Harris annoys Trump and directs a series of harsh criticisms as he responds strongly in the first heated debate

Democratic Vice President Kamala Harris put Republican rival Donald Trump on the defensive during a heated presidential debate on Wednesday with a series of attacks on abortion, his fitness for office and his many legal problems as the two sought to seize a moment to persuade voters to back them in a close election.

Harris, (59), a former attorney general, appeared to repeatedly annoy Trump, (78), prompting a visibly angry former president to issue a series of false responses.

At one point, she brought up Trump’s rallies and provoked him by saying that people often left early “because they were tired and bored”.

Trump, frustrated by the size of Harris’s crowd, responded by saying, “Our crowds are the largest and most magnificent in the history of politics”.

He then pivoted to an unsubstantiated claim that Haitian immigrants in Springfield, Ohio, were “eating the pets” of residents.

The two candidates argued over issues such as immigration, foreign policy and health care, but the debate did not include many specific policy details.

But Harris’s strong approach has succeeded in shifting the focus to Trump, cheering her allies and making some Republicans acknowledge the challenges Trump faces.

“Trump missed the opportunity to shift the focus to Biden and Harris’ policies on the economy and the border, and instead fell into their trap, focusing on denying the results of the previous election and the issue of immigrants eating our pets,” said Marc Short, who served as chief of staff to Trump’s former vice president, Mike Pence.

Predict, a presidential election prediction website, showed that Trump’s chances of winning dropped during the debate from 52 to 47%, while Harris’ chances improved from 53 to 55%.

In a sign of confidence in the outcome of the debate, the Harris campaign immediately challenged Trump to hold a second debate.

Trump, who has spent weeks launching personal attacks on Harris including racist and sexist slurs, largely avoided that pattern during the early moments of the debate but quickly became agitated as Harris turned the attacks on him.

Harris criticized Trump for his criminal conviction for covering up hush money payments to a porn star, as well as other charges and a civil judgment that found him liable for sexual assault.

Trump has denied any wrongdoing and again accused Harris and Democrats of orchestrating the whole thing without evidence.

Trump also repeated his false claim that his 2020 election defeat was due to fraud, called Harris a “Marxist” and falsely claimed that immigrants caused a violent crime wave.

With eight weeks to go until the election and just days until early voting begins in some states, the debate presented opportunities as well as risks for each candidate as tens of millions of voters watched the debate on television.

The debate began with a surprise handshake between the two rivals who had never met before.

Harris approached Trump at his podium and introduced herself by name, the first handshake in a presidential debate since 2016.

The meeting was particularly important for Harris, who entered the race just seven weeks ago after President Joe Biden dropped out of the race, polls show.

Harris launched a lengthy attack on abortion limits, speaking passionately about women denied emergency care and incest victims unable to terminate their pregnancies because of state-level bans that have spread since the US Supreme Court struck down a nationwide right for women in 2022.

In return, Trump claimed that Harris and Democrats support killing children.

The two candidates began the debate by focusing on the economy, an issue that polls have shown favors Trump.

Harris attacked Trump’s intention to impose high tariffs on foreign goods – a proposal she likened to a sales tax on the middle class – while promoting her plan to provide tax benefits to families and small businesses.

Trump criticized Harris for persistent inflation during the Biden administration, even though he overstated the level of price increases.

He said inflation was “a disaster for people, for the middle class, for all classes”.

The two candidates also traded barbs over Israel’s war in Gaza and Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, but neither offered specific details on how they would seek to end the conflicts.

Harris accused Trump of being willing to abandon US support for Ukraine in order to curry favor with Russian President Vladimir Putin and called Trump a disgrace, while Trump claimed that Harris hates Israel, which she denied.

Presidential debates don’t necessarily change voters’ minds, but they can have serious consequences.

Biden’s disastrous performance against Trump in June prompted him to withdraw from the campaign on July 21.