Trump and Harris clash in debate that could change 2024 race

By Joseph Ax

(Reuters) – Republican U.S. presidential candidate Donald Trump and Democratic Vice President Kamala Harris will meet on Tuesday for their first and perhaps only debate, a clash that could prove decisive in the battle for the White House.

The debate, moderated by ABC News at 9 p.m. ET (1 a.m. GMT Wednesday), comes just eight weeks before the Nov. 5 election, with both candidates in a neck-and-neck race that could easily swing one way or the other. In some states, early voting begins just days after the debate.

The meeting is particularly important for Harris, as opinion polls show that more than a quarter of likely voters feel they do not yet know enough about her – unlike the well-known Trump.

The nationally televised debate also offers former prosecutor Harris the opportunity to make her case against Trump, whose capital crime convictions, his open support for supporters convicted of the Jan. 6, 2021, attack on the U.S. Capitol, and his frequent falsehoods all provide ample fertile ground.

It is the first meeting between the two candidates and follows weeks of personal attacks by Trump and his allies on Harris, which included racist and sexist insults.

A similar outburst on stage could scare off undecided voters, says John Geer, a professor at Vanderbilt University and an expert on presidential politics.

Trump’s advisers and fellow Republicans urged him to focus on illegal immigration and high prices on Tuesday – issues that resonate with voters – and to portray Harris as too liberal for the country.

“There is no lower limit to how far it will go and we should be prepared for that,” Harris said in a radio interview that aired Monday.

Presidential debates aren’t always decisive, but they can change the dynamic of a campaign. President Joe Biden’s poor performance against Trump in June was so damaging that he eventually abandoned his campaign.

In a race where tens of thousands of votes could again be at stake in some states, even a small shift in public opinion could change the outcome. According to polling averages compiled by The New York Times, the two candidates are virtually tied in the seven swing states that are likely to decide the election.

“Kamala Harris has more to gain, but also more to lose,” says Mitchell McKinney, former adviser to the U.S. Commission on Presidential Debates, as she is still a relatively unknown candidate for many voters.

Viewers will want to know what her stance is on various issues, but just as importantly, they will see how she feels about Trump.

Trump, on the other hand, is already clearly defined. “Either you are for him or you are against him,” said McKinney.

The 90-minute debate will take place at the National Constitution Center in Philadelphia. As agreed by campaign teams, there will be no live audience and microphones will be muted when it is not a candidate’s turn to speak.

PREPARATION

Harris has been preparing for the debate in Pittsburgh since Thursday. She is holding simulated sessions on a stage with lights to recreate the atmosphere of a debate. Philippe Reines, a former Hillary Clinton aide, is playing Trump.

Instead of rehearsing, Trump relied on informal talks with advisers, campaign appearances and media interviews to prepare for Tuesday, with advice from former Democratic congresswoman Tulsi Gabbard – who had a memorable hostile exchange with Harris in a 2019 Democratic presidential debate.

In a phone call with reporters, Gabbard said Trump would treat Harris like any other opponent.

“President Trump respects women and doesn’t feel the need to be condescending or talk to women any differently than he would talk to a man,” she said. “He talks about Kamala Harris’ record and compares and contrasts it with his track record.”

While any personal crossfire will attract plenty of attention, especially on social media, the two rivals are also likely to have clashed over several important issues.

A Harris campaign aide said the vice president will attack Trump on abortion, calling him unfit to lead, and tout her plans to strengthen the middle class and lower costs for consumers.

Abortion has been a top issue for Harris and Democrats since 2022, after the U.S. Supreme Court – led by three Trump-appointed justices – struck down a federal right to the procedure in a widely unpopular decision.

In her speeches, she clearly placed the responsibility for this ruling on Trump’s shoulders and referred to various state-level restrictions as “Trump abortion bans.”

She has also tried to link Trump to Project 2025, a conservative concept developed by the Heritage Foundation think tank that, among other right-wing goals, calls for expanding executive power, repealing environmental protection regulations and banning the cross-border shipping of abortion pills across state lines.

Trump adopted a different rhetoric on the abortion issue while distancing himself from Project 2025, even though many of his former advisers were involved in drafting the proposals.

Trump, for his part, will link Harris to the Biden administration’s immigration policies and attack her for the record number of migrant crossings before a recent spate of presidential orders drove the numbers down dramatically.

He will also likely blame Harris for high consumer prices, which have left many Americans pessimistic about the economy despite strong job and wage growth.

He is expected to highlight Harris’s past – now retracted – support for left-wing positions such as banning fracking, portraying her as either a turncoat or an extreme liberal in disguise.

(Reporting by Joseph Ax, additional reporting by Nandita Bose, Helen Coster and James Oliphant, editing by Ross Colvin and Deepa Babington)