Trump had agreed to participate in a second presidential debate long before Biden dropped out of the race on July 21.
Since then, Trump hinted that he would not participate in the scheduled debate, baselessly arguing that he did not trust ABC News to be fair to him. But, on August 27, he said on his Truth Social platform that he “reached an agreement” and confirmed he would attend the debate in Philadelphia.
Harris and her staff had started to prepare for a debate against Republican VP nominee JD Vance after he was announced as Trump’s running mate, The Post reported in August. Vance has now agreed to an October 1 debate with Minnesota Governor Tim Walz (D), Harris’ running mate, that will be hosted by CBS News.
The microphones will not be live the entire time
According to the debate rules obtained by the Post, there will be no live microphones when candidates are not speaking. The Harris and Trump campaigns sparred over whether to preserve a rule from Trump’s June debate with Biden for the candidates’ microphones to be muted when it was not their turn to speak.
While the Harris campaign said the microphones should be live throughout the September 10 debate, Trump’s campaign argued for “the exact same terms” from the June debate on CNN – even though Trump himself sent mixed messages over the issue. During a campaign stop in Virginia late last month, he said that the microphone muting “doesn’t matter to me” and that he would “rather have it probably on, but the agreement [for the September 10 debate] was that it was the same as it was last time”.
Harris agreed to the rules of Tuesday’s debate on Wednesday, with her campaign telling ABC in a letter that it would set aside its concerns over muted microphones to ensure that the debate went forward.
“Vice-President Harris, a former prosecutor, will be fundamentally disadvantaged by this format, which will serve to shield Donald Trump from direct exchanges with the Vice-President,” the campaign wrote in its letter, a portion of which was obtained by the Post. “We suspect this is the primary reason for his campaign’s insistence on muted microphones.”
Additionally, per the rules reviewed by the Post, the candidates will be given two minutes to answer questions, as well as two-minute rebuttals. They will also receive an additional minute for follow-ups or clarifications. Notably, the candidates will not be allowed to ask each other questions.
There will be no live audience
Like the previous Trump-Biden debate, the Trump-Harris event will not have a live audience, according to the set of rules reviewed by the Post. Those terms had been previously agreed to before Harris replaced Biden on the ticket.
At the time when this rule was first set – in May – Jen O’Malley Dillon, who chaired Biden’s campaign and now serves in the same role with Harris, said the debate commission’s “model of building huge spectacles with large audiences at great expense simply isn’t necessary or conducive to good debates”.
“The debates should be conducted for the benefit of the American voters, watching on television and at home – not as entertainment for an in-person audience with raucous or disruptive partisans and donors, who consume valuable debate time with noisy spectacles of approval or jeering,” she said.
Additionally, per the rules reviewed by the Post, Harris and Trump will not be allowed to offer opening statements. They will be permitted two-minute closing statements.
The stage setup will be simple
Candidates will stand behind lecterns during the 90-minute debate. They will not be allowed to bring notes or props. The nominees will be given a pen, paper and a bottle of water.
The debate will be held in deep-blue Philadelphia.
The setting is notable. Philadelphia is a heavily Democratic city in the key battleground state of Pennsylvania, which Biden flipped in 2020 by a narrow margin. The state is expected to be among a handful that could decide the upcoming election. The Vice-President has spent a big portion of her time as the new Democratic presidential nominee in Pennsylvania, travelling around the state with her running mate.
As the Post reported on Tuesday, Harris will spend the last days ahead of the debate in Pittsburgh. She is undergoing intensive debate prep – “debate camp,” as it is informally known – that is being led by Washington-based lawyer Karen Dunn and Rohini Kosoglu, a longtime Harris policy aide.
Trump has also spent a lot of time in Pennsylvania in recent weeks. A gunman opened fire at the former President’s campaign event, injuring Trump and two others and killing a spectator, in the Pennsylvania town of Butler in mid-July. Trump has returned to the state multiple times since then, including participating in a town-hall-style event hosted by Fox News in Harrisburg on Wednesday.
The last time Philadelphia’s National Constitution Center held a presidential debate was in 2008, when Barack Obama and former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton debated during the Democratic primaries. In 2020, the centre was the site of separate televised town halls for Trump and Biden.
