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Harris made the first move by shaking Trump's hand on stage — in their first face-to-face encounter.
Political observers noted how Harris "baited" the former president, prompting him to look increasingly angry.
But Trump entered the "spin room" less than an hour after the debate, saying, "I think it was the best debate, personally, that I've ever had."
Early voting begins Monday, Sept. 16, in Pennsylvania, the most populous of seven battleground states.
Harris struck a hopeful note with a promise of how she would lead if elected, saying the strength of a leader is not in beating people down but in lifting people up. Her campaign said they'd welcome another debate.
After Harris' closing comments, Trump said: "So she just started by saying she's going to do this, she's going to do that, she's going to do all these wonderful things. Why hasn't she done it? She's been there for three and a half years."
They commented on President Joe Biden, who bowed out of the race after a dismal June debate:
"Remember this, she is Biden. She's trying to get away from Biden," Trump said.
- "Clearly, I am not Joe Biden, and I am certainly not Donald Trump, and what I do offer is a new generation of leadership for our country," Harris replied.
On guns:
- "She has a plan to confiscate everybody's gun," said Trump.
- "(Democratic Vice Presidential nominee) Tim Walz and I are both gun owners. We're not taking anybody's guns away," said Harris. "So stop with the continuous lying about this stuff."
On world leaders:
- Putin is "a dictator who would eat you for lunch," Harris said. "World leaders are laughing at Donald Trump.'
- "(Hungarian Prime Minister) Viktor Orban said the most respected, most feared person is Donald Trump. We had no problems when Trump was president," Trump said.
On the assassination attempt:
- "I probably took a bullet to the head for the things they say about me," Trump said.
On lying:
- "As I said, you're gonna hear a bunch of lies, and that's not actually a surprising fact," said Harris.
- "There she goes again. It's a lie," said Trump after Harris said he would sign a national abortion ban if he wins.
On the economy:
- "People can't go out and buy cereal or bacon or eggs or anything else. The people of our country are absolutely dying with what they've done. They've destroyed the economy," said Trump.
- "I believe in the ambition, the aspirations, the dreams of the American people, and that is why I imagine and have actually a plan to build what I call an opportunity economy," said Harris.
- "My opponent, on the other hand, his plan is to do what he has done before, which is to provide a tax cut for billionaires and big corporations," said Harris.
On the Israel-Gaza conflict:
- "It must end immediately, and the way it will end is we need a ceasefire deal, and we need the hostages out," said Harris.
- "She hates Israel. If she's president, I believe that Israel will not exist within two years from now," said Trump to which Harris responded: "That's absolutely not true. I have my entire career and life supported Israel and the Israeli people."
On Russia's invasion of Ukraine
- "I want the war to stop. I want to save lives," Trump said when asked if he wanted Ukraine to win the war with Russia.
- "If Donald Trump were president, Putin would be sitting in Kyiv right now," Harris said.
On abortion:
- "I pledge to you, when Congress passes a bill to put back in place the protections of Roe v Wade as president of the United States, I will proudly sign it into law," Harris said.
- "Now, I believe in the exceptions for rape, incest and life of the mother. ... Now states are voting on it. ... Each individual state is voting. It's the vote of the people," Trump said.
On immigration:
- "I'll tell you something, he's going to talk about immigration a lot tonight, even when it's not the subject," Harris said.
- "Our country is being lost, we're a failing nation," Trump said, referring to people crossing into the country illegally. "We need walls. We have to have borders,"
The Jan. 6, 2021, Capitol riots:
- "I had nothing to do with that, other than they asked me to make a speech," said Trump, when asked by ABC's David Muir if he regretted anything that day. They marched "peacefully and patriotically and nobody on the other side was killed," Trump said.
- "I was at the Capitol. I was the vice president-elect. I was also a Senator and on that day, the President of the United States incited a violent mob to attack our nation's Capitol, to desecrate our nation's Capitol," said Harris, adding "140 law enforcement officers were injured and some died."
On Trump's legal problems
Harris responded to Trump’s claims about high national crime rates by reminding the former president that he is a convicted criminal with several other pending criminal cases:
- "I think this is so rich coming from someone who has been prosecuted for national security crimes, economic crimes, election interference (and) has been found liable for sexual assault," Harris said. "And his next big court appearance is in November at his own criminal sentencing."
- Trump blamed Harris and President Biden for his legal jams, referring to the cases against him as "weaponization" of the criminal justice system
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