Harris-Trump debate live updates: Stage set for showdown in tight presidential race

(PHILADELPHIA) — Vice President Kamala Harris and former President Donald Trump will meet for the first time on Tuesday for the ABC News presidential debate.

It is the only debate the two have scheduled and comes at a critical point as polls show a neck-and-neck race with just eight weeks until Election Day.

The two will face off on key issues starting at 9 p.m. ET. The debate will air on ABC and stream on ABC News Live, Disney+ and Hulu.

Here’s how the news is developing:

Tonight’s presidential debate presents rare opportunity to shape election: Experts

How much difference do presidential debates make? In the past, they’ve rarely influenced an election’s outcome, according to historians who spoke with ABC News.

But the June debate between President Joe Biden and former President Trump was a rare exception, they say, ultimately leading to an unprecedented change in the Democratic presidential ticket.

Now as Vice President Harris prepares to take on Trump in their first presidential debate, experts predict the matchup could potentially produce a similar consequential and history-making moment that could sway undecided voters — a key voting bloc that could determine who wins the November election.

Read more here.

-ABC News’ Ivan Pereira

Independent voters want to know more about Harris. Can she fill in the gaps?

A recent New York Times/Siena College poll found a sizable share of likely voters (28%) and registered voters (31%) feel they need to know more about Harris as a candidate. Those numbers were even higher among independent voters: 41% of registered independents and 38% of likely voters who identified as independent said they needed to learn more about her.

Her campaign is well-aware that a large slice of the critical voting bloc feels they don’t know Harris well enough, ABC News Chief White House Correspondent Mary Bruce reports.

Tonight, she’ll want to fill in the blanks in what is her highest-profile appearance since her acceptance speech at the Democratic National Convention last month. But beyond that, their real goal is to make clear the stark choice in this election between what she wants to do as president and what Trump intends to do.

Newsom, Shapiro, Duckworth among Harris spin room surrogates

The Harris campaign released its list of surrogates who will be in the spin room during the debate.

Four Democratic governors — Roy Cooper of North Carolina, Michelle Lujan Grisham of New Mexico, Gavin Newsom of California and Josh Shapiro of Pennsylvania — are among the group, as well as Sens. Laphonza Butler of California, Tammy Duckworth from Illinois and Chris Murphy of Connecticut.

Four Democratic House members — Jason Crow from Colorado, Veronica Escobar of Texas, Robert Garcia from California and Ted Lieu of California — will also be joining, as well as retired Brig. Gen. Steve Anderson, a former Republican; Reproductive Freedom for All President and CEO Mini Timmaraju and Khizr Khan, a Gold Star father.

Biden says he spoke with Harris, who appears ‘calm, cool and collected’

As he left the White House for New York, where he will watch tonight’s debate, President Joe Biden said he’s spoken with Harris.

Biden wouldn’t divulge what advice he had for her, but said she appeared “calm, cool and collected.”

“I think she’s going to do great,” Biden said.

Trump en route to Philadelphia

The Trump campaign posted a short clip of the former president boarding his plane, saying he’s en route to Philadelphia. Harris arrived in the city Monday evening.

-ABC News’ Soorin Kim

Hillary Clinton said Kamala Harris should ‘bait’ Trump during tonight’s debate

Hillary Clinton gave some advice to Vice President Kamala Harris on tonight’s debate, according to The New York Times.

“She just should not be baited. She should bait him. He can be rattled,” Clinton told The Times during a recent phone interview.

Clinton confirmed to NYT that she had spoken to Harris directly and discussed “a number of things” prior to the debate.

As the 2016 Democratic nominee, Clinton has experience debating the former president.

She said she believes Harris “has a lot of good ammunition” and that she’s “handling him [Trump] very well.”

