TYLER, Texas — For many, the first presidential debate is the true start of election season, and the wait will finally be over Thursday night when President Biden and former President Trump face off in Atlanta. It’ll be a unique setup too – no other opponents, no audience, just the two candidates and the moderator.
"So, there’s nothing for any candidate to feed off of. It’s basically, simply going to be the moderator, and they have to answer to the moderator," Democratic Chairman of Smith County, Hector Garza said.
There’s optimism from both sides that the lack of audience will help the candidates focus on the issues presented, but there’s also some hesitation with the amount of control this new setup could give the moderator.
"I don’t want it to be a contest between the moderator and two opponents, I want the contest to be between the two opponents," Republican Chairman of Smith County, David Stein said.
One issue that East Texans want to hear addressed is border security. Stein expressed frustration with the way the Biden administration has handled that during his term.
"The fact that he has left this border wide open. Our governor is having to take action on our border because the federal government won’t do its job," Stein said.
Garza agrees that border security is an issue, but he says it has been for many years, and both candidates are using their stances to try and attract more voters. Garza just wants to see change there.
"They’re trying to feed off that and say, “in America we have a problem, and I’m the man to fix this”, but the problem’s been there. And until somebody actually does something about it, they can talk about it all day long," Garza said.
Thursday night, Americans across the country will be tuning in to see how their candidate pitches his vision for the future of America.
"But its that R and that D word that separate us, cause at the end of the day we’re all looking for a better America, we’re all looking for a better society, for a better government for all of us. And I believe that the R and the D word really do separate us," Garza said.
"We need a strong infrastructure. We need a strong transportation system. We need strong law enforcement. We need our borders protected. We need a successful economy in this country that is going," Stein said.