Vice President Kamala Harris has agreed to the rules for the upcoming presidential debate on September 10th against former President Donald Trump. One of the provisions includes muting microphones when it’s not a candidate’s turn to speak. ABC News announced these debate rules on September 4th, finalizing the terms after weeks of negotiations between both campaigns.
A letter from Harris’s campaign to ABC, obtained by the Associated Press, confirmed their acceptance of these rules. This marks a conclusion to the negotiations over microphone muting that had previously threatened to derail the debate.
Both campaigns had previously expressed differing opinions on whether microphones should be muted or not. An earlier agreement between Trump and President Joe Biden for both CNN and ABC debates included microphone muting, which was implemented during their first debate.
Harris campaign adviser Brian Fallon suggested that Trump’s team preferred muting because they doubted whether he could maintain presidential behavior throughout the full 90 minutes. In response, Trump adviser Jason Miller accused Harris of trying to avoid debating Trump altogether and stated that they had already agreed upon these terms in line with CNN’s June debate.
While Harris’s campaign expressed agreement with the rules in their letter to ABC, they also voiced concerns about the format. They believe it shields Trump from direct exchanges with the vice president.
Trump confirmed his acceptance of these rules in a statement on Truth Social and mentioned that this debate would follow a similar format as his previous one against Biden in June. He also stated his preference for keeping his microphone on throughout this upcoming debate.
The moderators for this event will be David Muir from “World News Tonight” and Linsey Davis from ABC News Live. According to ABC News’ announcement on September 4th, each candidate will have two minutes to respond to each question followed by two-minute rebuttals and an additional minute for clarifications or follow-ups. Only the microphone of the candidate speaking will be live during these segments while others are muted.
The 90-minute debate will not have an audience present, and candidates are prohibited from bringing notes onto stage but can have access only to a pen, notepad, and water bottle behind podiums. There won’t be any opening statements but each candidate will have two minutes for closing statements at the end. It was determined through a virtual coin flip that Trump would deliver his closing statement last while Harris selected her preferred podium position on screen right during broadcast.
ABC News mentioned that if significant interruptions occur during discussions, both candidates’ microphones may be temporarily unmuted so that audiences can follow along.
The vice presidential candidates—Minnesota Gov.Tim Walz and Sen.JD Vance (R-Ohio)—are scheduled for their own debate on October 1st hosted by CBS News.