Kamala Harris and Donald Trump shook hands at New York’s 9/11 memorial on Wednesday to mark the anniversary of the attacks, hours before they clashed in a TV debate.
Most analysts say the Democratic vice president performed strongly against her Republican rival, and the two are set to face off in November.
Both candidates faced off for the first time on the biggest night of the campaign so far and declared victory – although there is unlikely to be any major shift in support.
The debate, hosted by ABC News in Philadelphia, saw tense exchanges, with Harris focusing on policy while Trump’s answers were filled with falsehoods and often about his past grievances.
On Wednesday, Trump claimed in an interview with Fox News, without evidence, that the debate was “rigged” against him.
“It was a rigged deal, as I expected, because when you looked at the facts they were doing everything right, but they weren’t doing anything right to him,” he complained.
Republican strategist Liam Donovan said Harris held an edge over Trump, and that Republicans had “largely failed” in their efforts to link their rival to President Joe Biden, instead resorting to “angry tirades.”
“This will certainly boost morale, at a time when Democrats are getting worried,” he told AFP.
9/11 Memorial
After becoming Biden’s nominee in July, Harris rode a wave of enthusiasm at the Democratic convention, boosting her popularity and achieving record fundraising numbers.
And with Biden gone, the 78-year-old Trump finds himself as a candidate facing questions about his advancing age, and renewed focus on his eccentric and often vague speeches.
But Harris, 59, saw her polling momentum slip even before the debate.
Democrats are moving to the center, and fielding a parade of anti-Trump Republicans — most recently former Vice President Dick Cheney and his daughter Liz, who were ousted from House leadership for opposing Trump.
Trump has attracted a large following of supporters with dire warnings about criminal immigrants and a dark picture of a country in “collapse” that only he can save.
In a threatening social media post over the weekend, Trump vowed to sue Democratic donors, lawyers and election officials he says behave “dishonestly” in November.
He used Tuesday’s debate to reiterate his bogus voter fraud claims from 2020.
In New York on Wednesday, Biden watched as Harris and Trump greeted each other again, all three wearing blue commemorative ribbons.
He watched as the names of nearly 3,000 victims of the attack were read out.
“We stand in solidarity with their families and loved ones. We also honor the extraordinary courage they displayed in helping their fellow Americans on that fateful day,” Harris said in a statement.
Harris will leave on Thursday for North Carolina — one of a handful of states expected to decide the election, where she erased Trump’s six-point lead to pull even.
Trump will take the stage in Tucson, Arizona, on Thursday and will focus his attention on “our struggling economy and the rising cost of housing.”
Harris’s fellow candidate, Tim Walz, will travel to Michigan and Wisconsin from Thursday through Saturday, while his Republican rival, J.D. Vance, deals with the fallout from another round of controversial comments.
The Republican vice presidential nominee on Monday promoted a false claim that Haitian immigrants are kidnapping and eating pets in Ohio.
In the debate, Trump repeated the bizarre claim, which has been rejected by local officials.
(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)
