Biden's ABC town hall: Former VP lays out vision in stark contrast to Trump's

The Biden campaign announced that a person working with the aviation company that charters former Vice President Joe Biden's plane tested positive for COVID-19 Thursday.  While that person flew with Biden on Monday and Tuesday, the campaign said they were not in close contact with the former vice president or his campaign staff.

"The Vice President did not even have passing contact: this individual was over 50 feet from VP Biden at all times, entered and exited the aircraft from a rear entrance, and both the individual and the Vice President wore masks for the entire flight," Biden campaign manager Jen O'Malley Dillon said in a statement.

The aviation company employee's diagnosis was discovered as a result of the campaign's contact tracing following the positive diagnosis of Sen. Kamala Harris' communication's director Liz Allen and a non-staff flight crew member.

Although Harris tested negative for COVID-19, she canceled her in-person campaigning through Monday. 

Because of Biden's lack of contact with the person who tested positive for COVID-19, his campaign said it would not be taking any additional precautions. Biden will still participate in an ABC News town hall Thursday night. 

The Biden campaign announced earlier Thursday that Biden underwent a PCR test for COVID-19 Wednesday night and that test came back negative.

ABC News' Molly Nagle

The Biden campaign announced earlier in the day that the former vice president tested negative for COVID-19 Wednesday night -- the eighth publicly announced Biden coronavirus test result. 

"As part of our regular routine of testing, Vice President Biden underwent PCR testing for COVID-19 last night and COVID-19 was not detected," the campaign said in a statement.  

It came on the heels of another announcement that a top aide to Sen. Kamala Harris, D-Calif., Biden's running mate, tested positive for COVID-19, prompting Harris to suspend travel "out of an abundance of caution" through Monday.

Harris and her husband, Doug Emhoff, both tested negative for COVID-19 Thursday, the campaign said.

-ABC News' Molly Nagle and Averi Harper

Heading into the town hall, Biden's campaign and the Democratic National Committee announced they raised a whopping $383 million in the month of September -- outpacing their August total of $364.5 million.

"That's more money than I've ever raised in my whole life!" Biden said in a video posted to Twitter late Wednesday, noting that the average donation was "something like $44 dollars -- it was under $50."

Biden's campaign manager, Jen O'Malley Dillon added to the announcement, announcing that the campaign has $432 million cash on hand.

"Our success has been driven by our grassroots supporters. $203 million came from online donors. We had 1.1 million new donors last month -- bringing the total to 5.5 million donors throughout this campaign. And as a result, we have $432 million in the bank," O'Malley Dillon tweeted.

The Trump campaign and Republican National Committee have not yet released September fundraising numbers. In August, they reported raising $210 million along with joint fundraising committees.

The second presidential debate, taking a town-hall format, was originally scheduled for Thursday. Now Biden and Trump are participating in separate town halls. 

So what happened?

Trump disclosed on Twitter on Oct. 2 that he tested positive for COVID-19.

Six days later, the nonpartisan Commission on Presidential Debates announced the second debate in Miami would be virtual. It would maintain its town hall format, but unlike the first debate, the candidates would participate remotely from separate locations.

Biden agreed. Trump did not, telling Fox News moments after the announcement, “I’m not going to waste my time” on a virtual format.

With the president out, the Biden campaign signed on to an ABC News Town Hall. 

The Trump campaign, hours after saying Trump would host a rally on Oct. 15 instead of debating, then said it would participate in the second debate if it was pushed back a week and the final scheduled debate also was pushed back a week.

But the Biden campaign quickly shot down the idea of rearranging the dates, saying they were agreed to back in June.

So Trump made plans to appear in a NBC town hall in Miami, taking place at the same time as Biden's ABC News town hall.

Amid the back-and-forth between the campaigns, the Commission on Presidential Debates officially canceled the second debate in a statement last Thursday saying, “It is now apparent there will be no debate on October 15.”

Both candidates have agreed to participate in the third and final debate, which is scheduled for Oct. 22.