RNC Chairman Michael Whatley says Trump’s ‘rested,’ ‘relaxed’ and ‘ready to go’

In an interview Tuesday with ABC News’ Kyra Phillips, Republican National Committee Chairman Michael Whatley said it was unfair of the Harris campaign to suggest Trump would lie on stage tonight.

He also confirmed that Trump will stray away from personal attacks, and that the former president was not nervous.

“He feels very comfortable. He’s rested, he’s relaxed, and he’s definitely ready to go,” Whatley said.

Whatley also said “this is the most united the Republican Party has been in generations.”

– ABC News’ Kelsey Walsh

Sen. JD Vance headlining debate watch party fundraiser in Philadelphia tonight: Sources

The Trump campaign’s debate watch party in Philadelphia tonight will take form in a fundraiser with Sen. JD Vance headlining the event, according to sources and an invitation obtained by ABC News.

The invitation doesn’t detail the location, other guests or speakers of the night.

Tickets range from $5,000 to $50,000, with a photo opportunity costing $15,000 and a VIP ticket costing $25,000, the invitation shows.

-ABC News’ Soo Rin Kim, Hannah Demissie, Lalee Ibssa, and Kelsey Walsh

Presidential candidates haven’t shaken hands at debate since 2016

There are no rules requiring Harris and Trump to shake hands before or after the debate.

If they do, it would mark the first time since 2016 that the candidates have shaken hands. Trump and Biden did not shake hands during their two matchups in 2020.

Trump contracted COVID-19 following the first debate.

The two candidates also didn’t shake their hands during the June debate.

Trump campaign says he’s in ‘good spirits’

The Trump campaign during a pre-debate call said Trump is in “good spirits” and will be departing shortly for Philadelphia.

“President Trump is in good spirits. He is currently in Mar-a-Lago. My understanding is that he will be departing shortly to head over to Philadelphia,” said Trump campaign senior adviser Danielle Alvarez when asked about his mood going into the debate.

She suggested that the former president is “ready” to talk about inflation, housing affordability and the border among other issues on the debate stage. Alvarez also suggested that Trump might attack Harris for flip-flopping on some key issues such as fracking, police funding and electric vehicles.

“The president is certainly full of surprises. I know that we can expect him to be, you know, with his, his charming self. We know that he is incredible when it comes to weaving in and out of topics — he’s incredible on those policy issues. So that’s … certainly something that may happen,” she said.

-ABC News’ Soorin Kim, Lalee Ibssa and Kelsey Walsh

Here are the rules for tonight’s debate

Tonight’s consequential presidential debate hosted by ABC News will consist of set rules to govern the matchup, restricting candidates’ speaking time, microphone access, and engagement with campaign staff.

There will be no audience present, and questions will come strictly from the moderators.

After winning the virtual coin flip, former President Trump will offer the final closing statement.

Read more here.

Harris campaign to display drone show before debate

The Harris campaign will fly a drone show over the Philadelphia Art Museum from 8:05 to 8:25 p.m. ET at the famous Rocky Steps, just prior to the debate on Tuesday.

The show will add onto the campaign’s Philly-themed advertising and recent ad mocking Trump and crowd sizes, according to campaign spokesperson Kevin Munoz.

– ABC News’ Gabriella Abdul-Hakim, Fritz Farrow, and Will McDuffie

What to watch for on the economy during the debate

The verbal joust Tuesday night between Trump and Harris will touch on a range of issues, but none may be more important than the economy, which often ranks as the top priority among voters.

ABC News spoke to experts about what they will be watching for when the debate turns to the economy. They said they’ll be looking for everything from the amount of substantive discussion, to the relevance of Biden’s legacy, to the prevalence of topics like inflation and taxes.

Read more here to learn what to watch for on the economy during the match-up, according to experts.

-ABC News’ Max Zahn

Walz calls Trump a ‘showman’ ahead of debate

At a campaign fundraiser Tuesday morning, Gov. Tim Walz said he knew what to expect from Trump during the debate, calling the former president a “showman,” according to a pool reporter in the room.

