The presidential election is now in the home stretch and voters everywhere are getting ready to cast their ballots. For many, this decision doesn’t come easy, and it’s hard to remember what each candidate did and said during the debates over a month ago.
With that, here are some important takeaways from each presidential and vice presidential debate.
First Presidential Debate: Sept. 26 — Hofstra University
Moderator: Lester Holt, NBC News
- Donald Trump was questioned on a statement he made about Hillary Clinton not having a presidential “look” and said he was talking about her stamina. Clinton responded by talking about her tenure as Secretary of State and told Trump that he “can talk to me about stamina” when he had accomplished as much.
- Clinton brought up Trump's repeated claims that he did not support the Iraq War, which he responded to by saying “wrong.”
- Trump defended his plan to cut taxes on wealthy Americans and Clinton called his plan “trumped-up, trickle-down economics.”
- Clinton hit Trump on his refusal to release his tax returns, to which he responded by saying he was under “a routine audit” that prevents him from releasing them. Trump then hit back at Clinton, bringing up her use of a private email server when she was Secretary of State. Clinton responded, “I’m not going to make any excuses. It was a mistake.”
Vice-Presidential Debate: Oct. 4 — Longwood University
Moderator: Elaine Quijano, CBS News
- Both Tim Kaine and Mike Pence spent most of their time attacking each other's running mate in an election where both vice presidential candidates have been overshadowed by the top of the ticket.
- Pence criticized Clinton for her use of a private email server during her tenure as Secretary of State, and Kaine responded by saying that she was cleared by “a Republican FBI director.”
- A question was brought up about gun violence. Kaine talked about the 2007 Virginia Tech shooting during his time as governor. Pence then accused Democrats “bad-mouthing” law enforcement after recent shootings of unarmed black Americans.
- Kaine brought up Trump's praise of Russian President Vladimir Putin, saying the Trump campaign has “shadowy connections with Pro-Putin forces.” Pence criticized the Obama administration's “weak and reckless foreign policy,” and said it was the reason behind Russian aggression.
- A question was then asked about the candidate’s faith. Kaine is Catholic and Pence has described himself as an evangelical Catholic. Kaine spoke about his faith and how it was hard for him to allow the death penalty in his state. Both candidates said they admired each others' deep religious faith.
Second Presidential Debate: Oct. 9 — Washington University
Moderators: Martha Raddatz, ABC News and Anderson Cooper, CNN
- Trump and Clinton did not shake hands at the beginning of the night but did shake hands at the end.
- This was soon after the 2005 "Access Hollywood" tape was released. Trump said he was “very embarrassed” by his comments and continued to call it “locker room talk.” Clinton said the tape shows “exactly who he is.”
- Trump brought three Bill Clinton accusers – Paula Jones, Juanita Broaddrick and Kathleen Willey – to the debate after he held a press conference with them shortly before the debate. He also brought Kathy Shelton, who was raped at the age of 12 and whose rapist was represented by Clinton.
- Clinton demanded an apology from Trump over his involvement in the birther movement which included Trump's accusations that President Barack Obama was born in Kenya and not in Hawaii. Trump then accused Clinton’s 2008 presidential campaign of starting the birther movement, which Clinton denied.
- Trump shocked the audience when he said that as president, he would hire a special prosecutor to look into Clinton’s emails.
Third Presidential Debate: Oct. 19 — University of Nevada
Moderator: Chris Wallace, Fox News
- The candidates did not shake hands at the beginning or at the end of the debate.
- Trump was asked if he would accept the results of the election and he responded by saying, “I will look at it at the time."
- Wallace brought up a study about the candidate’s economic plans that said both of their plans would increase the national debt. Both candidates denied those claims.
- When asked about the Supreme Court, Clinton said she wanted the court to “represent all of us,” and cited the importance of marriage equality and abortion rights. Trump said that Clinton would attempt to lessen the court's adherence to the Second Amendment.
- Trump talked about his immigration policy and said that the heroin epidemic is due to a lack of border security – “we have some bad hombres,” he said. Clinton called Trump a hypocrite and talked about his use of illegal immigrants to build his properties.
- Wallace then brought up a paid speech released by WikiLeaks in which Clinton said she dreamed of “open trade and open borders." Clinton responded by saying she was talking about energy.
- Clinton pivoted from the WikiLeaks dumps and said Putin had a “clear favorite” in the race. Clinton then said that Putin would rather have “a puppet as President of the United States” and Trump responded by saying “you’re the puppet.”
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