US Vice-President Kamala Harris has clashed with Republican challenger Donald Trump in her first debate as the Democratic nominee.
Only in June, her boss, President Joe Biden faced off against Trump, expecting to run against him for control of the White House in November.
But his catastrophic performance saw him drop out of the 2024 race 28 days later in favour of his deputy.
Harris and Trump have never met before, and while presidential candidates haven't shaken hands during a debate since 2016, the Democratic nominee strode across the stage and introduced herself.
"Kamala Harris," she said while extending her hand. Trump shook it.
While the candidates appeared sombre for the first few moments, the mood in the debate hall seemed to shift when Harris implied that people leave Trump's election rallies early.
From that moment, the debate took a fierce and fiery turn.
These were the big moments from the clash between Harris and Trump — most of which were gazumped by Taylor Swift's decision to immediately endorse the Democrat after the debate was over.
Harris gives Trump the side eye, he stares straight ahead
Debates are as much about style as they are about substance, so all eyes were on how Harris and Trump appeared side by side.
Her microphone might have been off while Trump was speaking, but the split screen was not, so Harris's disapproval of his comments on immigration and the economy was written all over her face and very visible to the audience.
At times, Harris brought her hand to her chin, stared at former president Trump and pondered his responses with an expression of bewilderment on her face. In particular, as Trump explained his belief that in Ohio, people were eating cats and dogs — more on that later.
As Harris spoke however, Trump stared straight ahead barely moving and never looking across to his opponent.
The former president did, however, jump on an opportunity to use one of Harris's most famous debate lines against her.
As Harris spoke over Trump he stopped mid-sentence and said: "I'm talking please. If you don't mind, please. Does that sound familiar?"
His jab was an obvious nod to Harris's rebuke of former vice-president Mike Pence as he spoke over her in a 2020 debate when she said: " Mr Vice-President, I'm speaking."
The line was immortalised in a skit by Saturday Night Live.
Harris cracked through Trump's staunch veneer a little when she called him "so rich" for making broad statements about crime rates among immigrants when he was "someone who has been prosecuted for national security crimes".
She also hit a nerve when she brought up the crowd at Trump rallies.
"I'm going to actually do something really unusual, and I'm going to invite you to attend one of Donald Trump's rallies, because it's a really interesting thing to watch," she said.
"People start leaving his rallies early out of exhaustion and boredom."
Overall, this debate was a robust back and forth that interrogated some of the key election issues we know are likely to sway America's undecided voters.
Trump's performance was arguably quite similar to the last time he was on the debate stage.
The difference today though was that instead of being up against an 81-year-old man who was being scrutinised for his every stumble and lost the debate for himself, Trump got to know Harris the prosecutor as she brought the fight directly to him.
And after a stiff start for both of them, Harris eventually got under Trump's skin.
The economy — considered one of Trump's strengths — is a big topic
While most national polls show Trump and Harris in a dead heat, the Republican nominee remains slightly ahead when voters are asked about which candidate they trust more when it comes to handling the economy.
So Harris knew she had to demonstrate to American voters that she would be able to help them with the spiralling cost of living in the US.
"I was raised as a middle class kid, and I am actually the only person on this stage who has a plan that is about lifting up the middle class and working people of America," she said in her opening remarks.
"I believe in the ambition, the aspirations, the dreams of the American people, and that is why I imagine and have actually a plan to build what I call an opportunity economy."
She also sought to blame America's current economic struggles on the Trump administration's decisions while in office until 2020.
Trump said, if returned to the White House, he would make the economy his top priority.
"Everybody knows what I'm going to do: cut taxes very substantially and create a great economy like I did," he said.
"Before, we had the greatest economy, we got hit with a pandemic, and the pandemic was, not since 1917 where 100 million people died, has there been anything like it."
Harris and Trump spar on abortion access
Both candidates are keenly aware that Harris is more popular with female voters, so the issue of abortion access and pregnancy care was bound to be a key point of discussion on the debate stage.
In 2022, the US Supreme Court overturned the constitutional right to an abortion — known as Roe vs Wade — saying individual states should decide if, when and how Americans can terminate a pregnancy.
In a somewhat emotional moment, Harris looked down the barrel of the camera and spoke directly to the women of America in one of her responses when she said: "Understand, if Donald Trump were to be re-elected he will sign a national abortion ban.
"I think the American people believe that certain freedoms, in particular, the freedom to make decisions about one's own body should not be made by the government."
Trump responded: "No, I'm not in favour of [an] abortion ban, but it doesn't matter, because this issue has now been taken over by the states."
