Kamala Harris and Donald Trump will meet face to face for the first time on Tuesday as they take the stage for the US presidential debate.
It is not the first debate of the campaign. Trump faced Joe Biden on stage in June, weeks before the president dropped out of the race.
Harris has upended the race since she replaced President Joe Biden at the top of the Democratic ticket in July, revitalising her party’s campaign.
But while the vice-president is now ahead of Trump by 2.9 percentage points nationally, according to the Financial Times’ poll tracker, her lead has narrowed slightly in recent days and the presidential race remains extremely tight.
Here are five things to watch for when the candidates meet at 9pm ET in Philadelphia.
The rules on Tuesday will follow a similar format to the Biden-Trump debate, with the candidates’ microphones switched off while the other is speaking and no live studio audience.
Harris and Trump will face questions from ABC anchors Linsey Davis and David Muir, with two minutes to answer and two minutes for rebuttal, with an additional follow-up minute. No prepared notes will be allowed.
Will Harris the prosecutor go after Trump the felon?
Harris has made her experience as a prosecutor a central part of her political identity, and has been more willing than Biden to go after Trump on the campaign trail for his criminal convictions.
“I know Donald Trump’s type,” Harris said in her DNC address. “I have been dealing with people like him my entire career.” She has energised crowds by contrasting her time going after “predators” and “fraudsters” with the former president’s court appearances and legal woes.
Trump, fresh from a legal victory after the sentencing in his “hush money” case was delayed until after the election, in turn has accused Harris of being a “radical” prosecutor and “weak-on-crime district attorney”, and is likely to repeat the charges during the debate.
