The 2024 United States presidential debates are a series of scheduled debates between major candidates of the
2024 United States presidential election. Two general election debates sponsored by
CNN and
ABC are scheduled to be held on June 27 and September 10, 2024, respectively. Both major parties' presumptive nominees,
Donald Trump and
Joe Biden, have confirmed their attendance.
Four general election debates sponsored by the
Commission on Presidential Debates (CPD) were originally scheduled to be held between September 16 and October 9, 2024. Both Biden and Trump criticized the CPD's debate format and schedule.[1][2] In May 2024, both campaigns agreed to bypass the CPD and hold the alternative debates, effectively cancelling the CPD debates.[3]
Background
Commission on Presidential Debates
In April 2022, the
Republican National Committee voted unanimously to withdraw from the
Commission on Presidential Debates (CPD); committee chair
Ronna McDaniel called the organization "biased" and stated that they would find "newer, better debate platforms" for future Republican nominees.[4] This announcement came after years of tension between the organizations, including a threat made earlier in the year by the RNC to change its rules to prohibit nominees from participating in CPD debates. In response, the commission stated that "[its] plans for 2024 will be based on fairness, neutrality and a firm commitment to help the American public learn about the candidates and the issues."[5]
Former president
Donald Trump, the frontrunner for the
Republican nomination, did not attend any
primary debates, deeming them unnecessary and detrimental to his campaign.[6] He has previously accused the CPD of unfair treatment in the
2016 and
2020 debates, and the likelihood of Trump attending the debates has been brought into question. Despite this, Trump told
Fox News host
Bret Baier in a June 2023 interview that he is interested in debating incumbent president
Joe Biden should he become the Democratic nominee. At that time, Biden had not committed to attending the debate either, as his campaign was also in conflict with the commission for failing to enforce its rules against Trump,[7] though in April 2024 he confirmed he plans to debate Trump.[8]
Biden and Trump became the presumptive nominees of their respective parties in March 2024,[9][10] setting up the first presidential rematch since
1956.[11] On April 14, 2024, a number of major news organizations signed an open letter to the nominees urging them to attend the debates, arguing for its "rich tradition in our American democracy" and that the "exceptionally high" stakes require debates to be held. Signatories include
ABC News,
CBS News,
CNN,
NBC News, and
Fox News, among others.[12]
If either major party nominee chooses not to attend a general election debate, it would be the first since
2020, when president Trump refused to attend the second debate with Biden because it would have been virtual rather than in person following
Trump's COVID-19 diagnosis.[13] It previously occurred in
1980, when president
Jimmy Carter refused to attend the first debate with
Ronald Reagan due to the presence of independent candidate
John B. Anderson. Should both refuse it would be the first presidential election since
1972 without any general election debate.[14] Additionally, if independent candidate
Robert F. Kennedy Jr. improves his current polling results, he will be the first third party candidate since
Ross Perot in
1992 to qualify for the debates.[15]
Chris LaCivita and
Susie Wiles, campaign managers for Trump, had pushed for more debates to be held by the CPD, in addition to holding them earlier than the planned September date, though the commission refused to accede.[16] Throughout his 2024 campaign, Trump confirmed his intention to cooperate with the CPD repeatedly and challenged Biden to debate "Anywhere, anytime, anyplace."[17]
The CPD announced the schedule for its four debates on November 20, 2023. All debates would have started at 9 p.m. ET and would have run for 90 minutes uninterrupted.[18] In order to qualify for the CPD-sponsored debates, presidential candidates would have needed to meet the following criteria: (vice presidential candidates would have qualified by being the running mate of a qualifying presidential candidate) [18]
Appear on a sufficient number of ballots to have a mathematical possibility of winning a majority vote in the
Electoral College.
Have a level of support of at least 15% of the national electorate as determined by five national public opinion polling organizations selected by the commission, using the average of those organizations' most recently reported results at the time of determination.