“Donald Trump’s a showman. This is his seventh general election debate. No one in modern times has done more of these. The good news is that this is his seventh debate and we know exactly what to expect,” Walz said.

-ABC News’ Isabella Murray

First to ABC: Sens. Chris Murphy, Laphonza Butler in spin room for Harris

Sens. Chris Murphy and Laphonza Butler will be in the spin room as surrogates supporting Harris, according to a campaign official. This news is being shared first with ABC News.

Murphy had helped negotiate the bipartisan border deal earlier this year that Trump urged his party to oppose. Harris has been pledging to work to get that deal passed if elected, while hammering Trump for killing the deal.

Butler met Harris 15 years ago when Harris was the district attorney of San Francisco and Butler also served as senior adviser on Harris’ 2020 presidential campaign.

-ABC News’ Selina Wang

Harris, Trump campaigns spin expectations ahead of ABC News debate

Harris said in an interview that aired Monday that she expects former President Donald Trump to lie during the ABC News presidential debate on Tuesday.

Meanwhile, the Trump campaign and surrogates continued to insinuate on Monday that the former president’s strategy at the debate will be to tie Harris to what they say are her policy failures and “disasters” as a leader of the Biden-Harris administration.

With time ticking down until the two meet for the debate, both candidates are working to spin expectations in what is expected to be a key moment for both campaigns as they look to appeal to voters ahead of what’s expected to be a close contest in November.

Read more here.

-ABC News’ Gabriella Abdul-Hakim, Fritz Farrow, Will McDuffie, Mary Bruce and Oren Oppenheim

Gold Star father, retired general among those representing Harris in spin room: Official

Gold Star father Khizr Khan, whose son Humayun Khan was a Muslim Army captain who was killed during the Iraq War in 2004, will be among the surrogates supporting Harris in the spin room at the debate, a campaign official confirmed to ABC News.

Khan garnered national attention after he delivered a blistering speech attacking Trump at the 2016 Democratic National Convention.

Harris will also be supported in the spin room by retired Brig. Gen. Steven M. Anderson, according to the campaign official. NBC News first reported Khan and Anderson’s roles as Harris surrogates in the spin room.

-Fritz Farrow, Grabriella Abdul-Hakim and Will McDuffie

Trump campaign spokesperson says he’s not engaged in traditional debate prep

Trump campaign spokesperson Danielle Alvarez said Tuesday morning on ABC News Live that Trump “does not do traditional debate prep” and reiterated that he has been campaigning and engaging in policy discussions instead.

“I would say that the president does not do traditional debate prep. He’s on the campaign trail constantly. We see him in key battleground states every week, joined by tens of thousands of patriots,” she said. “We know that he does tough interviews, both nationally, locally.”

“That’s truly how he prepares for these debates, having those conversations every day. He’s ready to step back into the White House,” she continued. “We also know that he prefers to have those policy discussions, and he’s been doing that with elected members in Congress like Matt Gaetz, with former Congress member Tulsi Gabbard and others — very similar to what he did to prepare for that first debate against Joe Biden. He has prepared in a similar way again, just by getting out there and talking every day to voters and talking to media.”

-ABC News’ Soorin Kim, Lalee Ibssa and Kelsey Walsh

Harris not ‘underestimating’ Trump ahead of debate: Source

Just hours away from the debate, a campaign source is setting expectations that Harris is not “underestimating” Trump’s ability to debate, and that it would be a “mistake” to do so.

The Harris team expects Trump to be “good” at debating, stressing that Trump has done this more than anybody else, while it will be Harris’s first presidential debate.

The Harris campaign is “happy to get under [Trump’s] skin,” and they hope that bringing former Trump officials into the spin room later this evening will accomplish this.

On a campaign call last night, a source said Harris is ready for any version of Trump that shows up — whether it’s the presidential Trump, the more mellow Trump during the Biden debate or a more aggressive version.

