The stage is set for the first face-to-face encounter between Vice President Kamala Harris and former President Donald J Trump since Harris entered the presidential race. ABC News announced on Thursday that the two candidates have agreed to a televised prime-time debate on September 10.
According to sources familiar with the plans, the 90-minute debate is expected to take place in Philadelphia. ABC anchors David Muir and Linsey Davis will moderate the event, which will likely be held without a live audience. The exact format and ground rules are still being determined.
This announcement comes after months of uncertainty. Trump had initially agreed to debate President Biden on ABC on the same date. However, after Biden withdrew from the race, he wavered on that commitment, arguing that he had not agreed to those terms with Harris.
The upcoming debate could potentially draw an even larger audience than the previous one in June, which attracted over 51 million viewers. That debate, widely considered the most consequential in the 64-year history of televised presidential matchups, saw Biden's shaky performance trigger a panic among Democrats, ultimately leading to his withdrawal from the race.
At a news conference on Thursday, Trump stated he would debate Harris on two additional occasions, at events hosted by NBC News and Fox News. However, the Harris campaign has not agreed to these debates, which were not part of the original schedule agreed upon by Biden and Trump in May.
When asked about the additional debates, Harris told reporters after a campaign event in Michigan, "I'm happy to have that conversation about an additional debate after Sept. 10. For sure." She added that she was "looking forward" to the September 10 debate, quipping, "Hope he shows up."
BREAKING: Harris commits herself to only one debate with President Trump, completely ignoring two out of three.
She's a coward.
— I Meme Therefore I Am 🇺🇸 (@ImMeme0) August 8, 2024
The ABC debate was negotiated with the campaigns by John Santucci, the network's executive editorial producer, and Rick Klein, its Washington bureau chief. For the Trump campaign, managers Chris LaCivita and Susan Wiles handled negotiations, while Brian Fallon, a senior adviser for communications, took the lead for the Harris campaign.
As the post-Labor Day kickoff to the final two-month stretch of the campaign, this debate is poised to be a pivotal moment in an already unpredictable presidential race. With recent events, including Biden's withdrawal and an assassination attempt on Trump, many Americans are refocusing on an election that until recently seemed to be shaping up as a rerun of 2020.
