First presidential debate to cover coronavirus, Supreme Court

President Trump and Democratic nominee Joe Biden will face questions about the novel coronavirus, the Supreme Court and their respective records in elected office when they meet for the first 2020 presidential debate next week.

Fox News anchor Chris Wallace, the moderator of the first debate, announced the list of topics on Tuesday. The debate will also cover the economy, race and violence in U.S. cities, and the integrity of the election, according to Wallace.

The debate will take place on Sept. 29 at Case Western Reserve University and the Cleveland Clinic’s shared campus, offering voters a chance to judge the candidates side by side. Biden currently leads Trump in national and key swing state polls with less than two months before the November election.

Biden has made criticism of Trump’s response to the coronavirus — which has now killed 200,000 Americans — a central focus of his campaign. Trump, meanwhile, has defended his response to the virus while focusing on violence and destruction that has accompanied some demonstrations against racial injustice that have taken place across the country in recent months.

The candidates will also field questions about the Supreme Court days after Trump is set to announce his nominee to fill the vacancy left by the late Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg, who died Friday.

The subsequent presidential debates will take place on Oct. 15 and Oct. 22. Vice President Pence and Sen. Kamala Harris (D-Calif.) will meet for the vice presidential debate on Oct. 7.