It’s election time again and that means there will be plenty of opportunities for the presidential candidates to express their views and fight for voters. So far, there have been three official debates held: the first presidential debate, the vice presidential debate and the second presidential debate. Here are the highlights and stand out topics.

First Presidential Debate

The first presidential debate was held on September 26 at Hofstra University in Hempstead, New York. The moderator was Lester Holt, the head news anchor of NBC’s Nightly News. Holt began the debate by questioning Republican nominee Donald Trump about his tax returns, a popular topic in recent news. Democratic nominee Hillary Clinton then took the chance to insist a routine audit for Trump and claim that he was “hiding something” to explain his unwillingness to release his tax returns. Trump would then go on to say that his tax strategy was “smart”. Trump’s main point during the debate was his claim that Clinton had made very few improvements during her time as a politician. Clinton went on to accuse Trump of racist actions by bringing up the birther debate revolving around President Obama’s birth certificate as well as 1970s Justice Department Lawsuits that Trump faced over accusations of racial discrimination in housing properties he owned.

Vice Presidential Debate

After the first presidential debate, the vice presidential candidates had the chance to support their running mates and garner support during a debate of their own. The vice presidential debate was held on October 4^th at Longwood University in Farmville, Virginia and was moderated by Elaine Quijano, a correspondent and anchor with CBS News. Democratic vice presidential nominee Tim Kaine took on a strategy of addressing proposals made by Trump as a way of forcing Republican vice presidential nominee Mike Pence to explain or defend his running mate. Some of the topics brought up by Kaine included Trump’s view of Russia, tax returns, and the remarks the Republican presidential nominee has made regarding women and minorities. Pence countered Kaine in mentioning the Clinton email scandal and repeatedly attacking Obama’s policies that he believes will likely be continued if there is to be a Clinton presidency.

Second Presidential Debate

The second presidential debate was held on October 9 at Washington University in St. Louis, Missouri. It was moderated by Anderson Cooper and formatted for each candidate to have a two-minute window to answer questions on social media as well as those posed by a group of undecided voters. As was predicted by many media outlets, the 2005 tape recording of Trump was the main focus of the debate. The tape had become a popular topic in recent news due to Trump’s controversial comments about how he treats women as a celebrity figure. Trump retorted that the audio on the tape was merely “locker-room talk” and stated that “no one has more respect for women than I do.” Trump, in an attempt to turn the tables on the conversation, made the claim that Bill Clinton was “the only person in the history of politics who has been so abusive to women.” He went on to accuse Hillary Clinton of attacking the women who he believes were victimized by former president Bill Clinton. Both candidates then went on to debate many of the same topics as the vice presidential nominees such as the email scandal, Trump’s taxes, and the ongoing crises in Syria.

Third Presidential Debate

            The third presidential debate will be held on October 19 at the University of Nevada in Las Vegas, Nevada. It will be moderated by Chris Wallace, an anchor of Fox News Sunday and will take the same debate form as the first presidential debate.