How the Debate Will Test Harris and Trump

When Vice President Kamala Harris and former President Donald Trump step onto the debate stage in Philadelphia at 9 p.m. on Tuesday night, it will mark the first time the two politicians have ever met. The evening is set to present crucial tests for both candidates in a race that polls show to be in a statistical dead heat.

For Harris, the 90-minute debate will be the first chance for many voters to hear her lay out in detail her policy ideas and see how she performs under pressure. 

“She needs to fill in the blanks that voters may have,” says Kevin Madden, who was a senior advisor and spokesman for Mitt Romney's 2012 presidential campaign. “What direction are you going to take the economy? How are you going to make me feel more safe and secure? Do you understand the problems of people like me?” 

For Trump, the moment will test his ability to contain his instincts to belittle his political opponents, a trait that electrifies many of his hard-core supporters but could turn off the swing voters he needs to win. 

“Trump has to be careful not to be too overbearing,” says Wilbur Ross, who was Commerce Secretary under Trump and is author of the book “Risks and Returns.” “The American public doesn’t want to see a big strong man browbeating a woman.”

The debate comes less than three months after the previous presidential debate, in which President Joe Biden’s stumbling performance eventually led to him ending his bid for a second term. Harris’s popularity has surged since then, allowing her to quickly gather the support she needed to clinch her party’s nomination for President. 

Harris has been holding mock debate sessions in Washington and Pittsburgh. Long-time Democratic operative Philippe Reines, who played Trump during Hillary Clinton’s debate prep sessions in 2016, has taken on the same role again for Harris, mimicking the former President’s domineering stage presence and even dressing like him, according to a person familiar with the process. 

Some Republicans think Trump, who has a history of doing little formal debate prep, is well-positioned to come out ahead after Tuesday night, as long as he focuses on defining Harris and hammering her on the issues where he does best with voters.

“The Trump campaign makes real progress when they continue to paint Kamala Harris as a San Francisco liberal whose views are way outside the mainstream of most Americans,” says Whit Ayres, a Republican pollster and political consultant. “And they lose ground when they talk about her race or her gender because attacking someone based on their identity antagonizes everyone who shares that identity. This is not rocket science.”

That’s advice multiple Trump allies have tried to impress on him since Harris moved up to the top of the ticket, to no avail. In recent weeks, he’s said Harris would be treated like a “play toy” by world leaders and he stunned a room of Black journalists in Chicago when he said the biracial Harris “happened to turn Black” just a few years ago. 

The format of the debate was hotly negotiated by the Harris and Trump camps. Harris’s team wanted microphones to be kept on for the entire hour and a half, saying that any spontaneous outbursts and interruptions from Trump should be audible to viewers. Trump’s team objected, noting that muting each candidate’s microphone when their opponent speaks. was part of the agreement made earlier in the year when Biden was supposed to be on the stage. Harris’ side eventually relented.

The debate will be held at Philadelphia’s National Constitution Center and moderated by Linsey Davis, the anchor of "ABC News Live Prime", and David Muir, the host of ABC’s “World New Tonight”. There will be no live audience and the candidates will debate standing up. Both will have two minutes to answer questions, two minute rebuttals and an additional minute for follow-ups. 

While Trump needs to avoid dwelling on past grievances, Madden says, Harris may have “the tougher hurdle” in convincing voters she’s “tough enough, knowledgeable enough, enough of a visionary, to take over the top job.”

Adds Madden: “This election will come down to that tiny sliver of 6 or 7% who have yet to make up their minds.”