Biden–Trump alternative debates
On May 15, 2024, the Biden campaign announced that it would not participate in the CPD-hosted debates and instead invited Trump to participate in two alternative debates to take place in June and September, each hosted in a TV news studio without an audience.[19][20]Jen O'Malley Dillon, the Biden campaign manager, laid out three reasons for sidelining the CPD, indicating that the debates weren't completed until early voting started, that the debates had become "a spectacle" and that the CPD could not "enforce its own rules".[21]Frank Fahrenkopf, the head of the CPD, pushed back against the claims in an interview with Politico, indicating that the September 16 debate date was optimal, in addition to noting that the general election debates are "not like the primary debates" and that Trump himself had not followed the debate rules during the 2020 general election debate moderated by
Chris Wallace.[22] Biden and Trump accepted an offer from CNN to hold the first of these debates on June 27 and from ABC to hold the second on September 10.[3]
Trump indicated the same day that he had accepted a
Fox News debate to be hosted on October 2, 2024, though the Biden campaign dismissed the prospect of a third debate.[23] Kennedy accused the two candidates of "colluding" to exclude him from televised debates "because they are afraid I would win"; both CNN and ABC had decided on eligibility criteria that were similar to those that had been used by the CPD, with Kennedy not appearing on a sufficient number of state ballots at that time.[24] The Biden campaign had unsuccessfully proposed that third party candidates be excluded from the debates.[3] A May poll taken by the
Harvard Center for American Political Studies/
Harris indicated that 71% of the people surveyed were in favor of allowing a third party candidate to debate.[25] Kennedy's campaign filed a complaint with the
Federal Election Commission, maintaining that neither Biden nor Trump meet the ballot access threshold as they have not been nominated by their parties.[26]
Trump announced on May 17 that he would be willing to hold another debate with Biden that would be hosted by
NBC News and
Telemundo.[27]
Other proposed debates
On May 7, 2024, Robert F. Kennedy Jr. issued an open letter challenging former President Trump to debate him at the
Libertarian National Convention, where both were already scheduled to speak from May 24–25, citing Trump's frequent and vocal claims that he would be willing to debate anywhere and Kennedy's own competitive polling with both major candidates. Trump did not respond to this challenge.[28]
A vice presidential debate in July was initially proposed, which would take place after the
selection of a vice presidential candidate at the
2024 Republican National Convention.[29] The Biden campaign agreed to a vice presidential debate hosted by
CBS News to take place on either July 23 or August 13.[30] The Trump campaign confirmed with Politico that it is aware of the offer, but had not yet made a decision.[31] Trump stated on May 17 he agreed to a future vice presidential debate on behalf of his future vice presidential pick.
Bret Baier of Fox News stated in an interview with
Martha MacCallum held on May 17 that Fox would be willing to host a vice presidential debate on July 23, August 13, or "following both party conventions".[27]
Appear on a sufficient number of ballots to have a mathematical possibility of winning a majority vote in the
Electoral College.
Agree to the rules of the debate
Have a level of support of at least 15% of the national electorate as determined by four national public opinion polling organizations selected by CNN, with such polls dating between March 13 and June 20, 2024.
Candidates were invited based on public votes via a point system style voting through the organization's "block-chain voting app" with an audit process after the fact.
Socialism and Liberation nominee
Claudia De la Cruz, independent candidates West and Kennedy, Libertarian candidates
Chase Oliver and Mapstead, and Green candidates Stein and Jasmine Sherman were invited, although Kennedy and West declined to attend.[67][68]
The two hour debate was broadcast on
YouTube,
Rumble, and
C-SPAN among various other platforms. At one point, co-moderator
Jason Palmer remarked on the five candidates’ relative agreement on social issues, although the debate became more combative towards the end.[69] Sherman won the organization’s post-debate ranked choice voting poll.[70]
To be invited to the debate, candidates needed to be constitutionally eligible to serve as president and either have secured ballot access in a sufficient number of states to have a mathematical chance of securing the Electoral College majority in the upcoming election or have received more than 2% in a national poll approved by the organization. In cases where parties had not nominated a candidate, the presumptive nominee was used.[71]
Candidates invited to the debate were: Biden, Kennedy, Oliver, Stein, Terry, Trump and West.[71]
Notably, Terry did not appear to meet the criteria as he had not been included in national polls and had ballot access in fewer than 270 electoral votes.[72] However, Richard Winger of Ballot Access News recommended to the organization to include Terry anyways, under the expectation he would qualify for 270 electoral votes by Election Day.[73]
As of June 6, Oliver, Stein, and Terry had confirmed their intent to participate.[71]
^ Kennedy Jr.'s campaign has also finished petition in Nevada (6 EVs), but the state secretary of state suggested the petition would likely be rejected due to not filing with a vice presidential nominee.[54]
^ Kennedy Jr.'s campaign has also finished petition in Nevada (6 EVs), but the state secretary of state suggested the petition would likely be rejected due to not filing with a vice presidential nominee.[84]