Kamala Harris and Donald Trump have taken the stage in Philadelphia, where they’ll fight to sway 2024 election voters on the biggest stage in U.S. politics.
The event, which began at 9 p.m. EDT Tuesday, offers Americans their most detailed look at a campaign that’s dramatically changed since the last debate in June. In rapid fashion, President Joe Biden bowed out of the race after his disastrous performance, Trump survived an assassination attempt and bothsides chose their running mates.
It’s the only debate that’s been firmly scheduled and could be the only time voters see Harris and Trump go head-to-head before the November general election.
The debate has no audience, no written notes, and no live mics when candidates aren’t speaking, according to rules the host network ABC News shared.
Follow the AP’s Election 2024 coverage at: https://apnews.com/hub/election-2024.
Here’s the latest:
Trump tactic: Always question the numbers
Trump has at several points questioned official government measures to make his arguments.
On the economy, he accused the Biden administration of misrepresenting job creation numbers. He accused the FBI of manipulating crime statistics — and stood by his false claim even when fact-checked by ABC’s David Muir. He’s repeated his false claims that the 2020 election was rigged against him.
He also argued death tolls in Ukraine are “fake numbers.”
Who should win the war in Ukraine?
After a commercial break ended, Trump was asked whether he wanted Ukraine to win the war against Russia.
Trump responded by saying “I want the war to stop,” declining to take sides between Russia and Ukraine.
The answer will likely reverberate in the days to come, especially for a candidate that is viewed as solicitous of Vladimir Putin.
Asked again, Trump said there needs to be a deal to end the war.
An hour in, the Israel-Hamas war comes up
Harris says Israel “has the right to defend itself,” adding “we would” if the United States were attacked.
The vice president went on to advocate for a “two-state solution.”
As he has frequently during the campaign, Trump said the war would have never happened were he president, saying several times that Harris “hates Israel.”
Saying that accusation wasn’t true, Harris said that he is “trying again to divide and distract” from the reality thatTrump is “wrong on national security.”
Trump falsely claims evidence shows he won in 2020
Donald Trump is repeating his false claim that he beat President Joe Biden in the 2020 election, saying “there’s so much proof. All you have to do is look at it.”
The election was not stolen. The authorities who have reviewed the election — including Trump’s own attorney general — have concluded the election was fair
Trump said he was speaking sarcastically when he acknowledged recently that he did indeed lose the 2020 election.
“I said that?” Trump says when presented with his comment from a recent interview with Lex Friedman that he had lost “by a whisker.” He said the same thing at a Moms for Liberty event without a hint that he was joking.
Trump has spent years refusing to accept his loss, even though there is no evidence of the fraud that he insists took place.
“That was said sarcastically,” he says. “I don’t acknowledge that at all.”
Court records rebut Trump claims on 2020 protests and police reform
Trump suggested that protesters who committed crimes during the 2020 racial injustice protests were not prosecuted.
“When are those people that burned down Minneapolis going to be prosecuted?” Trump asked.
A 2021 Associated Press review of documents in more than 300 federal cases stemming from the protests sparked by George Floyd’s death found that more than 120 defendants across the U.S. pleaded guilty or were convicted at trial of federal crimes including rioting, arson and conspiracy.
More than 70 defendants who had been sentenced by August 2021 had received an average of about 27 months behind bars. At least 10 received prison terms of five years or more.
As it stands: What’s come up, what hasn’t
It’s past the halfway mark of the Harris-Trump debate, and here’s where we are on what’s been discussed — and what hasn’t.
Harris and Trump have talked about issues related to the economy, abortion, fracking, foreign affairs, crime and immigration, to which Trump has pivoted several different answers. There was also a question about the Jan. 6, 2021, attack at the U.S. Capitol, as well as Trump’s loss in the 2020 election.
There hasn’t been much discussion about the environment, climate change, the military or Biden’s departure from the campaign, less than two months ago.
Harris pivots from Jan. 6 to make an ask for votes
With Trump continuing to deny any responsibility for the Jan. 6, 2021, attacks on the Capitol, Harris used the discussion to ask explicitly for a potentially decisive part of the electorate: Republicans disgusted by those mobs and Trump’s role.
Harris looked directly at the camera to say “there is a place in our campaign for you.”
