With two months to go and the race neck and neck, a lot was riding on this for both of them.

After a short handshake, Donald Trump and Kamala Harris were off and began with the economy.

“Donald Trump’s plan would make the economy worse. Mine would strengthen the economy,” Harris hit out with.

But Trump claimed, “Many of those professors, the top professors, think my plan is a brilliant plan, it’s a great plan”.

With abortion rights a crucial issue this election, both painted a scary portrait of the others’ position.

“The baby will be born, and we will decide what to do with the baby. In other words: we’ll execute the baby,” Trump claimed, saying Harris would allow “after-birth abortions”.

“Pregnant women who want to carry a pregnancy to term, suffering from a miscarriage, being denied care… and she’s bleeding out in a car in the parking lot,” Harris said about Trump’s position on abortion.

Trump also parroted the recent claim that immigrants are eating household animals.

They’re eating the dogs. The people that came in, they’re eating the cats,” he said before being fact-checked.

The debate was touted by the Democrats as ‘the Prosecutor vs the Felon’, and Harris focused on getting under Trump’s skin.

With most of the debate in split screen, it was also 100 minutes of sassy reaction shots, from Kamala’s poised chin-holds to Donald’s frustrated head shakes.

The candidates ended the debate with their duelling visions for the future.

“The American people know we all have so much more in common than what separates us, and we can chart a new way forward,” Harris said.

“We’re going to end up in a Third World War, and it will be a war like no other because of nuclear weapons, the power of weaponry,” Trump ended his debate with.