p.m. Eastern Time and has two commercial breaks.
When will the next debates take place in 2024?
At this point, only one final debate is scheduled before the election, between the vice presidential candidates, Minnesota Governor Tim Walz and Ohio Senator JD Vance.
CBS News moderates the Vice Presidential debatescheduled for October 1 in New York City. It will be moderated by Norah O’Donnell, anchor and editor-in-chief of “CBS Evening News,” and Margaret Brennan, anchor of “Face the Nation” and chief foreign affairs correspondent for CBS News.
There could be another debate between Harris and Trump. Trump had proposed two more debates in September in addition to the ABC News debate. Harris’ campaign team said she would agree to another meeting sometime in October. The two have not yet agreed on a possible date for the rematch.
