Sept. 9 (UPI) — The first and highly anticipated debate between Donald Trump and Kamala Harris is set for Tuesday night in the “City of Brotherly Love.”
Tuesday’s first debate in Philadelphia with the Democratic nominee for president, Vice President Kamala Harris, and the Republican nominee challenging her for the White House, former President Donald Trump, will air at 9 p.m. EDT from the National Constitution Center, a non-profit institution devoted to the U.S. Constitution.
The 90-minute debate will be aired on multiple television networks and live-streaming platforms — such as ABC News Live, Disney+, Hulu, Paramount and CBS platforms — and moderated by two ABC network faces, “World News Tonight” anchor David Muir and ABC News Live “Prime” anchor Linsey Davis.
The NBC News live blog on the debate will show latest updates, analysis and fact-checking. Trump and Harris will have two minutes each for closing statements but with no “opening statements.”
Trump will give the last closing statement. Harris will be placed at the podium on the left side, which to television viewers will appear on the right side of a screen. Positioning was determined by Trump winning a coin toss.
Two minutes will be provided for the nominees to answer questions by the two ABC moderators, two minutes for rebuttals and one extra minute for follow-ups or clarifications. Campaign staff will not be allowed to interact with Harris or Trump during commercial breaks.
No live audience will be in the studio, the same as the last debate in June with in Atlanta between Trump and President Joe Biden. That CNN debate performance was so concerning among many national Democrats that it ultimately lead to the president’s decision to not seek re-election and instead endorse Harris, becoming the first American president in nearly 60 years since former President Lyndon B. Johnson to do so.
Polls show a tightening race with no clear favorite as the vice president has slowly edged Trump in key battleground states such as Pennsylvania.
Trump is laying the foundation for a “rigged” debate on ABC News before he squares off with America’s first woman vice president, POLITICO reported.
“There’s no floor for him in terms of how low he will go,” Harris said on “The Rickey Smiley Morning Show” which aired Monday.
It arrives as Harris had received a stunning endorsement from former Republican Vice President Dick Cheney, the father of former Rep. Liz Cheney, R-Wyo. Both father and daughter say they will be casting their vote for Harris.
In doing so, Dick Cheney said Harris’ foreign policy approach aligns more with the scion of Republican party politics, former President Ronald Reagan over Trump.
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.
