On September 10th, 2024, Kamala Harris and Donald Trump will go head to head on the debate stage for the first time, only 2 months out from the election.
This officially confirmed date has been argued for weeks by both candidates. With Trump proposing a Fox News debate on September 17th instead of the September 10th debate in which was scheduled before Joe Biden exited the race. To fire back to this, Kamala Harris suggested a CNN debate. Both opponents denied these debate propositions, both agreeing only to the September 10th debate.
This debate continued to be a question as last week the Trump team questioned the rules and fairness of this debate, specifically on whether or not both candidates’ mics would be unmuted throughout the entirety of the debate. Kamala Harris proposed the idea of leaving the mics on for the whole debate, as this gives Donald Trump the opportunity to interrupt her, which Harris believes would make him look bad. Although Trump responded claiming he would rather have the mics on, both campaigns agreed to muted mics to prevent interruptions while the opponent is speaking.
This highly anticipated debate comes after many Americans believed Joe Biden’s race exit was caused by his poor debate performance. Donald Trump is known to have a very unconventional debate style, with some finding it abrasive, while some find it bold. Kamala Harris’s last debate (besides her vice presidential debates against Mike Pence in 2020) was in the Democratic Presidential Primary debates of 2020 when she first ran for president. Kamala Harris performed well during these debates but saw Tulsi Gabbard, a former Democratic presidential candidate as a major opponent. Because of this, the Trump team has hired Gabbard as an advisor for the debate, hoping to learn from her tactics against Harris.
This debate will go down in history, and will be the first time the Trump and Harris campaigns truly cross paths. It is difficult to predict a potential outcome, but it is assumed that this debate will have a major impact on the 2024 presidential race.
