Politics
By Caitlin Yilek
/ CBS News
Trump post casts doubt on ABC debate
Before President Biden decided todrop out of the racefor reelection, he and former President Donald Trump had agreed to one more showdown on the debate stage before the2024 presidential election.
After Mr. Biden ended his campaign, it was initially unclear whether a debate between Trump and the new Democratic nominee, Vice President Kamala Harris, would take place, but ABC News confirmed both campaigns saidthey would participatein the debate, which is scheduled forSept. 10, just a few weeks after Harris formally accepted the nomination.
When is the second presidential debate?
ABC News is hosting the second presidential debate on Tuesday, Sept. 10, at 9 p.m. Eastern Time. It will be the first time Harris and Trump debate each other.
The debate will be held at the National Constitution Centerin Philadelphia.
The first presidential debate, on June 27, in which Trump faced President Biden in Atlanta, came unusually earlyin the election season given that neither candidate had formally received their party's nomination yet. Trump accepted the GOP nomination on July 18 in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. Harris accepted the Democratic nomination during the party's convention in Chicago on Aug. 22.
Plans for the ABC debate had been in question after Trump said on Aug. 3 that he was "terminating" it and would do a debate hosted by Fox News on Sept. 4 instead. Harris responded that she would be at the ABC News debate on Sept. 10 and hoped "to see him there."
Then, at a news conference at his Mar-a-Lago estate on Thursday, Aug. 8, Trump recommitted to the ABC News debate.
He also proposed two others, with Fox News on Sept. 4 and NBC News on Sept. 25. Harris has not yet agreed to the two additional debates. A Harris campaign spokesperson said Harris is "open to and eager to discuss more debates, but Trump has to show up to the September 10th debate first."
Trump seemed to indicate on Aug. 26 that he would not participate in the debate, saying that his campaign agreed to the same rules regarding microphones in place for thefirst presidential debate, including muting the mics. Harris' team confirmed it did not want to mute the mics while the other candidate was talking, saying "our understanding is that Trump's handlers prefer the muted microphone because they don't think their candidate can act presidential for 90 minutes on his own."
But Trump later said "we agreed to the same rules. I don't know, doesn't matter to me."
Who will moderate the next debate?
"World News Tonight" anchor David Muir and ABC News Live "Prime" anchor Linsey Davis will moderate the debate, ABC News said.
Which candidates qualify for the debate?
The qualifications are similar to the first debate, making it unlikely that anynon-major party candidates will meet the ballot access and polling requirements to earn a spot on stage. Robert F. Kennedy Jr., who was running as an independent, suspended his campaign on Aug. 23 and threw his support behind Trump.
Candidates need to earn at least 15% support in four approved national polls and be on the ballot in enoughstates to be able to win 270 votesin the Electoral College — the threshold to win the presidency — in order to qualify.
How many more debates will there be for 2024?
There are no other presidential debates scheduled before the election at this point. The campaigns previouslyagreed to only two debates — the one hosted by CNN on June 27 and the other by ABC News on Sept. 10. Trump has proposed two more, but the Harris campaign has not agreed.
CBS News has also invited the campaigns to participate in a vice presidential debate on Oct. 1, and both the Democrat, Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz, and the Republican, Ohio Sen. JD Vance, have accepted.
The candidates havebypassed the tradition of three debates organized by the nonpartisan Commission on Presidential Debates, which had overseen presidential debates since 1988. The commission's three debates were scheduled to take place in September and October at universities in Texas, Virginia and Utah. Instead, this year's debates were agreed upon without any involvement by the commission.
The commission was met with sharp criticism by both Trump — who has accused the commission of being biased against Republicans — and by close advisers to Mr. Biden, who view commission procedures as outmoded and fussy. The co-chair of the commission, Frank Fahrenkopf, told CBS News' podcast "The Takeout" that top White House communications adviser Anita Dunn "doesn't like us," and he said on a Politico podcast that this was the reason Mr. Biden's team went around the commission to negotiate directly with Trump's campaign.
- In:
- Presidential Debate
- Debate
- Joe Biden
- Kamala Harris
- Donald Trump
- ABC News
- 2024 Elections
Caitlin Yilek
Caitlin Yilek is a politics reporter at CBSNews.com, based in Washington, D.C. She previously worked for the Washington Examiner and The Hill, and was a member of the 2022 Paul Miller Washington Reporting Fellowship with the National Press Foundation.