She asked for support from voters who “stand for rule of law” and want to “end the chaos.”
‘I showed up for a speech’
Trump again minimized his role in the Jan. 6, 2021, riot at the U.S. Capitol, which began when a mob of supporters inspired by his false claims that the election had been stolen stormed the building and engaged in violent clashes with law enforcement.
He said he had “nothing to do with that other than that they asked me to make a speech.”
Though it is true that he encouraged his supporters to proceed peacefully to the Capitol, he also beckoned them to come to Washington to protest the election results and to “fight like hell.”
The future or the past?
Harris throughout the debate has pushed language focused on the future, telling viewing audiences, “let’s turn the page on this” and “let’s chart a course to the future.”
But Trump won’t let her forget that she’s already in office as vice president.
He suggested she leave the debate, go to the capital, and work with Biden to pass a law to close down the border.
Muted mics not stopping Harris and Trump from interrupting each other
In the leadup to the debate, Harris’ and Trump’s camps battled over whether the candidates’ mics should be muted when they weren’t speaking.
But both Trump and Harris could be heard speaking over each other at least a few times in the first half of the debate.
When Harris said Biden didn’t have a plan for middle-class Americans, Trump could be heard punching back: “That’s just a soundbite. They gave her that to say.”
A few minutes later as Trump grumbled that the U.S. barely makes semiconductor chips, Harris clapped back, “That’s not true.”
At another point, Trump tried to hush Harris as she tried to interject with a steely, “I’m talking now.”
Trump not moderating his rhetoric about Harris
Just as he does at his rallies, Trump is using over-the-top caricatures of Harris. In the debate’s opening segment, he’s said “everyone knows she’s a Marxist” and that the Biden administration has “destroyed our country with policy that is insane” because “they have to hate our country.”
Throughout the name-calling and hyperbole, Harris alternated among smiling, shaking her head and looking perplexed.
Trump’s audiences at rallies love his broadsides on Harris. It’s not clear he gains any advantage from such hyperbole when the audience is the broader electorate—- and it offers Harris an opportunity to shatter the caricature.
Harris mentions Trump’s felony conviction in response to his claims on crime rates
Harris responded to Trump’s claims about crime rates by reminding the former president that he is a convicted criminal with several other pending criminal cases.
“I think this is so rich coming from someone who has been prosecuted for national security crimes, economic crimes, election interference, has been found liable for sexual assault,” Harris said. “And his next big court appearance is in November at his own criminal sentencing.”
Trump blamed Harris and President Joe Biden for his legal plight, referring to the cases against him as “weaponization” of the criminal justice system.
Trump was convicted in May of falsifying business records related to a hush money payment made to porn actor Stormy Daniels on the eve of the 2016 election. His sentencing was delayed last week from Sept. 18 to Nov. 26.
“It’s weaponization and they used it, and it’s never happened in this country. They used it to try and win an election. They’re fake cases,” Trump said, adding that he’s confident that his New York conviction will be reversed on appeal.
Trump made multiple false and misleading statement on the cases against him
Trump made multiple false or misleading statements related to the criminal cases against him, including saying he had scored a “complete and total victory” in the prosecution charging him with illegally hoarding classified documents.
It’s true that a Trump-appointed judge dismissed the case, but not because she concluded that he was innocent — rather, the ruling from U.S. District Judge Aileen Cannon said that the prosecutor who brought the case, special counsel Jack Smith, was unlawfully appointed.
That decision has been appealed and could well be overturned in the weeks ahead, which would revive the prosecution and put it back in court.
Trump also claimed that Biden was found to be “essentially guilty” in an investigation into his retention of classified documents. But that’s not true: the prosecutor in that investigation said that though there was some evidence that Biden had willfully retained the records, it was insufficient to bring a criminal case
Trump’s legal peril finally comes up
It took more than a half-hour, but Harris found a way, without moderators’ help, to bring up Trump’s legal troubles: his felony convictions, pending indictments and civil liability for sexual assault.
It has spawned a long back-and-forth on who believes more in the rule of law and who is weaponizing the justice system.
At a minimum, it is a notable moment in presidential debate history to have a former and possible future president defend his felony conviction by promising that he will “win on appeal.”
Trump endorses false rumor about immigrants eating pets
Donald Trump is promoting a false rumor that Haitian immigrants in Ohio are abducting and eating pets, using the baseless story as evidence of crimes being committed by immigrants.
