Former President Donald Trump and Vice President Kamala Harris.(Photos: Seth Wenig-Pool/Getty Images; Jim Vondruska/Getty Images)
As former President Donald Trump and Vice President Kamala Harris prepare for their first — and possibly only — presidential debate on Tuesday in Philadelphia, the Harris-Walz campaign and supporters will be hosting some 280 debate night watch parties statewide.
The Harris-Walz watch parties cover nearly all 67 Pennsylvania counties, and follow the campaign’s weekend get-out-the-vote drive across the state that included canvass launches and phone banking events.
The Trump campaign did not immediately reply to a request for comment on Sunday about whether it was hosting any campaign debate watch parties in Pennsylvania this week.
The debate at Philadelphia’s National Constitution Center will air live on ABC at 9 p.m. Tuesday, and stream live on ABC News Live, Disney Plus and Hulu. ABC journalists David Muir and Linsey Davis will serve as moderators; there will be no live audience and the candidates’ mics will be muted when it is not their turn to speak.
5 things to know about the Harris-Trump presidential debate
The June 27 debate between Trump and President Joe Biden, who was then the Democrats’ nominee, went poorly for the incumbent. Biden gave halting, unclear answers to some questions and appeared confused. The performance prompted Democrats to call for Biden to step aside in favor of another candidate, which he did on July 21. He immediately endorsed Harris.
The candidates and their running mates have spent considerable time in Pennsylvania as the campaign enters the home stretch, with its 19 electoral votes seen as key for either candidate. Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz, the Democratic nominee for vice president, was in Lancaster and Pittsburgh on Wednesday and Erie on Thursday, while second gentleman Doug Emhoff campaigned in Allentown on Saturday. Trump was last in Pennsylvania on Wednesday when he taped a Fox News interview in Harrisburg.
Harris has been working on debate prep in Pittsburgh, and on Saturday stopped at Penzeys Spices in the city’s Strip District neighborhood, where she chatted with voters and bought some spices. Trump held a campaign rally in rural Wisconsin on Saturday where he promised tariffs and claimed, without citing evidence, that undocumented immigrants posed a threat to Wisconsin.
A new Times-Siena poll released Sunday showed Harris with a slight lead over Trump in Pennsylvania, but Trump with an edge at the national level.