The second 2024 presidential debate and first presidential debate between Vice President Kamala Harris and former President Donald Trump is set for September 10th at 9 pm EDT.  The debate will be hosted by ABC News in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. There has been much controversy surrounding the debate with Trump officially agreeing to debate the Vice President through Truth Social where he went on to call ABC News “fake news” and “the most unfair newscaster in the business.”

ABC released the rules for the debate with just a couple days left until the highly anticipated event. The debate will be moderated by David Muir, who is most known for being the “World News Tonight” anchor and managing editor. Alongside David, ABC News’s “primetime” anchor Linsey Davis will also moderate the first debate between the two candidates. The debate will consist of 90 minutes of debate time, with two commercial breaks, and is expected to end a little after 10:30 pm EDT.

A key component of the debate is muted microphones. ABC plans on muting the microphone of the candidates who aren’t speaking; only one microphone will be on at a time. This is in an effort to stop the overlap of dialogue between the two candidates and an effort to help limit off topic dialogue. This will help keep the debate on pace and make statements more coherent and useful to the massive audience of voters expected to watch the debate. 

Each candidate will have two minutes to answer the questions presented to them and two minutes for a rebuttal. There will also be a minute given for a follow up or simplification to the previous answer to the question given. There will be no opening statements and each candidate will be allocated two minutes for their closing statement. 

During the debate, the candidates will have zero communication with campaign staff. They will also be restricted to standing behind their specific podium for the duration of the debate. Each candidate will not be allowed to bring any of their own notes or any type of prop. The candidates will both be given a pen along with a pad of paper to take down notes while the debate occurs. Candidates are also given a bottle of water. These rules help keep the debate as an authentic showing of each candidate their beliefs, policy ideas, and priorities.

Former President Trump will have the final closing statement and will be standing behind the podium on the left side of the screen. Whereas Vice President Kamala Harris will deliver the first of the two closing statements and will be positioned on the right side of the screen. The order of closing statements and podium position was determined by a virtual coin flip that was held last Thursday and was won by Trump. Podium position and the order of closing statements are viewed by both parties as a key part of the debate.

The debate is vital to both candidates and their pursuit of office. This debate is one of the few key opportunities former President Trump has left to try and sway undecided voters in key swing states and take back the lead Vice President Harris holds in many swing states including Wisconsin, Michigan, Georgia, and Nevada according to a poll conducted by SSRS. Though Harris has a slim lead in all these states, this debate is an ideal opportunity for Trump to make up the ground he lost once Harris became the nominee and replaced President Joe Biden. This debate is also an important opportunity for Vice President Harris to go on a major news platform and share her beliefs and plans as a recent candidate. This will also be the first time we’ve seen Vice President Harris on a debate stage since the 2020 vice presidential debate against Mike Pence. Despite having less national level debate experience than Trump, Harris used to be a prosecutor and her experience as a prosecutor may help her greatly in this debate. This debate is set to be a historic one due to the stakes for not only both parties but for the future of our nation.