How to watch the first, and maybe only, Harris-Trump debate tonight | CBC News

Vice-President Kamala Harris and former president Donald Trump are set to debate one another for the first —and potentially only — time in the U.S. presidential election campaign, with both looking to seize the critical opportunity in what polls show to be an effectively tied race.

The Democratic and Republican presidential nominees will take the stage in Philadelphia at 9 p.m. ET/6 p.m. PT. You can watch the livestream here on CBCNews.ca.

ABC News anchors David Muir and Linsey Davis will moderate the 90-minute debate. As with the event in June, the candidates’ microphones will be muted while the other is speaking and there will be no in-studio audience.

Harris and Trump, who have never met in person, will enter at the same time from opposite sides of the stage. It is unclear whether they will shake hands.

For Harris, the debate on Tuesday is her best opportunity to capitalize on momentum she’s built in the first seven weeks of her campaign. She will be looking to define her candidacy, introducing herself again to voters as a former prosecutor who understands the needs of the middle class and could offer new hope to the nation and its fractured democracy. She will also have to distance herself from some of the Biden administration’s less popular policies.

For Trump, the event is his best chance to try to undercut Harris’s gains — which he’s expected to try to achieve by painting Harris as a candidate incapable of addressing voters’ concerns about crime, the economy and the border. He will likely continue his campaign messaging that has framed Harris as a “failed,” “weak,” and “dangerously liberal” incumbent who will bring Americans more of what they’ve seen from Joe Biden.

The stakes will be high for both candidates, but experts agree it will be a bigger night for Harris because she is the lesser known commodity. In her first presidential debate and longest unscripted event so far of the campaign, she will face an audience not only listening to her policies but watching how she  handles a bombastic opponent who often speaks with little regard for facts.

Trump, with six presidential debates under his belt, already has a loyal base whose feelings haven’t been swayed by two impeachments, several indictments and a felony conviction. Aides have reportedly cautioned the former president to stick to talking points related to policy, rather than continuing a pattern of personal attacks on Harris and crass attacks against women. 

The potential ramifications of a poor debate showing were made clear after Biden’s halting performance during the previous debate on June 27, which led to his dropping from the race weeks later to make way for Harris.

In an election that could again come down to tens of thousands of voters in just a few key states, even the tiniest shift in voter behaviour could change who wins the White House. The two candidates are effectively tied in the seven battleground states likely to decide the election, according to polling averages compiled by the New York Times.

Trump arrived in Philadelphia on Tuesday night, while Harris arrived Monday afternoon after spending several days at a downtown Pittsburgh hotel preparing for the debate.

Earlier Tuesday, Biden said he spoken with Harris but declined to share the advice he gave. 

“She seems calm, cool and collected. I think she’s going to do great,” he told reporters before boarding Marine One outside the White House.

There are 56 days until U.S. voters head to the polls on Nov. 5. A vice-presidential debate is scheduled for Oct. 1.