Key takeaways from the Harris-Trump debate on ABC News

On Tuesday, Vice President Kamala Harris and former President Donald Trump debated for the first time – a momentous encounter just eight weeks before Election Day.

The debate was hosted by ABC News at the National Constitution Center in Philadelphia. The 90-minute debate was filled with lively witty remarks and tense exchanges on important policy issues facing the American people.

Harris tried to portray herself as a new generation of leaders with a track record of success, while Trump sought to portray her as a radical Democrat and continued to criticize the Biden administration.

Here are some key takeaways from the debate.

Harris pushed Trump onto the defensive early on

The Vice President wasted no time in attacking Trump.

“What we have done and what I will continue to do is build on what we know to be the aspirations and hopes of the American people,” Harris said minutes into the debate. “But I tell you all, in this debate tonight, you're going to hear the same old, tired script, a bunch of lies, complaints and name-calling.”

She later mocked his rallies, claiming that people leave early out of “exhaustion” because he gives long speeches in which he sometimes makes references to windmills causing cancer or fictional characters like Hannibal Lecter. Trump immediately defended his events and the size of the crowds, saying he has the “biggest” and “most incredible” rallies in political history.

After Trump railed against crime in the country, Harris said she found the comments “so crass” coming from someone who has been criminally charged multiple times. Trump has denied any wrongdoing in each of the cases against him.

Trump continues attacks on Biden

Trump had great difficulty changing his message when Harris succeeded President Joe Biden as the Democratic Party's nominee, but he continued to criticize Biden and repeatedly tried to link Harris to Biden's accomplishments – particularly on the economy, immigration and leadership abroad.

“She's Biden,” he said. “The worst inflation we've ever had, a terrible economy because inflation made everything so bad, and she can't get away with that.”

Harris, who has supported many of Biden's views and also made her own economic policy proposals, quickly responded: “Of course, I am not Joe Biden and I am certainly not Donald Trump. And what I am offering is a new generation of leadership for our country.”

In the “Spin Room” with reporters after the debate, Trump continued to criticize Biden and Harris’ record.

“She's trying to distance herself from Biden, and she failed to do that tonight,” he said.

Did Harris succeed in introducing himself to the audience?

A key question before the debate began was whether Harris would be able to present herself to voters who feel they do not know her or her positions well enough.

A recent poll by The New York Times and Siena College found that a sizable share of likely voters (28%) and registered voters (31%) said they needed to know more about Harris as a candidate. Among independent voters, those numbers were even higher: 41% of registered independents and 38% of likely voters who identified as independent said they needed to know more about her.

Harris began her first answer to a question about the economy by saying that her mother grew up in a middle-class family. She later highlighted her background as a prosecutor who has dealt with transnational criminal organizations. She also mentioned that as a senator, she was at the U.S. Capitol when it was attacked by a pro-Trump mob on January 6.

She also talked about some of her key policy proposals, including her support for reproductive freedom and economic plans like expanding the child tax credit and helping first-time home buyers. She also pointed out that both she and her running mate, Governor Tim Walz, are gun owners and would not take away people's guns.

Although neither candidate went into too much detail, Harris tried to draw a clear contrast between her offers and what Trump would propose if elected.

“What I am offering is a new generation of leadership for our country that believes in what is possible and brings optimism about what we can accomplish, rather than constantly putting down the American people,” she said.

Meanwhile, Trump claimed Harris was a “radical left-liberal” and questioned her about some of her policy changes on police funding, fracking and other issues since her 2019 Democratic primary campaign.

Trump still refuses to admit defeat in the 2020 election

Trump sought to explain his own recent comments in which he appeared to acknowledge defeat in the 2020 election, including his comment last week that he “lost by a hair's breadth.”

“I said that?” Trump said on the debate stage when the words were read to him.

“Are you now admitting that you lost in 2020?” asked ABC News anchor David Muir.

“No, I don't take any notice of that at all,” he said. “I meant that sarcastically.”

When asked about the peaceful transfer of power, Trump did not say he regretted his actions on January 6, 2021. He claimed he had “nothing” to do with the events of that day, which culminated in an attack on the U.S. Capitol.

Race is discussed, but not gender

This is the second time Trump is running against a woman as a presidential candidate. Harris' gender was not addressed during the debate, but her ethnic background was.

When moderators asked him about his previous false remarks about her ethnicity – including that Harris, who is black and South Asian, “just happened to turn black” – Trump said he “didn't care at all.”

“I don't care what she is. I don't care,” he said. “Whatever she wants to be is fine with me.”

When pressed, Trump stuck to his point: first he read that she was not black, and then that she was.

“And that's okay. I thought both were okay. That's their business. That's their business,” he said.

When asked for her opinion, Harris went on the attack – but didn't focus on herself. Instead, she focused on Trump's falsehoods about former President Barack Obama's birthplace, noting that “he was investigated for refusing to rent property to black families” in an attempt to portray him as divisive and unfit.

“Frankly, I think it's a tragedy that we have someone who wants to be president when he has tried, time and time again, throughout his career to use race to divide the American people,” she said. “I think the American people want something better than this, want something better than this.”

“This is the most divisive presidency in the history of our country,” Trump responded.