Harris has thrived in debates – will her tactics work on Trump?

His first 2020 presidential debate against Mr Biden devolved into an unintelligible melee when Trump kept interrupting. At one point, Mr Biden grew so irritated he snapped: “Will you shut up, man?”

“Donald Trump is a unique and special case in that you never really know what’s coming,” said Ms Smith, who has prepared Democratic candidates for debates. “During debate prep, I would not allow her to get comfortable, in order for her to develop some sort of instinct, or callousness, to anything that could come up.”

Ms Harris, a former prosecutor, is skilled at back-and-forth exchanges on the debate stage. It is something she has also demonstrated during heated Senate hearings when she has grilled Trump officials and Supreme Court nominees.

But the format of the upcoming ABC debate may limit her ability to flex her prosecutorial skills, as the microphones will reportedly be muted when it is the other person’s turn to speak.

This likely means, based on the Biden-Trump debate in June which had the same rules, that she will be fielding tricky questions from moderators as opposed to clashing with Trump.

And when Ms Harris is on the end of prosecutorial questions, as opposed to giving them, she has floundered in the past, such as in a notorious 2021 interview with NBC News’ Lester Holt in which she struggled when pressed on the issue of illegal immigration.

One pitfall that Ms Rupert could envision for the Harris camp is their candidate being drawn into a lengthy debate over facts with Trump. That could muddle the debate for voters, and leave viewers with an impression that he has dominated the conversation.

She suggested a third tactic for Ms Harris to add to her arsenal – not to prosecute, or remain silent, but to ignore.

“She has an important opportunity here to get her point across,” Ms Rupert said, “And not be overly burdened by what he is doing next to her.”