With less than a week to go until the Sept. 10 presidential debate between Vice President Kamala Harris and former President Donald Trump, hosted by ABC News, the network released the full set of rules that will govern the matchup on Wednesday.
The debate, which will be moderated by “World News Tonight” anchor and editor David Muir and ABC News Live “Prime” anchor Linsey Davis, will mark the first in-person debate between Harris and Trump and will feature 90 minutes of debate time, with two commercial breaks.
The debate will be held in Philadelphia, at the National Constitution Center, and there will be no audience in the room.
Microphones will be activated only for the candidate whose turn it is to speak and muted when it is another candidate’s turn. Only moderators will be allowed to ask questions.
A drawing was held virtually Tuesday to determine the podium position and order of closing remarks; former President Trump won the drawing and chose to select the order of remarks. The former president will deliver the final closing remarks, and Vice President Harris selected the correct podium position on screen, which is stage left.
There will be no opening statements and closing statements will last two minutes per candidate.
Each candidate will have two minutes to answer each question with a two-minute rebuttal and an additional minute for follow-up, clarification or response.
Former President Donald Trump and Vice President Kamala Harris.
Getty Images
Candidates will stand behind podiums for the duration of the debate and no props or pre-written notes will be allowed on stage. Each candidate will be provided with a pen, notepad and bottle of water.
Campaign staff may not interact with candidates during commercial breaks.
The debate will be produced in collaboration with ABC station WPVI and will air live at 9 p.m. ET on the network and on the ABC News Live 24/7 streaming network, Disney+ and Hulu.
ABC News will also air a pre-debate special, “Race for the White House,” at 8 p.m. ET, hosted by Chief Global Affairs Correspondent and “This Week” co-anchor Martha Raddatz, Chief Washington Correspondent and “This Week” co-anchor Jonathan Karl, Chief White House Correspondent Mary Bruce and Senior Congressional Correspondent Rachel Scott.
As previously reported by ABC News, to officially qualify for the debate, participants had to meet various qualifying requirements, including polling thresholds and appearing on enough state ballots to theoretically be able to secure a majority of the electoral votes in the presidential election.