-ABC News’ Selina Wang

8 hours until the Harris-Trump ABC debate, here is how to watch tonight

The consequential Harris-Trump face-off will air live tonight at 9 p.m. ET on ABC and stream on ABC News Live, Disney+ and Hulu.

ABC News Live is available on Samsung TV+, The Roku Channel, Amazon Fire TV devices, YouTube, Tubi, the ABC app, and ABC.com.

ABC News Digital and 538 will live blog the latest from the debate stage with coverage, analysis and fact checks.

SiriusXM users can listen to the debate on Channel 370.

The prime-time pre-debate special, “Race for the White House,” will air at 8 p.m. ET and stream on ABC’s platforms.

Read more here.

Biden to watch debate from New York

President Joe Biden will be watching the debate from New York, where he’s going to be for 9/11 memorial events, according to White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre.

“The president will definitely be watching,” she said in Monday’s briefing.

Jean-Pierre wouldn’t give details on any conversations about the debate between Harris and Biden or whether he’s given her any takeaways from his own last face-off with Trump, but she said the president was “very proud” of Harris.

“What I can say is, that he’ll be watching, he supports, obviously, the vice president, is very proud of her, and I just don’t have anything else to add,” she said.

– ABC News’ Cheyenne Haslett

5 things to watch in the high-stakes Harris-Trump faceoff

Harris and Trump square off Tuesday at what could be their only presidential debate, setting high stakes for an event expected to be viewed by millions of Americans and a key sliver of undecided voters. Here’s what to look out for.

Can Trump stay focused on policy? Staying on message on his four-year economic record is key, while veering into personal attacks would be counterproductive, allies told ABC News.

Harris has dual goals: make the case for herself as someone who would be a capable president and get under Trump’s skin. How will she introduce herself to undecided voters?

Read the rest of the five things to watch for in the debate here.

Walz fundraising email says ‘Trump is sure to talk about his twisted version of freedom’

Gov. Tim Walz, Harris’ running mate, previewed the vice president’s upcoming debate with Trump in a fundraising email on Tuesday morning — contrasting their campaign’s message on the economy and freedom with Trump’s platforms.

“She’s going to show everyone watching what this movement is all about: supporting families like yours and mine and building a future where everyone has the opportunity not just to get by, but to get ahead,” the email reads. “Donald Trump is sure to talk about his twisted version of freedom,” Walz claimed in the email.

-ABC News’ Isabella Murray

Harris and Trump to have various surrogates in spin room

Harris and Trump will have a handful of surrogates representing them in the spin room following the debate.

Harris will have Govs. Josh Shapiro of Pennsylvania, Gavin Newsom of California, Roy Cooper of North Carolina and Michelle Lujan Grisham of New Mexico representing her in the spin room post debate, a campaign official confirmed to ABC News.

In addition to attending a watch party hosted by the Trump campaign, GOP vice presidential nominee Sen. JD Vance will also participate in the spin room.

Robert F. Kennedy Jr., Gov. Doug Burgum, tech entreprenuer Vivek Ramaswamy, Sen. Marco Rubio, Rep. Bryon Donalds, and Sen. Rick Scott are also expected to appear on behalf of Trump.

-ABC News’ Fritz Farrow, Gabriella Abdul-Hakim, Will McDuffie, Kelsey Walsh, Lalee Ibssa, and Soo Rin Kim

Debate will show ‘strength and success’ of Trump vs. ‘devastation and weakness’ of Harris: Stefanik

House Republican Conference Chair Elise Stefanik teed up her expectations for tonight’s presidential debate, telling reporters that Harris “cannot hide forever.”

“Tonight at the debate, the country will finally get to see the stark contrast between the strength and success of President Trump’s America-first policies and the devastation and weakness of Kamala Harris’s radical, failed, far-left agenda,” Stefanik, the fourth-ranked House Republican, claimed at a news conference in the Capitol Tuesday morning.

