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Here are the rules, key details for ABC presidential debate and why it’s bad news for Kamala

September 9, 2024 | | Print Article

After Vice President Kamala Harris made a big stink over the rules for the second ABC presidential debate, they will in essence remain the same between her and former President Trump.

The debate will take place on Tuesday, September 10th at 9 p.m. Eastern at the National Constitution Center in Philadelphia. Following the disastrous debate between Trump and President Biden that led to him being booted by his own party as their nominee, the nation is very interested in seeing how Harris will fare.

The rules are very similar to the first debate with no audience and muted microphones, much to the displeasure of Harris.

According to conservative commentator Stephen L. Miller, Harris has prepped for the rules she originally asked for, not the ones ABC News approved, “They prepped her thinking ABC would cave and change the rules instead of prepping her for the actual rules. Just genius stuff. Incredible.”

Pollster Frank Luntz quoted Politico on the bad news for the vice president on X, “Kamala Harris had planned to object, fact-check, and directly question Donald Trump while he was speaking during their debate next week. But now, with rules just finalized to mute the candidates when their opponents speak, Harris advisers are scrambling to rewrite their playbook.”

“Biden’s campaign had pushed for muted microphones in the CNN debate in June, a rule change that appeared to actually help Trump in their faceoff. Ahead of the ABC News debate, the Harris campaign attempted to reverse the rule to have microphones live throughout the debate, but the Trump campaign said the rules would not be renegotiated, even as Trump said he did not mind having microphones live throughout,” the Washington Examiner reported.

Per ABC News, the microphones “will be live only for the candidate whose turn it is to speak and muted when the time belongs to another candidate.”

“Harris and her team — holed up in Pittsburgh for a multi-day debate camp — wanted unmuted microphones so that the vice president could lean on her prosecutorial background, confronting the former president in the same way she laced into some of Trump’s Supreme Court nominees and Cabinet members during Senate hearings,” according to Politico.

“Instead, four Harris campaign officials argued that she will be ‘handcuffed’ by the rules, which were negotiated by President Joe Biden’s team earlier this summer,” the outlet wrote.

The candidates cannot ask each other questions either. That’s left to the moderators David Muir and Linsey Davis.

“ABC News has said that there will be no opening statements but that each candidate will get a two-minute closing statement. Harris will get the first closing statement, while Trump will get the final word with his after he won a coin flip to select either the placement of the podium or closing statement order,” the Washington Examiner noted.

(Video Credit: Fox News)

“Each candidate will have two minutes to answer questions, two minutes for rebuttals, and ‘one extra minute for follow-ups, clarifications, or responses,’ according to ABC News. The outlet has also said that no topic or questions will be given to either of the campaigns ahead of the debate,” the media outlet added.

Harris will appear on the right side of the screen and Trump will be on the left. They will enter from their respective sides and will be introduced by the moderators. Since Democrats are the incumbents this time around, Harris will enter first.

The candidates will not be allowed to bring notes, but they can take notes during the debate. They will be provided with a pen, a pad of paper, and a water bottle.

“The debate will be 90 minutes long with two commercial breaks, as was seen with the CNN debate in June. During the two commercial breaks, campaign staff will not be allowed to interact with their candidate,” the Washington Examiner continued.

The moderators will attempt to enforce time limits and to keep things civil. It is expected that immigration, abortion, and the economy will be the primary topics addressed during the debate all of which could become heated issues.

A debate between Gov. Tim Walz (D-MN) and Sen. J.D. Vance (R-OH) will air Oct. 1 on CBS News as well.

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