Minutes after the first presidential debate between Kamala Harris and Donald Trump in Philadelphia concluded, campaign surrogates flooded into the spin room at the Pennsylvania Convention Center, where 1,000 journalists convened.
The spin room was filled with surrogates, other lawmakers, public figures campaigning for Trump and Harris, well-known political advisors, and special interest group representatives.
Surrogates like Lara Trump, JD Vance, Robert F. Kennedy Jr., and Vivek Ramaswamy weighed in on Trump’s performance during the debate, where early polls indicated the majority of viewers thought Harris had won.
Much of the discourse surrounded the debate’s more sensational moments, like moderators David Muir and Linsey Davis fact-checking Trump on his debunked claims that Haitian immigrants in Springfield, Ohio, had abducted and eaten neighbors’ pets and that former Va. Gov. Ralph Northam and Harris’ running mate, Tim Walz, supported abortions after nine months and execution after birth.
In a spin room interview, Vance defended Trump’s claims about immigrants in his home state. He told the media, “I have heard from many of my own constituents that have seen these things with their own eyes.”
Trump defended his claims on the debate stage, rebutting Muir’s fact-checking by saying Springfield’s city manager may have been lying when he said that there was no evidence to support the Trump campaign’s claims.
“The officials in Ohio might have a different incentive structure than the people in Ohio concerned about their pets,” said Fla. Representative Matt Gaetz. “We did hear a 9-1-1 call where someone was talking about this grave concern, so that was direct evidence.”
Ramaswamy took to the spin room floor to support Trump’s abortion claims, specifically his comments implying that the West Virginia Gov. supported a policy that would “execute the baby” after it was born.
“I thought it was a little bit inappropriate where…they [fact-checked] him on something he didn’t say. He didn’t say that that’s a law in any of the states, but they pretended like it’s a fact-check saying that’s not the law in any states,” Ramaswamy said. “What he did say is that is a position that many Democrats have supported.”
Many members of the Republican Party praised Trump’s performance while criticizing the network and the moderators for only fact-checking Trump.
“I was not expecting ABC News to play it fair,” Gaetz told the Beacon. “I was expecting a 3-on-1 debate. That’s what we got.”
The debate also discussed race, as Trump was asked about comments he made regarding Harris’ race at the National Association of Black Journalists convention earlier this summer where he said Harris “happened to turn Black.”
Rep. Byron Donalds (R-Fla.) got into a heated exchange with CNN’s Boris Sanchez in pre-debate coverage while defending Trump’s comments where he accused Sanchez of “gaslighting,” and said that it was an issue “that nobody really cares about.”
In a post-debate interview in the spin room, Donalds told The Beacon that the continued discourse over Trump’s comments is “a distraction.”
“Kamala Harris needs these distractions. She doesn’t have policy that’s going to fix our country,” Donalds said.
On the Democrat side, Pa. Gov. Josh Shapiro fielded questions about Harris’ changed position on banning fracking, a key producer of jobs in the state. Harris reiterated in the debate that she would not ban fracking, despite expressing that she would back in 2019.
“I thought Kamala Harris did a very good job of laying out a vision for being an all of the above energy President … who understands just how critically important energy jobs are here in the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania,” Shapiro said. “I appreciated the stance she took.”
Overall, the Democratic surrogates had a lot more to praise about their candidates’ performance and played less defense.
“I thought the vice president did a very good job reaching out to those who are undecided, making clear to them that they belong,” Shapiro said.
Mini Timmaraju, the president of Reproductive Freedom for All, called Harris’ performance around the issue of abortion “masterful.”
Harris, who has campaigned heavily on ensuring abortion access, shared anecdotal stories about women affected by abortion bans in Tuesday’s debate. She also blamed Trump for his involvement in selecting the judges that overturned Roe v. Wade. Trump took credit for the decision saying, “I did a great service in doing it … I give tremendous credit to those six justices.”
“What I deeply appreciated tonight was her bringing those stories to the national stage. There’s no more powerful way to persuade Americans about the crisis we’re in and what she can do to get us out of the crisis,” Timmaraju said in an interview with the Beacon.
Trump doubled down on his past statements that states should decide on abortion.
“[That] is essentially saying it’s okay for all these heinous bans to continue to exist,” said Timmaraju, who also said that Trump’s failure to explicitly commit to vetoing a national abortion ban during the debate meant “essentially endorsing [one].”
“She was able to nail him and really get him on the record in a way that frankly, we haven’t been able to for a while,” Timmaraju said.
By midnight, the spin room began to clear out as reporters filed their stories and surrogates finished with their scheduled appearances at the broadcast platforms around the perimeter of the room.
While the long-term effects of the debate remain uncertain, representatives for both candidates still projected confidence about the race moving forward.
