TOLEDO, Ohio — Vice President Kamala Harris and former President Donald Trump met Tuesday night in the first and possibly only debate between the two in the 2024 presidential race.
WTOL 11 spoke with locals at Wildwood Preserve Metropark in west Toledo who watched the debate for their reaction.
Both Jack Hanthorn and Lynne Carroll believe Harris was favored in the debate.
"I think it's an ambush," Hanthorn said. "They let her get away with anything. They didn't question her about anything."
"I think that he (Trump) was very calm, but he wanted to get his point across," Carroll, a registered Republican, said. "The moderators were fact-checking him and not her."
However, Alyssa L, who has no party affiliation, said Trump's references during the debate to unsubstantiated claims of Haitian immigrants in Springfield, Ohio, harming or eating local pets made it "a complete waste of time."
"I thought it was a complete waste of time to be spreading misinformation like hardworking immigrants eating dogs in Springfield, Ohio, especially in our own state. What a waste of airtime. What a waste of the nation's time. You have a huge platform and that's the way you want to spend talking is completely disinteresting," Alyssa said.
Debate watchers gave their opinion on the issues, too.
"So where was she at for three and a half years?" Carroll said of Harris. "She said that she was at the border. She wasn't at the border. She doesn't care about the border. If she wanted to do something, she wouldn't have to sign a bill right now. She would just make it happen. She had three-and-a-half years to do that."
Harris has called for another debate while Trump defended his performance but said he's less inclined to debate her again.