-ABC News’ John Parkinson

Harris campaign says it’s hosting 1,300 watch parties, Walz to deliver remarks in Arizona

Harris’ campaign said it’s hosting more than 1,300 debate watch parties across the country, and running mate Gov. Tim Walz will deliver remarks at one of them in Phoenix Tuesday night.

The watch parties will be in all 50 states, with more than 100 planned on college campuses, according to the campaign. The events will be used for volunteers to make calls to battleground-state voters and share debate content on digital platforms.

More than 300 of the planned watch parties will be group specific, including Republicans for Harris-Walz and Veterans for Harris-Walz events in Arizona, North Carolina and Georgia. There will also be Latino house parties in Arizona and labor-organized events in Pennsylvania, according to the campaign.

-ABC News’ Fritz Farrow, Gabriella Adbul-Hakim and Will McDuffie

Harris tweet: ‘America, see you tonight’

Looking ahead to Tuesday night’s debate, Vice President Kamala Harris tweeted “America, see you tonight.”

Before departing for Philadelphia on Monday, Harris told reporters that she’s feeling “good.” She also gave a thumbs up.

The vice president’s tweet also included a link to a list of debate watch parties the campaign is hosting across the country.

-ABC News’ Fritz Farrow

Harris releases new ad repurposing Obama’s dig at Trump

Vice President Kamala Harris repurposed former President Barack Obama’s suggestive dig at Trump over what Obama called his “weird obsession with crowd sizes” while speaking at the Democratic National Convention last month.

“Here’s a 78-year-old billionaire who has not stopped whining about his problems …” Obama said in the clip used in the ad, just before a clip of Trump at rally plays.

“Ooh, she had a big crowd! Ooh, that crowd,” Trump said in the snippet, mocking news reports about turnout for Harris.

“This weird obsession with crowd sizes… it just goes on, and on, and on,” Obama says as the ad returns to him, followed by shots of small Trump crowds and sounds of crickets chirping.

“America’s ready for a new chapter. We are ready for a President Kamala Harris,” Obama says.

The Harris campaign said the ad, titled “Crowd Size,” will air on Fox News the day of the debate because “Trump is known to watch” the network.

The 30-second ad is set to air nationally on cable news and in local West Palm Beach and Philadelphia markets.

– ABC News’ Fritz Farrow, Gabriella Abdul-Hakim, and Will McDuffie

Anthony Scaramucci among former Trump officials to serve as Harris surrogates in Philadelphia

Anthony Scaramucci and Olivia Troye, former Trump administration officials, will serve as Kamala Harris surrogates in Philadelphia today, the Harris campaign announced.

“Listen, don’t take it from us: Take it from the ones who know Donald Trump the best and who are telling the American people exactly how unfit Trump is to serve as president,” Harris spokesman Michael Tyler said.

Scaramucci served as Trump’s White House communications director. Troye served as the Homeland Security adviser to Vice President Mike Pence, as well as a top aide on the Trump White House coronavirus task force.

According to the campaign, they plan to discuss their support of Harris ahead of tonight’s debate.

They are among numerous former Trump staffers who continue to speak out.

– ABC News’ Will McDuffie, Fritz Farrow, and Gabriella Abdul-Hakim

Debate day arrives in Philadelphia

The stage is set for tonight’s high-stakes showdown in Philadelphia.

The lecterns are placed six feet apart at the National Constitution Center – where Donald Trump and Kamala Harris will meet in person for the first time.

The 9 p.m. ET matchup comes with just eight weeks to go until Election Day amid a tumultuous and unpredictable campaign.

The debate, moderated by David Muir and Linsey Davis, will air on ABC and stream on ABC News Live, Disney+ and Hulu. Viewers can also stream the debate on the ABC app on a smartphone or tablet, on ABC.com and connected devices. A prime-time pre-debate special will start at 8 p.m. ET.

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