Trump vs. Harris: Everything you should know about their first presidential debate
Philadelphia, Pennsylvania - Former President Donald Trump and Vice President Kamala Harris will soon face off on the debate stage in what is shaping up to be one of the most highly-anticipated events in recent US political history.
Earlier this year, Trump debated President Joe Biden, but – because of what is believed to be cognitive decline due to his age – the Democratic candidate performed disastrously.
After facing mounting pressure from his party with many arguing he would lose if he stayed in the race, Biden announced days later that he would no longer be seeking re-election and eventually passed the torch to his vice president.
Now, Harris is vying to become the first female president of Black/South Asian heritage in US history, and to say the party is excited would be an understatement.
Within days of entering the race, Harris amassed a number of high-profile endorsements and has rapidly come within striking distance of Trump's lead in many national polls.
Since Biden's departure, Trump has had a harder time as he has faced an onslaught of bad press in recent weeks, with critics arguing that his chosen lines of attack aimed at Harris have been consistently falling flat.
This debate will present the candidates their first, and quite possibly only, opportunity to address each other face-to-face in front of the American people – and it will surely be a fight night you won't want to miss.
Presidential candidates Donald Trump and Kamala Harris debated the debate rules
For some time, it was unclear whether this debate or any between the candidates would even happen as both parties have had issues agreeing on which network should host and what rules would be in place.
Prior to dropping out of the race, Biden and Trump had agreed to a second debate to be hosted by ABC News, which would follow a similar format to their first debate, which was hosted by CNN. But after Harris took over, Trump began expressing skepticism about sticking to the agreement, as he argued that ABC News is "the worst in terms of fairness."
Both candidate's campaigns also began arguing about the rules for the event, with Trump's camp calling for microphones to be only turned on when it is a candidate's turn to speak, and kept off while it's not, as it was with his debate with Biden.
Though they ultimately agreed to his terms, Trump has continued to criticize the network and Harris, recently arguing that he will be "going into very hostile territory."
When and where will the presidential debate take place?
The debate will be held on September 10 at 9 PM EST at the National Constitution Center in Philadelphia.
It will be hosted by ABC News with anchors David Muir and Linsey Davis, and the event can be viewed live on ABC or streamed on ABC News Live, Disney+, and Hulu.
Harris' running mate Tim Walz and Trump's mate JD Vance have also agreed to a seperate vice presidential debate event, which is scheduled for October 1.
Cover photo: Collage: ALEX WONG & JUSTIN SULLIVAN / GETTY IMAGES NORTH AMERICA / Getty Images via AFP