The 2024 Presidential Debate gave two candidates a chance to distinguish themselves on national television on Tuesday night at the National Constitution Center in Philadelphia.

To kick off the debate, Vice President Kamala Harris initiated and shook hands with former President Donald Trump.

Afterward, both candidates stood at their respective podiums facing two moderators from ABC News, David Muir and Linsey Davis.

Not a single audience member was on set in-person to cheer or interact with the candidates.

During the debate, Muir and Davis asked questions about the nation’s economy, abortion, climate change, immigration and how their strategies on tackling foreign affair issues, including the war between Israel and Palestine.

Economy

Harris said she wants to build an “opportunity economy,” and proposes a $6,000 tax cut for

families with young children and a $50,000 tax deduction for small business owners, “knowing they are part of the backbone of America’s economy.”

She said Trump plans to continue cutting taxes for billionaires and big corporations and wants to put a 20% tax on everyday goods.

“Economists have said that ‘Trump’s sales tax’ would actually result (in)for middle class families in (paying) about $4,000 more a year because of his policies,” Harris said.

Trump said the tariff policies he made during his presidency continue to bring in millions of dollars from other countries, including under the Biden-Harris administration.

He also said he plans to cut more on taxes.

“It’s a great plan. It’s a plan that’s going to bring up our worth, our value as a country,” Trump said. “It’s going to make people want to be able to go and work, and create jobs, and create a lot of good, solid money for our country.”

Climate Change

Harris said in the debate multiple times that she is not going to ban fracking.

Fracking is the process of pumping natural gas from underground to produce fuel, according to a webpage from Britannica. 

“I made that very clear in 2020, I will not ban fracking,” Harris said. “I have not banned fracking as Vice President of the United States, and in fact, I was the tie breaking vote on the Inflation Reduction Act, which opened new leases for fracking.”

The Inflation Reduction Act enhanced or created more than 20 tax incentives for clean energy and manufacturing was signed into law by Biden on Aug. 16, 2022, according to a webpage from the U.S. Department of the Treasury. 

The act modifies tax credits for companies producing electricity from renewable resources, including wind, biomass or natural gas, geothermal and solar, landfill gas, trash, qualified hydropower and marine and hydrokinetic resources, according to a webpage from congress.gov.

Harris said her position on the topic is that the country needs to invest in “diverse sources of energy” so it can reduce its dependence on foreign oil.

“We have had the largest increase in domestic oil production in history because of an approach that recognizes that we cannot over rely on foreign oil as it relates to my values,” she said.

Trump said Harris has been against fracking for 12 years, but also said briefly that he is, “a big fan of solar” and that she wants “illegal immigrants” to do surgery to change their gender.

“Now 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 Philadelphia,” he said. “If she won the election, fracking in Pennsylvania will end on day one.”

Trump also said the cost of gas has gone up significantly throughout the Biden-Harris administration.

In May 2020, the cost of gas per gallon on average was $1.87, according to a webpage from the U.S. Energy Information Administration. The average cost of gas in August was $3.39 per gallon.

What’s next?

Harris’ team announced that they would like to challenge Trump to a second debate in October less than 30 minutes after Tuesday’s debate ended, according to a Tuesday article from ABC News.

“Vice President Harris is ready for a second debate. Is Donald Trump?” a staff member from Harris’ team wrote in an email, according to the same article.

The next presidential debate has not been announced, but the vice presidential debates will be happening on Oct. 1.

While visiting the “spin room”, Trump said to reporters that he and his team will consider the option, according to the same article from ABC News.

“They want another debate because they lost,” Trump said. “So, we’ll, you know, think about that.”