Vice President Kamala Harris and former President Donald Trump faced off in their first debate on September 10, 2024. At this time, the election will happen in approximately 55 days, so this debate is crucial for each candidate to tell people more about their policies, what they stand for, and what they plan to do in office.

The debate started at 7 pm MST and ended around 8:40 MST (a rough total runtime of one hour and 40 minutes). The full debate is linked here: Harris versus Trump Debate.

Harris’s main points surrounded the idea of “not going back”, a phrase that quickly became the Harris campaign’s slogan.

She said she intends to “create an opportunity economy” focused on “…investing in small businesses, in new families, in what we can do around protecting seniors. What we can do—that is about giving hard-working folks a break and bringing down the cost of living.”

She was also vocal about her intention for tax cuts, specifically for low- and middle-income families, signing abortion rights into law, and to “invest in diverse sources of energy so we reduce our reliance on foreign oil.”

Trump’s main points stayed consistent with what he’s shown the public in the past: a strong stance on reducing immigration, keeping the decisions for abortion access regulated to the states, and maintaining that under his administration America had “the best economy in the history of [the] country.”

Trump also claimed to know nothing about Project 2025, an initiative to controversially reshape social and economic policies into a far-right conservative view. It’s important to note that Project 2025 is not Trump’s specific policy, but there are social ties between those involved with Project 2025 and Trump’s campaign, including the Vice President on his ticket, J.D. Vance.

Outside of the main points each candidate had, there were certain moments in the debate that stood out.

During the debate, Trump was equating a Harris presidency as another term for Joe Biden, saying, “Remember this: She is Biden.”

In response, Harris said, “What I do offer is a new generation of leadership for this country.”

Harris claimed she does not plan to ban fracking, and that her views have not changed, but in 2019 with an interview with CNN she said she was in favor of banning fracking. This appears as an attempt to reach outside her base and into the center.

Other key moments included Trump saying that abortions were occurring in the ninth month, followed by Linsey Davis, one of the two moderators for the debate, saying “There is no state in this country where it is legal to kill a baby after it’s born.” David Muir, another moderator, later on corrected Trump after he made a claim that migrants in Springfield, Ohio were eating pets, specifically cats and dogs.

Muir said, “…ABC News did reach out to the city manager there. He told us there have been no credible reports of specific claims of pets being harmed, injured or abused by individuals within the immigrant community.” Trump rebutted by saying he has seen it on TV.

“I’m not taking this from television. I’m taking this from the city manager,” Muir responded.

Trump again talked about seeing it on TV, and Muir concluded with, “Again, the Springfield city manager says there’s no evidence of that.”

This debate did not vary from what both candidates have presented throughout their campaigns. A variety of topics were included such as immigration, the economy, foreign policy, abortion, climate change/energy, and more. Both parties used common tactics for debates like working around questions and throwing jabs at each other. Recent polls show that this race is still very close, and it’s uncertain who will win.

The only way to know is to tune into the election on November fifth, but for now America must wait.