The Latest: The debate between Trump and Harris has begun in Philadelphia
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 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?
How dark and dystopian will Trump go with Harris on stage?
At his rallies and other venues, Donald Trump paints an over-the-top image of an America under Kamala Harris.
“A crash like 1929 … World War III … the suburbs will be overrun with violent crime and savage, foreign gangs … it will be crime, chaos and death all across our country.”
His crowds believe it. But the audience Tuesday is the broader electorate. And Harris will be standing right there able to rebut him, either directly or simply by performing as a steady, mainstream figure that belies the caricature.
It’s a risk Trump will have to weigh as he considers whether to employ his usual rhetoric.
The debate’s set is smaller than it looks
It may look bigger on TV, but the set where the two candidates will be debating tonight is actually pretty small.
The candidates’ podiums are positioned about 6-8 feet apart in a small, blue-lit amphitheater with no live audience in the room. That means there will be no rowdy applause, and no cheers or jeers.
The candidates will enter at the same time from opposite sides of the stage.
It remains to be seen whether they will shake hands.
Abortion rights could be an important topic in Harris-Trump debate
Democrats want Trump’s role in overturning Roe v. Wade to be front-and-center in the debate, especially after President Joe Biden missed a chance to hammer Trump in their lone debate in June.
“Trump owns every single abortion ban in the country,” the Democratic National Committee said in a statement Tuesday.
Harris brings up Trump’s position on abortion in every campaign speech, reminding voters that Trump has bragged that his three Supreme Court nominees were instrumental in the 2022 Dobbs decision that overturned Roe after nearly a half-century of women having a constitutional right to terminate a pregnancy. Republican-run states across the country have since implemented near or total bans on surgical abortions.
Harris proved effective as an advocate on the issue ahead of the 2022 midterms, and Democrats relish the chance she will have as just the second female presidential nominee of a major U.S. party to confront Trump on the matter face-to-face.
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.
Tonight’s debate venue is rich with historical significance
It’s the scene of tonight’s debate, but the National Constitution Center has also played host to a number of other pivotal political moments.
The venue in the heart of Philadelphia is across from the Liberty Bell and Independence Hall, where the Founding Fathers debated and signed the U.S. Constitution and Declaration of Independence.
In 2008, it was the scene of then-Sen. Barack Obama’s “A More Perfect Union” speech, largely credited as among the more memorable remarks of the campaign of the candidate who went on to become the first Black U.S. president.
That speech came also amid controversy around his longtime pastor, the Rev. Jeremiah Wright, whose anti-American rantings threatened Obama’s presidential campaign.
Harris is the first Black woman to serve as vice president, as well as the first Black woman who is a major-party presidential nominee in the U.S.
The center has hosted presidential debates before, including a Democratic primary matchup between Obama and Hillary Clinton, and a town hall with GOP nominee Sen. John McCain, both also in 2008.