Biden falters in high-stakes debate, Trump spews falsehoods

The contest was seen as a test of each man's fitness for office.

ByAlexandra Hutzler, Tal Axelrod, Meredith Deliso, and Ivan Pereira
Last Updated: June 27, 2024, 6:09 PM EDT

In a historic clash of personality and policy, Joe Biden and Donald Trump took the stage for the first presidential debate of the 2024 election.

The showdown provided a rare opportunity for both candidates to move the needle in what has been a stubbornly tight race for the White House, but at the end of the night, Biden's halting performance raised new concerns among Democrats and cause Republicans to celebrate.

The debate was a rematch for Biden and Trump, who faced each other twice in 2020, but a first-of-its-kind format and a vastly different political landscape presented new challenges for the two rivals.

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Here's how the debate developed:
Jun 27, 2024, 5:56 PM EDT

Debate offers rare chance to change a rigid race

The debate between Biden and Trump marks one of the few foreseeable opportunities to change a race characterized by stagnant polls.

Literal history is in the rearview in the race, including 34 felony convictions for Trump in New York -- that leaves just the debates, the party conventions and Trump's sentencing as the only dates on the calendar that the campaigns could circle as opportunities to try to gain an edge.

"If you're looking at the calendar for the next five months, this is one of those moments. And somebody's going to take advantage of it," Chip Saltsman, a GOP strategist who worked on former Vice President Mike Pence's now-suspended presidential bid, told ABC News.

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