“They’re eating the dogs, the people that came in. They’re eating the cats,” Trump said.
There’s no evidence that’s occurring. Authorities in Ohio have said there are no credible or detailed reports to support Trump’s claim.
FBI data shows violent crime is down, despite Trump claims
Trump claimed that “crime is through the roof” under the Biden administration.
In fact, FBI data has shown a downward trend in violent crime since the spike during the COVID-19 pandemic.
Violent crime was down 6% in the last three months of 2023 compared with the same period the year before, according to FBI data released in March. Murders were down 13%.
New FBI statistics released in June show the overall violent crime rate declined 15% in the first three months of 2024 compared to the same period last year. One expert has cautioned, however, that those 2024 figures are preliminary and may overstate the actual reduction in crime.
Trump blasts Biden administration over the disastrous withdrawal from Afghanistan
The main government watchdog and most independent assessments agree Trump and Biden share the biggest share of the blame for the disastrous end to America’s longest war, which saw the Taliban sweep across all of Afghanistan before the last U.S. troops even flew out of the Kabul airport.
The main U.S. government watchdog for the war points to Trump’s 2020 deal with the Taliban to withdraw all U.S. forces and military contractors as “the single most important factor” in the August 2021 collapse of U.S.-allied Afghan security forces and the Taliban takeover.
Harris touts support from former Trump officials
Analysts expect the vote margins to be tight in this fall’s general election, and Harris is touting her endorsements from Republicans, including former Trump administration officials.
“I think the choice is clear in this election,” she said.
Trump responded, “I fired most of those people,” adding, as he has frequently of the Biden-Harris administration, “They never fire anybody.”
At Tuesday’s debate, two former Trump administration officials are appearing as Harris’ guests.
Trump notes Biden and Harris’ failure to deliver student loan forgiveness
Trump slammed President Biden and Harris for failing to deliver on student loan forgiveness, one of Biden’s campaign promises.
Some borrowers have gotten relief but parts of the plan have been hampered by Republican opposition and lawsuits. Earlier this month, the Supreme Court declined to lift an injunction that would have allowed one of the student loan forgiveness plans to be implemented.
Harris’ tactic on hard questions: Compare herself to Trump
The vice president has used that same tactic on perhaps the two toughest topics: inflation and the economy under Biden, and the migrant flow across the U.S.-Mexico.
Both times, she opened her answer by saying “I’m the only person on this stage who …” — a clear way to pivot the question to a comparison between her and Trump.
For the economy, it was to note her middle-class upbringing. She then used that as a bridge to talk about policy.
On the border and immigration, she talked about prosecuting transnational gangs, a reference to her tenure as California attorney general.
Trump says he ‘won’t have to’ veto a national abortion ban
He didn’t agree with GOP foe Nikki Haley on a lot of things during the primary season, but it sounds like Trump does likely agree with his former United Nations ambassador on the ultimately future of a national abortion ban.
Asked if he would veto a national abortion ban, Trump said “I won’t have to” because “they could never get this approved” in Congress.
When she was vying against Trump for the Republican nomination, Haley reluctantly committed to signing a national abortion ban if elected president but said passing one would be unlikely without more Republicans in Congress.
Trump speaks on IVF
Trump repeated his support for IVF access during Tuesday’s debate, calling himself “a leader on IVF.”
This comes about two weeks after he announced plans, without additional details, to require health insurance companies or the federal government to pay for the common fertility treatment.
The announcement shows the former president’s realization that reproductive rights may be a significant vulnerability for Republicans. But it also is at odds with the actions of much of his own party as many Republicans have been left grappling with the innate tension between support for the procedure and for laws passed by their own party that grant legal personhood not only to fetuses but to any embryos that are destroyed in the IVF process.
Efforts by the GOP to appear united on IVF have been undercut by state lawmakers, Republican-dominated courts and anti-abortion leaders within the party’s ranks.
Trump says he brought abortion “back to states”
Trump leaned on his catchall response to questions on abortion rights, saying the issue should be left up to the states.
In states allowing the citizen initiative and where abortion access has been on the ballot, voters have resoundingly affirmed the right to abortion. But voters don’t have a direct say in about half the states. In states that will have abortion on the ballot this year, anti-abortion groups and their Republican allies are using a wide array of strategies to counter proposed ballot initiatives.
