What Time Does the Presidential Debate Start?

Vice President Kamala Harris and former President Donald Trump will face off for their first presidential debate Tuesday night.

ABC’s “World News Tonight” anchors Linsey Davis and David Muir will moderate this presidential debate, abiding by rules similar to the Biden-Trump CNN debate in June.

The 90-minute debate will kick off Tuesday night on ABC News at 9 p.m. ET/6 p.m. PT.

Harris entered the race just seven weeks ago after President Joe Biden’s disappointing first debate performance. Facing harsh criticism to drop out from top Democratic donors and leaders, Biden departed from the race and endorsed his vice president.

The former California attorney general revealed in an exclusive CNN interview Aug. 29 that she and the former president have never met in person, making tonight’s matchup their first in-person introduction.

Per ABC’s rules, first shared with the campaigns last month, the candidates’ microphones will be muted as their opponent speaks. The Harris campaign sought to change this rule after she became the Democratic nominee, but Trump wanted to keep the rules consistent with what he agreed to originally in May.

The network’s rules also state that there will be no audience, the candidates will not be allowed to have written notes, no staff can visit them during the two allotted commercial breaks and the candidates cannot ask questions of one another.

After CNN’s presidential debate this summer, viewers were disappointed by the lack of fact-checking in real-time. When asked how the network would fact-check the candidates, Rick Klein, ABC’s political director, was avoidant, according to a recent report in The New York Times.

“We’re not making a commitment to fact-checking everything, or fact-check nothing, in either direction,” he said, adding that ABC is there to facilitate a good debate.

The first and possibly final matchup between the 2024 presidential candidates will air live on ABC and stream on ABC News Live, Disney+ and Hulu, and will be available for simulcast. It will also be televised or streamed by multiple media outlets.

We will be providing live updates throughout the debate.