Asked if he would veto a national abortion ban, Trump said "well, I won't have to".
Trump's position on abortion is confusing, but his latest strategy is to push questions about bans back towards the states.
Today, moderators asked both nominees for their personal positions on both exceptions to abortion bans and at what point in a pregnancy abortion should not be permitted.
"I absolutely support reinstating the protections of Roe v Wade," Harris said.
"Nowhere in America is a woman carrying a pregnancy to term and asking for an abortion. That is not happening."
Trump said: "I believe in the exceptions for rape, incest and life of the mother, I believe strongly in it."
Recently Trump faced backlash after an apparent backflip on abortion policy in his home state of Florida.
Trump initially suggested he would vote in favour of a measure aimed at undoing a six-week abortion ban in Florida, saying he believed "we need more than six weeks".
But anti-abortion campaigners reacted strongly to the comment and the former president's position then changed.
The debate takes an odd turn when Trump raises a dog-eating conspiracy theory
The debate took an unexpected turn when Trump was talking about immigration issues, but brought up an online conspiracy theory involving Haitian immigrants stealing pets to eat them.
"In Springfield, they're eating the dogs, the people that came in, they're eating the cats … they're eating the pets of the people that live there. And this is what's happening in our country, and it's a shame," the former president said.
Harris's microphone was off, but she laughed audibly and shook her head and appeared to mouth, "What?"
Local officials in the Ohio city of Springfield say there is no evidence that household dogs and cats are being turned into food.
Moderator David Muir challenged Trump with a live fact-check during the debate.
"ABC News did reach out to the city manager there. He told us there have been no credible reports of specific claims of pets being harmed, injured or abused by individuals within the immigrant community," he said.
When the moderators asked if Harris would like to respond to Trump's unverified claims, she laughed and said, "Talk about extreme!"
Immigration is another policy area where voters trust Trump more than Harris, according to some polls, as he has vowed to stop the flow of undocumented immigrants across the country's southern border.
Trump fires up on war and foreign policy
By the time moderators brought up thorny questions about foreign policy — including wars in Gaza and Ukraine — Trump was visibly angry and frustrated.
In response to Harris's claim that world leaders laugh at Trump and have called him "a disgrace" for refusing to concede the 2020 election, the Republican insisted he has the respect of heads of state.
"Let me say about world leaders, Viktor Orban, one of the most respected men — they call him a strong man, he's a tough person, smart, prime minister of Hungary — they said why is the whole world blowing up? He said because you need Trump back as president. They were afraid of him," he said.
Orban has turned Hungary into what the European Parliament has denounced as a "hybrid regime of electoral autocracy".
"You adore strong men instead of caring about democracy. And that is very much what is at stake here," Harris said to Trump.
In response to a direct question about whether he wanted Ukraine to win the war against Russia, Trump was animated and agitated when he said it wouldn't have ever happened if he was president.
"I will get it settled before I even become president," he said.
"If I win, when I'm president-elect, what I'll do is I'll speak to one, I'll speak to the other. I'll get them together."
The war in Gaza remains a divisive issue within the Democratic Party, with left-leaning supporters urging the White House to broker a ceasefire between Israel and Hamas.
"Israel has a right to defend itself … and how it does so matters. Because it is also true, far too many innocent Palestinians have been killed, children, mothers," Harris said.
"What we know is that this war must end … And the way it will end is we need a ceasefire deal, and we need the hostages out, and so we will continue to work around the clock on that."
The debate ends frostily — and then Taylor Swift speaks up
At the end of the debate, the candidates made their final pitch to the nation — and did not shake hands.
It's unclear if they'll meet for further debates before they go head to head on election day on November 5.
But just moments after the debate wrapped, one of America's most powerful and influential women endorsed Harris.
"Like many of you, I watched the debate tonight," Taylor Swift wrote on Instagram.
"If you haven't already, now is a great time to do your research on the issues at hand and the stances these candidates take on the topics that matter to you the most.
"I will be casting my vote for Kamala Harris and Tim Walz in the 2024 Presidential Election."
Last time Swift, who rarely speaks publicly on politics, endorsed Democratic candidates in a Senate race in 2018, and denounced their opponent, Republican Marsha Blackburn went on and won the seat anyway.
But, it's worth noting that nearly 65,000 Americans aged 18 to 29 registered to vote in the roughly 24 hours after Swift urged her millions of followers to get involved in the election.
So, does a pop star's endorsement matter?
We'll see on November 5.