Trump has repeatedly shifted his position on abortion while boasting about appointing the three Supreme Court justices who helped overturn the constitutional right to abortion, unleashing a wave of restrictions on the procedure across Republican-led states.
Abortion is a central campaign issue in the 2024 presidential election as Trump seeks a more cautious stance on the issue, which has become a vulnerability for Republicans and has driven turnout for Democrats.
Trump repeats misinformation on abortions later in pregnancy
Trump parroted common misinformation narratives about abortions later in pregnancy during Tuesday’s debate.
The former president has repeatedly made false claims about states allowing abortions after birth. This is false. Infanticide is criminalized in every state, and no state has passed a law that allows killing a baby after birth.
Abortion rights advocates say terms like this and “late-term abortions” attempt to stigmatize abortions later in pregnancy. Abortions later in pregnancy are exceedingly rare. In 2020, less than 1% of abortions in the United States were performed at or after 21 weeks, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
Abortions later in pregnancy also are usually the result of serious complications, such as fetal anomalies, that put the life of the woman or fetus at risk, medical experts say. In most cases, these are also wanted pregnancies, experts say.
Americans give Harris an edge over Trump on abortion policy
As debate turns to issues of abortion, recent polling shows that this topic is a strong one for Harris.
About half of Americans (51%) say they trust Harris to do a better job of handling abortion policy than they do Trump (27%), according to an AP-NORC poll from August.
This is also an issue where Republicans give Trump relatively low marks, signaling some possible displeasure from his own party. Only about 6 in 10 Republicans trust Trump over Harris on these issues. About 15% trust Harris more, and about 1 in 10 trust both candidates equally.
Harris: I’m for the middle class. Trump is for the rich guy.
Harris is leaning into her middle-class background and her plans to create an “opportunity economy” while lashing out at Trump as out-of-touch.
“Donald Trump has no plan for you. And when you look at his economic plan, it’s all about tax breaks for the richest people,” she says.
Trump for his part pushing back that Harris is an empty vessel when it comes to the economy. “She doesn’t have a plan. She copied Biden’s plan.”
Harris on Trump’s proposed tariffs
Harris claimed that “economists have said that that Trump’s sales tax would actually result for middle class families in about $4,000 more a year.” She was referring to Trump’s proposal to impose a tariff of 10% to 20% on all imports — he has mentioned both figures — and up to 60% on imports from China.
Most economists do expect it would raise prices on many goods. The Center for American Progress Action Fund, a progressive advocacy group, has calculated that the higher tariffs would cost households an extra $3,900 a year. However, Trump has said the tariff revenue could be used to cut other taxes, which would reduce the overall cost of the policy.”
Harris forecasts ‘lies, grievances and name-calling’ from Trump
Harris has been viewing Trump with a somewhat skeptical look on her face, and she says she’s not expecting much truth from him during this debate.
Harris says she expects to hear “a bunch of lies, grievances and name-calling” from her GOP opponent during their 90-minute debate.
Trump again distances himself from Project 2025
Trump is again distancing himself from Project 2025, the Heritage Foundation project crafted by dozens of his former administration officials.
“I haven’t read it. I don’t want to read it, purposefully. I’m not going to read it,” he says.
Democrats have made the deeply conservative proposals a centerpiece of their attacks against Trump.
Harris focuses on middle class in first answer; Trump pivots to immigration
With the White House under pressure on the economy, Harris said she was “raised as a middle class kid” and would be focused on creating an “opportunity economy.”
She also sharply criticized Trump for policies that she said would increase costs for Americans.
Trump rejected the description, and he said he would focus on tariffs on imports from foreign countries.
He also swiftly shifted focus to immigration, saying people were “pouring into the country.”
First question of the debate is on the economy
Many voters say it’s the top issue for them in this election, and the economy is the first question during the Harris-Trump debate.
Americans are slightly more likely to trust Trump over Harris when it comes to handling the economy, according to an AP-NORC poll from August.
Views about the economy aren’t especially rosy. About 6 in 10 U.S. adults say economic conditions in the country are “getting worse,” according to a recent Gallup poll. And slightly fewer than half (45%) rate the U.S. economy as “poor” while 31% describe it as “only fair.” About one-quarter call it excellent or good.
