Kamala Harris and Donald Trump are set to face battle in a high-stakes televised debate Tuesday, a potentially game-changing event less than two months before the US presidential election.
The stakes for the Democratic vice president and Republican former president could not be higher, with tens of millions of American voters anticipated to tune in at 9:00 p.m. Eastern Time (0100 GMT Wednesday) to see them face off in their first and possibly only discussion.
A single zinger or mistake might tilt the balance of one of the most dramatic presidential contests in US history, with the two candidates tied in the polls ahead of the November 5 election.
Harris, 59, will have a key opportunity to win over voters who know little about her, as her honeymoon period ends after she unexpectedly replaced President Joe Biden in July.
Meanwhile, Trump, 78, will attempt to box Harris in on subjects like as the economy and immigration, but he may also unleash more of the racial and sexist comments he has fired at her throughout the campaign.
Harris, who polls show has a substantial advantage among women, is anticipated to challenge Trump on reproductive rights after he recently made a series of seemingly conflicting comments about abortion access.
The two candidates will meet in person for the first time at the ABC News debate in Philadelphia, raising the possibility of a heated exchange.
“This discussion may go down in history. “Get out the popcorn,” joked Andrew Koneschusky, a former press secretary for Senate leader Chuck Schumer.
The ABC News discussion is set to run 90 minutes and will be held without an audience.
‘No floor’
Harris, America’s first female, Black and South Asian vice president, arrived in Philadelphia on the eve of the debate after five days holed up in a hotel doing intense practice sessions.
One of her aides even reportedly dressed up in a Trump-style boxy suit and long tie so she could get used to unloading her best lines on her opponent.
Trump’s team said he has taken a more relaxed approach ahead of his seventh presidential debate, choosing to arrive in Philadelphia just hours before and keeping his preparations limited.
The debate may lack the full-scale shouting matches of previous years, as the two candidates’ microphones will be muted when they are not speaking, at the Trump team’s request.
But it will still be a potential turning point — as well as a contrast in styles.
In one corner is a former prosecutor who has in the past delivered ice-cold put-downs to debate rivals including Biden himself and Trump’s former vice president Mike Pence.
“There’s no floor for him in terms of how low he will go,” Harris said in a radio interview broadcast Monday. “He is probably going to speak a lot of untruths.”
‘Like a boxer’
In the other corner is Trump, the most brutal knife-fighter in US politics, who has been convicted of falsifying business records to cover up a porn star scandal and is accused of trying to overturn the 2020 election.
“You can’t prepare for President Trump,” his spokesman Jason Miller said. “Imagine like a boxer trying to prepare for Floyd Mayweather, or Muhammad Ali.”
Harris in many ways has the most to prove.
Her campaign suffered a setback over the weekend when a big New York Times/Siena survey showed Trump leading by 48 to 47 percent, with the candidates practically matched in half a dozen critical states.
She will be under pressure to explain her so-far opaque policy vision to voters, who, according to the NYT poll, want to know more about her.
Former reality TV star Trump is by far the most experienced presidential debater, having participated in six, but swing voters may be turned off if he attacks the contender vying to become America’s first female president.
Trump is still enjoying in the fact that his previous debate opponent, 81-year-old Joe Biden, did so poorly that he was forced to resign from the race.
The vice presidential candidates, Democrat Tim Walz and Republican J.D. Vance, will debate on October 1.