Vice presidential candidates Ohio Sen. JD Vance and Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz have agreed to debate each other, with both men accepting CBS News’ invite to host the event in New York City on Oct. 1.
Earlier this week, CBS proposed four potential dates for the debate, Sept. 17, Sept. 24, Oct. 1, and Oct. 8. In response to the network’s invitation, Walz wrote on X on Wednesday, “See you on October 1, JD.” On Thursday, Vance replied, “The American people deserve as many debates as possible, which is why President Trump has challenged Kamala to three of them already. Not only do I accept the CBS debate on October 1st, I accept the CNN debate on September 18th as well. I look forward to seeing you at both!”
The debate will be moderated by Margaret Brennan, CBS News chief foreign affairs correspondent and moderator of the “Face the Nation” program, and Norah O’Donnell, “CBS Evening News” anchor and managing editor, according to the network.
Despite Vance’s acceptance of a potential second vice presidential debate, it appears only one event is scheduled for now. “Michael Tyler, the communications director for Vice President Kamala Harris’ campaign, said Walz will only participate in the CBS debate on Oct. 1,” CBS reported.
What we know about a presidential debate
“Donald Trump’s campaign accepted our proposal for three debates — two presidential and a vice-presidential debate,” Tyler said, according to reporting from The New York Times. Tyler added, “The debate about debates is over.”
“Voters deserve to see the candidates for the highest office in the land share their competing visions for our future,” Tyler continued, per CBS. “The more they play games, the more insecure and unserious Trump and Vance reveal themselves to be to the American people. Those games end now.”
2024 marks the first election year that presidential and vice presidential debates are not being organized or sponsored by the Commission on Presidential Debates, an organization that has sponsored such events during every election cycle since 1988. According to the CPD’s site, the organization “establishes guidelines for general election presidential and vice presidential debates,” but that “In 2024, Joe Biden (D) and Donald Trump (R) announced they would not participate in CPD-sponsored debates.”
Last week, Harris and Trump both agreed to face off in a Sept. 10 presidential debate — a date that had been previously arranged when Biden was still running for reelection — hosted by ABC News.
On Thursday, the Harris campaign declined to participate in additional September debates with Trump and Vance, per CNN, but Harris is open to a second debate with Trump the following month in October, according to a senior campaign adviser. “Assuming Trump does the first,” the adviser said, Harris is “open to a second debate.”
According to the network, the ABC News debate on Sept. 10 between Harris and Trump will be hosted by ABC News Live Prime anchor Linsey Davis and World News Tonight anchor and managing editor David Muir. Regarding an additional potential October presidential debate, NBC News is reportedly discussing the possibility with both campaigns, according to reporting from The New York Times.
In a news conference last week from his Mar-a-Lago property in Florida, Trump said, “We think we should do three debates,” suggesting two additional events that he said would be hosted by Fox News and NBC, BBC News reported.