Less than two weeks from Election Day, Joe Biden and President Trump are scheduled to appear onstage 9:00 p.m. ET for the final general election presidential debate of 2020.
The televised event may be the last opportunity for both candidates to reach a massive national audience before Nov. 3.
Here’s everything you need to know about the final debate:
- The location: The debate will take place at Belmont University in Nashville, Tennessee. It is scheduled to run from 9 p.m. to 10:30 p.m. ET without commercial breaks.
- The topics: Debate moderator, NBC’s Kristen Welker, will bring six topics: “Fighting COVID-19,” “American Families,” “Race in America,” “Climate Change,” “National Security” and “Leadership.”
- The debate structure: Each segment will last about 15 minutes, and the candidates will have two minutes to respond after the moderator opens each segment with a question. Welker will then use the rest of the time in the segment to facilitate further discussion on the topic.
- How this debate is different: The Commission on Presidential Debates recently announced that Biden and Trump would have their microphones muted during portions of the debate. At the start of each of the six segments, each candidate will be given two minutes to answer an initial question, and during that portion, the opposing candidate’s microphone will be muted. The rule change was made after the first debate devolved into chaos, with Trump frequently interrupting and heckling Biden and the moderator, Chris Wallace of Fox News.Reporting by CNN’s reporter.