By one measure, Americans are not better or worse off than four years ago. Earlier Tuesday, the Census Bureau released an annual report that showed inflation-adjusted U.S. median household income in 2023 rose for the first time since 2019 to $80,610 — about the same as it was four years ago, in 2019.
The Harris-Trump debate has begun
It may be the one and only time Harris and Trump meet onstage, and their presidential debate is now underway.
The Democratic and Republican nominees have taken the stage at the National Constitution Center in Philadelphia.
For the next 90 minutes, Harris and Trump will be going one-on-on to make their arguments to American voters. They’ll be standing behind podiums about 6-8 feet apart in a small, blue-lit amphitheater.
As with the Biden-Trump debate earlier this summer, there’s no live audience in the room. That means that there will be no rowdy applause, cheers or jeers.
The debate is hosted by ABC News.
Harris and Trump shook hands as they took the stage for their debate.
CNN’s Anderson Cooper: ‘We had no idea what was going to happen’
CNN’s Anderson Cooper acknowledges that no one could have known what was about to happen in the previous debate in June — and that this one’s the same.
“We were all thinking, `This is going to be a really consequential debate.′ But we had no idea what was going to happen on that stage,” Cooper said minutes before the Trump-Harris debate began.
Joe Biden’s performance in the debate started a sequence of events that led to him withdrawing from the race weeks later.
Cooper says the same’s true of tonight: No one knows.
National Constitution Center gussied up for debate
The stage and lighting are secondary to what Trump and Harris have to say, but debate organizers made sure the National Constitution Center is looking its best for tonight’s debate.
The arena is bathed in blue light. The candidates will face a giant screen with the countdown clock set at 2:00. The set is decorated with images of the constitutional text, with a “We the People” above the lecterns.
Hundreds gather to watch the debate on a huge screen
At Salem Baptist Church of Abington, a historically Black church in the Philadelphia suburbs, hundreds of people gathered outside on the church’s football field to watch the debate on a 33-foot screen.
It was a festival atmosphere beforehand, with food trucks, Boy Scouts playing cornhole on American-flag themed boards, the Montgomery County voter services department offering to register voters and a DJ blasting music at the event dubbed “Vote-A-Palooza!”
“How’s this for Americana?” said the church pastor, the Rev. Marshall Mitchell.
Tonight’s debate could be longer than planned
Tonight’s Harris-Trump debate is set to go 90 minutes, but don’t be surprised if it goes a little long.
Trump and Biden’s debate in July hosted by CNN was also scheduled for 90 minutes, but ended up running about eight minutes long.
ABC says that tonight’s debate includes two commercial breaks, so it might not be a bad idea to make that bathroom pit stop now.
Who are the debate moderators?
Most of the focus during the debate is on the candidates, but with no audience, there’s sure to be plenty of attention on the moderators, too.
The Harris-Trump debate is happening on ABC News and is hosted by two of its news personalities.
David Muir’s “World News Tonight” has led the evening news ratings for eight years, making him effectively America’s most popular newscaster. Many nights “World News Tonight” has a bigger audience than anything on prime-time television.
Linsey Davis has a lower profile, and many will be seeing her in action on Tuesday night for the first time. She hosts ABC’s nightly streaming newscast, fills in for Muir and has moderated presidential nominating debates in the past.
Trump had repeatedly sown doubt he would participate in ABC News’ debate, arguing that he agreed to do so when Biden, not Harris, was Democrats’ nominee. The Republican nominee has repeatedly criticized the network, targeting network political journalists George Stephanopoulos and Jonathan Karl specifically.
Israel-Hamas war protesters gather outside debate venue
Demonstrators are protesting the Israel-Hamas war in Philadelphia where the presidential debate is scheduled Tuesday evening.
Scores of people lined the streets shouting: “Justice is our demand,” carrying banners and flags and holding signs that read “arms embargo now.”
Philadelphia has been a key venue in Harris’ rise in presidential politics
In November 2020, Kamala Harris headlined an Election Day event rally in Philadelphia on the same evening Joe Biden was in Pittsburgh. The Biden-Harris ticket flipped Pennsylvania from the GOP column four years after the state helped Trump defeat Hillary Clinton.
Last month, Harris introduced her running mate, Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz, at a raucous Philadelphia rally.
