UPDATED: It’s been a wild few weeks in the Race for the White House.
Democratic White House nominee-in-waiting Kamala Harris said in late July that she will debate former President Donald Trump on September 10, and the former POTUS has agreed. They will face off at the National Constitution Center in Philadelphia, with ABC News’ David Muir and Linsey Davis as moderators. The network has not yet said whether there will be an audience for the event.
On August 8, Trump said from Mar-a-Lago: “We’d like to do three debates. I think it’s very important to have debates, and we’ve agreed with Fox on a date of September 4. We’ve agreed with NBC, fairly full agreement subject to them on September 10, and we’ve agreed with ABC on September 25, so we have those three dates and those networks.”
Then on August 15, Harris “debate about debates is over,” while signaling that there will be another presidential showdown in October. No date has been set, though.
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The schedule of general election debates as it stands now is outlined below.
Also on August 15, the two vice presidential candidates — Ohio GOP Sen. JD Vance and Democratic Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz — agreed to hold a debate October 1 hosted by CBS News. Vance also said that he would do another VP debate, this one hosted by CNN on September 18, but Harris the next rejected the idea of a second VP faceoff.
On July 21, President Joe Biden declared that he would not run for re-election, and he endorsed his Vice President Harris to take his spot atop the Democratic ticket in the 2024 election.
Two debates between President Joe Biden and Donald Trump had been solidified before Biden dropped out of the race. The first took place June 27 on CNN, and the second was set to be hosted by ABC on Tuesday, September 10.
Since Biden’s step back from re-election, Trump has called for Fox News to host the September 10 debate instead of ABC News, which he called “very biased.” On July 24, Fox News proposed a debate for September 17 in Pennsylvania. “We are open to a discussion on the exact date, format and location — with or without an audience,” two of its execs wrote in the letters to both campaigns, citing the network’s Bret Baier and Martha MacCallum as potential moderators.
But the Biden campaign’s debate criteria had stipulated that the host network should have sponsored debates in the 2016 and 2020 presidential cycles, which would mean Fox News and MSNBC are out of the running.
CNN boss Mark Thompson announced the June 27 debate — the earliest debate ever in a presidential campaign — at the Warner Bros Discovery Upfront in May. The faceoff took place in Atlanta without a studio audience, airing live on the cable news network in addition to CNN International, CNN en Español, CNN Max and CNN.com.
Jon Stewart hosted an episode of The Daily Show on Comedy Central after the debate.
Media-wise, the 2024 presidential election crosses the official starting line with debate season, and this cycle the contenders on the Republican side, including a felony-convicted former POTUS and a replacement candidate who will be solidified at the Democratic National Convention in August.
Biden and former President Donald Trump cruised to victory in their respective primary campaigns, each clinching March 12. Biden was all but unchallenged, and Trump dominated a field that whittled to zero after former U.N. ambassador Nikki Haley ended her campaign following Super Tuesday.
Trump opted out of all the GOP debates but despite his sundry legal woes remained out of reach in all polling and in all primaries (the exception: Haley won Vermont on Super Tuesday), picking off a field that at at its peak included Haley, Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis, former Vice President Mike Pence, former New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie, former pharmaceutical executive Vivek Ramaswamy, South Carolina Sen. Tim Scott, former Arkansas Gov. Asa Hutchinson and North Dakota Gov. Doug Burgum.
Only Haley and DeSantis made it to what ended up being the last GOP primary debate, which was held January 10 ahead of the Iowa caucuses.
Biden, meanwhile, briefly was challenged when Robert F. Kennedy Jr and Minnesota Rep. Dean Phillips threw their hats in the ring, as did Marianne Williamson, Cenk Uygur and Jason Palmer. Kennedy shifted out in October to run as an independent; Phillips ended his campaign in early March.
Below is the official schedule of dates, times, locations set aside for the general election debates. The nonpartisan Commission on Presidential Debates sets the schedule, which includes three presidential debates and one vice presidential debate, all starting at 9 ET and to last 90 commercial-free minutes.
See the remaining debate schedule below, and check back for updates.
Tuesday, September 10, 2024
City: TBA
Networks: ABC
Time: TBA
Moderators: David Muir and Linsey Davis
Monday, September 16, 2024
City (Venue): San Marcos, TX (Texas State University)
Networks: TBA
Time: 9 p.m. ET
Moderators: TBA
Tuesday, October 1, 2024
City (Venue): Petersburg, VA (Virginia State University)
Networks: TBA
Time: 9 p.m. ET
Moderators: TBA
Wednesday, October 9, 2024
City (Venue): Salt Lake City (University of Utah)
Networks: TBA
Time: 9 p.m. ET
Moderators: TBA
Vice Presidential
Wednesday, September 25, 2024
City (Venue): Easton, PA (Lafayette College)
Networks: TBA
Time: 9 p.m. ET
Moderators: TBA
Republican Primary Debates
Sunday, January 21
City (Venue): Henniker, NH (New England College)
Network: CNN
Note: This debate was canceled because neither Nikki Haley or Donald Trump would commit to appear.
Thursday, January 18
City (Venue): Manchester, NH (Saint Anselm College)
Network: ABC, WMUR-TV
Note: This debate was canceled because neither Nikki Haley or Donald Trump would commit to appear.
Wednesday, January 10
City (Venue): Des Moines, IA (Drake University)
Network: CNN
Time: 9 p.m. ET
Moderators: Jake Tapper, Dana Bash
Participants: Former UN ambassador Nikki Haley, Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis
Wednesday, December 6
City (Venue): Tuscaloosa, AL (University of Alabama)
Networks: NewsNation, The CW (Eastern and Central time zones), Rumble, SiriusXM
Time: 8 p.m. ET
Moderators: Megyn Kelly, Elizabeth Vargas, Eliana Johnson
Participants: Former Gov. Chris Christie, Vivek Ramaswamy, former UN Ambassador Nikki Haley, Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis
Wednesday, November 8
City (Venue): Miami (Adrienne Arsht Center for the Performing Arts of Miami-Dade County)
Networks: NBC News, Rumble, Universo, Peacock
Time: 8 p.m. ET
Moderators: NBC Nightly News anchor Lester Holt, Meet the Press moderator Kristen Welker, Salem Radio Network’s Hugh Hewitt
Participants: Former New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie, Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis, former UN ambassador Nikki Haley, Vivek Ramaswamy, Sen. Tim Scott (R-DC)
Wednesday, September 27
City (Venue): Simi Valley, CA (Ronald Reagan Presidential Library & Museum)
Networks: Fox Business, Univision (simulcast on Fox News/Fox Nation)
Time: 9 p.m. ET
Moderators: Fox News Media’s Stuart Varney and Dana Perino, Univision’s Ilia Calderón
Participants: North Dakota Gov. Doug Burgum, former New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie, Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis, former UN Ambassador Nikki Haley, former Vice President Mike Pence, Vivek Ramaswamy and Sen. Tim Scott (R-SC).
Wednesday, August 23
City (Venue): Milwaukee, WI (Fiserv Arena)
Networks: Fox News, Rumble
Time: 9 p.m. ET
Moderators: Bret Baier, Martha MacCallum
Participants: Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis, former Vice President Mike Pence, former New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie, former UN ambassador Nikki Haley, former pharmaceutical executive Vivek Ramaswamy, South Carolina Sen. Tim Scott, former Arkansas Gov. Asa Hutchinson, North Dakota Gov. Doug Burgum
Democratic Primary Debates
None scheduled.