The Final Stretch: What To Expect from the Final Presidential Debate

Political tensions are getting tumultuous as the nation approaches Nov. 3—the highly anticipated election day. The day will probably go down in the books as one of the most stressful Tuesdays in American history. With that being said, the recent presidential and vice-presidential debates have been like movie trailers for the chaos that is to come. The first debate was held at Case Western Reserve University in Cleveland and was everyone’s first look into the divide that the country has been experiencing. This divide is always apparent when the presidential debates roll around, but it manifested in the literal sense with the candidates socially distanced and not participating in the traditional exchange of a handshake. 

The second debate was the vice-presidential debate between candidates Senator Kamala Harris and Vice-President Mike Pence. This one was held at the University of Utah in Salt Lake City and the candidates were seated at desks behind plexiglass shields. 

After the vice-presidential debate, the second presidential debate of the season was supposed to be held on Oct. 9 in Miami, Florida. It was proposed to be a virtual meeting, but the debate was entirely canceled instead. The virtual proposal was largely due to President Trump’s contraction of COVID-19. This would have been historical in the world of presidential debates; however, it was called off altogether. 

The final presidential debate will be held in person on Oct. 22 at 9 p.m. Eastern Time at Belmont University in Nashville, Tennessee. Although it was suggested to keep candidates in separate locations, Biden and Trump will share the stage once again and for the last time until the election. Biden’s campaign agreed to the in-person debate on the agreement that the debate will be “either a one-on-one matchup with Mr. Trump or a town-hall-style event in which both candidates [take] questions from voters.” This is to ensure that both candidates get an equal amount of speaking time and there is not a gray area of interruption, as pictured in the first debate. Just as before, the debate will be broadcast on the major news outlets as well as their YouTube channels for online streaming at 9 p.m. Eastern Time. 

The moderator for this debate will be Kristen Welker, who is an NBC White House correspondent. Welker will be the second Black woman in history to serve as a solo presidential debate moderator. Carole Simpson was the only one to precede her in 1992. As usual, there will be a total of six topics with 15 minutes dedicated to each. The whole debate lasts a total of 60 minutes with no commercial interruptions. As the moderator chooses the topics for the debate, Kristen Welker chose the final six until the election.

The topics for the final debate include: 

• biden
• debate
• election
• FSU
• trump