And tonight, she steps onto the presidential general election debate stage for the first time at the National Constitution Center.
Don’t be surprised if she’s back in Philly on the final night of campaigning before Election Day again this November.
Trump arrived in Philadelphia with an entourage
Along with family members, campaign officials and advisers, Donald Trump was joined on his plane by the far-right activist Laura Loomer, a controversial figure who has become one of his most loyal advocates on social media.
The 31-year-old Loomer has a long history of anti-Muslim and anti-immigrant remarks. She also has spread racist conspiracy theories, including the false notion that Harris isn’t Black.
Top Trump surrogate wants difficult debate questions for Harris
North Dakota Gov. Doug Burgum says ABC has a responsibility to ask Harris tough questions tonight because she’s done so few interviews.
Otherwise, he said, “I think America’s going to be outraged.”
Burgum is a top Trump surrogate who was on Trump’s vice presidential shortlist.
Asked if there was a risk of Trump coming across too aggressively, Burgum argued the risk cuts “both ways.” Harris, he noted, is a former prosecutor and well-practiced in memorizing attack lines.
“Depending on the tenor of how people are interacting with each other,” he said, “either one of them could be viewed as being too aggressive.”
Trump, he said, “is going to come out, he’s going to make a decision, he’s going to sort of read the room, if you will, and see what he’s up against. Then I think he’ll go from there.”
Burgum said he wants “America to get to know the President Trump that I know, versus all these falsehoods that are told about him.”
Trump arrives in Philadelphia
Donald Trump has arrived in Philadelphia ahead of the debate Tuesday night with Vice President Kamala Harris.
Harris arrived Monday afternoon after spending several days at a downtown Pittsburgh hotel preparing for the debate.
Harris has many tasks to balance
Kamala Harris has a lot to accomplish in her first presidential debate.
She’s not an unknown, but she hasn’t been president already like Donald Trump. Now she gets the biggest audience she’s ever had to talk to voters still trying to decide whether they can see her behind the Resolute Desk.
But then there’s her opponent, a deeply divisive figure who has been convicted of felonies, regularly criticizes U.S. institutions and promises an unapologetic conservative agenda if he returns to the White House.
And Harris, though not an incumbent, is a face of the Biden administration, which has notable legislative accomplishments but also has presided over an inflationary economy.
So, how much time will the vice president spend making her personal case? How much arguing against Trump? How much trying to take credit for Biden’s wins while distancing herself from his liabilities?
After debate, allies to make arguments for candidates in the spin room
The official debate action takes place on the stage, but both Harris and Trump will have a large contingent of allies making arguments on their behalf in the spin room afterward.
Harris will have a number of Democrats whose names popped up as possible running mates for her, including Govs. Gavin Newsom (California), Roy Cooper (North Carolina), Josh Shapiro (Pennsylvania) and Michelle Lujan Grisham (New Mexico). There are also a handful of members of Congress: Sens. Tammy Duckworth, Chris Murphy and Laphonza Butler, as well as Reps. Jason Crow, Veronica Escobar, Robert Garcia and Ted Lieu. Mini Rimmaraju, CEO of Reproductive Freedom for All, retired Brig. Gen. Steve Anderson, and Khizr Khan, the father of a Muslim American soldier killed in Iraq who famously asked Trump if he had read the Constitution during an appearance at the 2016 Democratic National Convention.
In addition to Vance, his running mate, Trump will be represented by Republican National Committee Chairman Michael Whatley and his co-chair, Lara Trump, who is also Trump’s daughter-in-law.
There will also be several Republicans whom he defeated during the primary campaign — North Dakota Gov. Doug Burgum, Sen. Tim Scott of South Carolina and entrepreneur Vivek Ramaswamy — as well as Robert F. Kennedy Jr., who shuttered his independent bid and endorsed Trump just weeks ago. There’s also Tulsi Gabbard, a former House member from Hawaii who left the Democratic Party in 2022 and has backed Trump.
The former president will also be supported by other top surrogates like South Dakota Gov. Kristi Noem, Sens. Marco Rubio and Rick Scott of Florida, Sen. Tom Cotton of Arkansas, Florida Reps. Byron Donalds and Matt Gaetz and Rep. Mike Waltz of Texas.
The Associated Press