Tuesday night’s debate between Donald Trump and Kamala Harris could have been a mess of layered talking, unchallenged claims and wild veers off-topic. Instead, ABC’s moderators, David Muir and Linsey Davis, kept the candidates on point.
Muir and Davis took on the first matchup between the two presidential candidates, who are virtually tied in the polls, seeking to “enforce timing agreements and ensure a civilized discussion”, according to debate rules from ABC that took weeks to negotiate. It was no easy task.
While there were imperfect moments, the pair were largely praised for delivering a strong performance. They effectively rerouted discussions back to the questions they had asked on key topics including the economy, immigration, abortion rights and the peaceful transfer of power, and made important clarifying fact-check statements when they were warranted.
When Trump made the outlandish claim that Democrats supported “the execution” of babies after they were born and accused Tim Walz, Harris’s vice-presidential pick, of supporting abortions in the ninth month, Davis laid out the facts: “There is no state in this country where it is legal to kill a baby after it is born,” Davis told viewers.
Muir also pushed Trump on his connection to the 6 January attack on the US Capitol and his belief that he won the election despite all evidence to the contrary.
The moderators weren’t always able to get the final word when it came to fact-checking though, including when Trump raised unfounded claims that immigrants were “eating the pets” in communities across the country.
When Trump finished speaking, Muir shared reporting from ABC News, which had reached out to the city manager in Springfield, Illinois:
“He told us there had been no credible reports of specific claims of pets being harmed, injured or abused by individuals within the immigrant community,” Muir said. Trump cut in, speaking over Muir as he tried to finish his fact-check, and repeated: “I have seen people on television saying: ‘My dog was taken and used for food.’”
The moderators also allowed the candidates to speak and respond when it was their turn, but were quick to curb grandstanding that went over time.
Muir and Davis are veteran journalists who have collectively spent decades helping the American public navigate presidential positions.
Muir, the anchor and managing editor of ABC News’s World News Tonight, has worked at the network since 2003 and moderated debates for both parties’ primaries.
Davis, who anchors the evening newscast ABC News Live Prime and World News Tonight on Sundays, has been at the network since 2007. She brings experience moderating Democratic primary debates in September 2019 and February 2020.
Despite their successes at moderating the discussion, not everyone was pleased with the outcome. Conservatives largely viewed the team as biased due to their need to correct the record on many of Trump’s claims.
“These moderators are a disgraceful failure and this is one of the most biased, unfair debates I have ever seen,” Megyn Kelly wrote on X as the debate aired. “Shame on you @ABC.”
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