Kamala Harris and Donald Trump clashed in their first presidential debate Tuesday in Philadelphia, less than two months before Election Day.
Heading into the debate, Harris appeared to have more to gain — and more to lose. A New York Times/Siena poll found that 28% said they “need to learn more about Kamala Harris,” compared to just 9% who said the same about Trump. Overall, Trump led Harris by 1 point among likely voters, with 5% unsure or not backing either.
The debate covered a wide range of issues and featured a series of intense exchanges between the two bitter rivals. Harris presented herself as a pragmatic problem-solver and diminished Trump as a wannabe dictator who can’t keep his rally crowds engaged. Trump attacked Harris as a radical and frequently returned to his theme of criticizing migration, sometimes veering into conspiracy theories.
Here are five key takeaways from the debate.
Harris leans in quickly on lowering costs
Harris used the first question to lean into her plan for an “opportunity economy,” seeking to cut into Trump’s advantage on the issue with swing voters by presenting herself as the candidate of the middle class while calling Trump a corporate tax-cutter.
“I was raised as a middle-class kid, and I am actually the only person on this stage who has a plan that is about lifting up the middle class and working people of America,” Harris said. “We know that we have a shortage of homes and housing, and the cost of housing is too expensive for far too many people. We know that young families need support to raise their children, and I intend on extending a tax cut for those families of $6,000, which is the largest child tax credit that we have given in a long time, so that those young families can afford to buy a crib, buy a car seat, buy clothes for their children.”
Trump for his part, blasted the Biden-Harris economy, saying, “I’ve never seen a worse period of time.” He also defended his tariff plans and called Harris “a Marxist,” even as he accused her of copying his policies: “I was going to send her a MAGA hat.”
Both candidates seek the mantle of change
In the opening minutes of the debate, both rivals sought to claim the mantle of change in a country full of voters who are hungry for it.
“In this debate tonight, you’re going to hear from the same old, tired playbook: a bunch of lies, grievances and name-calling,” Harris said of Trump. “What you’re going to hear tonight is a detailed and dangerous plan called Project 2025, that the former president intends on implementing if he were elected.”
Harris returned to that message later in the debate: “The American people are exhausted with the same entire playbook.” Harris went back to it later when criticizing Trump for inciting the Jan. 6 riot.
“Let’s turn the page on this. Let’s not go back,” she said.
Trump, meanwhile, sought to portray Harris as a continuation of President Joe Biden on immigration and the economy.
On migrants coming into the United States illegally, Trump said, “These are the people that she and Biden led into our country, and they’re destroying our country. They’re dangerous.”
And on the economy, Trump said: “She copied Biden’s plan. And it’s like four sentences. Run, spot, run.”
Trump attacks as Harris defends policy shifts
A significant weakness for Harris in her 2024 campaign has been the left-wing positions she took as a Democratic presidential primary candidate in 2020 that she has since abandoned or backtracked from — such as banning fracking, a mandatory buyback of semi-automatic firearms and decriminalizing border crossings. She was asked about her evolution again.
“I made that very clear on 2020 I will not ban fracking,” Harris said. “I have not banned fracking as vice president. In fact, I was the tie-breaking vote on the inflation Reduction Act which opened new leases for fracking.”
Harris added, “My values have not changed.”
Trump sought to capitalize.
“She wants to do transgender operations on illegal aliens that are in prison. This is a radical left liberal that would do this. She wants to confiscate your guns and she will never allow fracking in Pennsylvania,” Trump said. “If she won the election, fracking in Pennsylvania will end on day one.”
Trump dodges on vetoing federal abortion ban
Trump and Harris engaged in a lengthy clash on abortion, during which the former president declined twice to say whether he would veto a federal abortion ban if Congress passed one.
“Well, I won’t have to,” Trump replied. He said he’s “not signing” such a ban because there’s “no reason to,” arguing that “everybody” is happy with the termination of Roe v. Wade.
When told that his vice presidential nominee, Sen. JD Vance, said he would veto such a ban, Trump contradicted Vance. the Ohio senator made his comments recently on NBC News’ “Meet the Press.”
“Well, I didn’t discuss it with JD, in all fairness. JD — and I don’t mind if he has a certain view, but I think he was speaking to me,” he said, arguing that Congress won’t pass any major abortion bill.
“I pledge to you: when Congress passes a bill to put back in place the protections of Roe v. Wade as President of the United States, I will proudly sign it in to law,” she said. “But understand, if Donald Trump were to be reelected, he will sign a national abortion ban.”
Harris baits Trump into missed opportunities
Harris came into the debate with the hope of rattling Trump, and she appeared to succeed at some moments, baiting the president into a defensive posture rather than highlighting his strongest issue: concerns about inflation and the cost of living.
She attacked him on abortion rights, linked him to the right-wing policy blueprint Project 2025, highlighted his praise for Chinese President Xi Jinping around the onset of the Covid-19 pandemic. Both times, he jumped in to defend himself. She invited Americans to watch a Trump rally.
“He talks about fictional characters like Hannibal Lecter. He will talk about ‘windmills cause cancer.’ And what you will also notice is that people start leaving his rallies early out of exhaustion and boredom,” Harris said, looking into the camera.
That didn’t sit well with Trump, who said he has “the most incredible rallies in the history of politics” and went on a tangent by citing a debunked conspiracy theory about some migrants eating pets. “They’re eating the dogs, the people that came in, they’re eating the cats,” Trump said.
Trump bashes Biden, sparking pithy Harris reply
Trump’s performance included a wide sprinkling of attacks on Biden, who dropped out after his disastrous late-June debate showing against Trump. He criticized Biden’s handling of classified documents, knocked him for opposing the Keystone XL pipeline and called the Biden’s administration “the most divisive presidency in the history of our country.”
“Where is our president? We don’t even know if he’s the president,” Trump said toward the end of the debate. “They threw him out of a campaign like a dog. We don’t even know. Is he our president? We have a president that doesn’t know he’s alive.”
Harris replied, “It is important to remind the former president: You’re not running against Joe Biden, you are running against me.”
When Trump later said, “She is Biden,” Harris responded: “Clearly, I am not Joe Biden. And I am certainly not Donald Trump.”
This story first appeared on NBCNews.com. More from NBC News:
