Kamala Harris has taken a series of jabs at Donald Trump on issues from abortion to his fitness for office, putting her Republican rival for the White House on the spot in a bitter showdown on Tuesday that could determine the outcome of the US election.
The vice president struggled early in her first — and perhaps only — debate with Trump. Elections in November as the candidates debated high inflation and international trade.
But in the remaining 90 minutes of face-offs, Harris Trump has been cast as an extremist unworthy of the American presidency and mocked as a former Republican president who has sometimes struggled to contain his anger and stick to his message.
“I’ve traveled around the world as vice president of the United States, and world leaders are laughing at Donald Trump,” Harris said in one of her most pointed attacks. “I’ve talked to military leaders, some of whom were with you, and they say you’re a disgrace.”
National and hesitant state polls Events in recent days have shown that the race for the White House is on a knife edge, making Tuesday's debate one of the most anticipated in US political history.
In a quick poll of debate viewers conducted for CNN, 63 percent of respondents said Harris did better, compared to 37 percent for Trump.
Traders predicting the winner of the presidential election on political betting platform PredictIt now have the vice president at 56 cents, 47 cents ahead of Trump. The candidates were neck and neck ahead of the debates.
Their first meeting came nearly two months after President Joe Biden's poor performance in the debate with Trump prompted him to end his re-election bid in July and endorse Harris for president.
Harris' first major attack on Trump on Tuesday was on abortion, when she accused the former president of “immorality” and of appointing Supreme Court justices who would strike down the constitutional right to terminate a pregnancy in 2022.
“You don't have to give up your faith or deeply held beliefs to agree that the government and Donald Trump certainly shouldn't tell a woman what to do with her body,” she said.
Harris appeared nervous and had trouble speaking fluently in early exchanges about the economy. But her confidence grew as she fended off some of Trump’s attacks and offered her own, including mocking Trump for his egotism and oddities.
“He'll talk about fictional characters like Hannibal Lecter, he'll talk about windmills causing cancer. And you'll also notice that people start leaving his rallies early because of fatigue and boredom,” Harris said. “The only thing you won't hear about is you.”
Trump has repeatedly criticized the Biden administration's handling of immigration and blamed Harris for the sharp rise in migrants crossing the U.S.-Mexico border.
“They allowed criminals, many, many millions of criminals. They allowed terrorists,” Trump said. “They destroyed the fabric of our country.”
Trump has criticized Harris for changing her mind on issues like fracking that matter to many voters in the swing state of Pennsylvania. But he has often lost his grip when she egged him on about the size and enthusiasm of his campaign rallies.
At some point, he recycled internet conspiracy theories, including refuted statement that Haitian immigrants in an Ohio city were kidnapping pets to eat. “In Springfield, they eat dogs, people who come over… They eat cats.”
Harris criticized Trump for denying his 2020 election loss to Biden and for inciting the attack on the U.S. Capitol on January 6, 2021.
“Donald Trump has had 81 million people fired… and it's obviously very difficult for him to process,” she said.
Trump has employed a familiar defense, claiming he is the victim of political persecution, citing his near-assassination in Pennsylvania in July.
“I probably got a bullet in the head because of what they say about me,” Trump said. “They are a threat to democracy.”
He dealt the first blows to the economy. “They had the highest inflation probably in the history of our country,” Trump said. “People can’t go out and buy cereal, bacon, eggs or anything. People in our country are just dying from what they’ve done.”
Harris responded by saying the U.S. economy was in dire straits when Trump left office and Democrats were left to clean up the “mess” left behind by the former president.
She also sometimes tried to distance herself from her predecessor. “I’m obviously not Joe Biden. And I’m certainly not Donald Trump,” she said after Trump criticized the Biden administration’s handling of inflation. “And what I’m proposing is a new generation of leaders for our country.”
Republican Sen. Lindsey Graham, a Trump ally, said the former president had “missed opportunities.” He added: “I think he was scared a couple of times, she was scared once.”
Who will win the 2024 presidential election? Join FT journalists for a subscriber webinar on September 12 to assess the candidates' chances after their first debate. Register for your subscription pass now at ft.com/uswebinar
Following the event, Harris's team immediately challenged Trump to a second debate in October. Trump said he would “think about” attending. The vice president's campaign also received a boost support from taylor swiftthe most popular music star in the world.
In an unusual move after the debate, Trump visited the “thinking room,” where his supporters try to convince the media that their candidate will win.
Since Harris burst into the White House race, she has benefited from a surge in popularity enthusiasm among Democratic voterswhich helped her beat Trump in the polls.
But Harris's momentum has slowed, and her lead over Trump in national polls is now just 2.2 percentage points, according to the Financial Times. average survey resultThe former president also holds an advantage in four of the seven swing states that will determine the outcome of the election.
Following ceremonies to commemorate the September 11 attacks on Wednesday 23 years ago, Harris will campaign in North Carolina and return to Pennsylvania, while Trump will head to Arizona and California.
The debate, hosted by ABC News, took place at the National Constitution Center in downtown Philadelphia, a small, intimate space with no live audience and stands spaced relatively close together.