Harris and Trump set to clash in high-stakes debate

WASHINGTON

It will be the first time Kamala Harris and Donald Trump meet in person and millions of Americans will get a ringside seat.

The Democratic vice president and Republican former president will face off in Philadelphia tomorrow in their first, and possibly only, televised debate before what promises to be a nail-bitingly close 2024 election.

The high-stakes ABC debate will be a chance for U.S. voters to finally see the two go head-to-head, after a month of shadow-boxing since President Joe Biden threw in the towel as candidate.

The gloves will be off in what is a critical test for both.

Harris, 59, has turbocharged and unified the Democratic party, and will now face an opponent who has called her "crazy" and subjected her to racist and sexist taunts.

America's first female, Black and South Asian vice president has overhauled Trump's lead in the polls but insists she remains the "underdog" in a tight race.

The 78-year-old Trump is meanwhile expected to opt for an aggressive approach, after Harris's entry into the race upended his White House bid and turned him into the oldest candidate in U.S. history.

That lack of any prior face time is a result of Trump having refused to attend Biden's inauguration after falsely claiming he was cheated in the 2020 election.

Adding an extra frisson is the fact that the debate is happening in Pennsylvania, the most bitterly-fought of the battleground states that will decide the election.

Tomorrow’s debate could meanwhile be the last. Harris and Trump have not agreed to any more, and this one is only happening after a bitter row ended with Harris's camp reluctantly agreeing to have the candidates' microphones muted while the other is speaking.