The 2024 United States presidential debates are a series of scheduled debates between major candidates of the 2024 United States presidential election. Four general election debates sponsored by the

Commission on Presidential Debates The Commission on Presidential Debates (CPD) is a nonprofit corporation established in 1987 under the joint sponsorship of the Democratic and Republican political parties in the United States. The CPD sponsors and produces debates for U.S. pre ...

are scheduled to be held between September 16 and October 9, 2024.

Background

In April 2022, the

Republican National Committee The Republican National Committee (RNC) is a U.S. Political action committee, political committee that assists the Republican Party (United States), Republican Party of the United States. It is responsible for developing and promoting the Republi ...

voted unanimously to withdraw from the Commission on Presidential Debates; committee chair

Ronna McDaniel Ronna McDaniel (' Romney; born March 20, 1973) is an American politician and political strategist serving as chair of the Republican National Committee (RNC) since 2017. A member of the Republican Party (United States), Republican Party and the R ...

called the organization "biased" and stated that they would find "newer, better debate platforms" for future Republican nominees. 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 " tsplans for 2024 will be based on fairness, neutrality and a firm commitment to help the American public learn about the candidates and the issues." Former president

Donald Trump Donald John Trump (born June 14, 1946) is an American politician, media personality, and businessman who served as the 45th president of the United States from 2017 to 2021. Trump graduated from the Wharton School of the University of P ...

, the frontrunner for the Republican nomination, did not attend any primary debates, deeming them unnecessary and detrimental to his campaign. He has previously accused the CPD of unfair treatment in the

2016 File:2016 Events Collage.png, From top left, clockwise: Bombed-out buildings in Ankara following the 2016 Turkish coup d'état attempt; the Impeachment of Dilma Rousseff, impeachment trial of Brazilian President Dilma Rousseff; Damaged houses duri ...

and

2020 2020 was heavily defined by the COVID-19 pandemic, which led to global social and economic disruption, mass cancellations and postponements of events, worldwide lockdowns and the largest economic recession since the Great Depression in t ...

debates, and the likelihood of Trump attending the debates has been brought into question. Despite this, Trump told

Fox News The Fox News Channel, abbreviated FNC, commonly known as Fox News, and stylized in all caps, is an American multinational conservative cable news television channel based in New York City. It is owned by Fox News Media, which itself is owne ...

host Bret Baier in a June 2023 interview that he is interested in debating incumbent president Joe Biden should he become the Democratic nominee. However, Biden has 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. Biden and Trump became the presumptive nominees of their respective parties in March 2024, setting up the first presidential rematch since

1956 Events January * January 1 – The Anglo-Egyptian Condominium ends in Sudan. * January 8 – Operation Auca: Five U.S. evangelical Christian missionaries, Nate Saint, Roger Youderian, Ed McCully, Jim Elliot and Pete Fleming, ar ...

. 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 ABC News is the news division of the American broadcast network ABC. Its flagship program is the daily evening newscast ''ABC World News Tonight, ABC World News Tonight with David Muir''; other programs include Breakfast television, morning ...

, CBS News,

CNN CNN (Cable News Network) is a multinational cable news channel headquartered in Atlanta, Georgia, U.S. Founded in 1980 by American media proprietor Ted Turner and Reese Schonfeld as a 24-hour cable news channel, and presently owned by ...

NBC News NBC News is the news division of the American broadcast television network NBC. The division operates under NBCUniversal Television and Streaming, a division of NBCUniversal, which is, in turn, a subsidiary of Comcast. The news division's var ...

, and

, among others. If either major party nominee chooses not to attend a general election debate, it would be the first instance of which since 1980, when president

Jimmy Carter James Earl Carter Jr. (born October 1, 1924) is an American politician who served as the 39th president of the United States from 1977 to 1981. A member of the Democratic Party, he previously served as the 76th governor of Georgia from 1 ...

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 Within the context of Coordinated Universal Time (UTC) it was the longest year ever, as two leap seconds were added during this 366-day year, an event which has not since been repeated. (If its start and end are defined using mean solar tim ...

without any general election debate. Additionally, if independent candidate

Robert F. Kennedy Jr. Robert Francis Kennedy Jr. (born January 17, 1954) is an American environmental lawyer and author known for promoting anti-vaccine propaganda and conspiracy theories. Kennedy is a son of U.S. senator Robert F. Kennedy and a nephew of President ...

continues with his current polling results, he could be the first third party candidate since Ross Perot in 1992 to qualify for the debates.

Qualification of candidates

In order to qualify for the CPD-sponsored debates, presidential candidates had to meet the following criteria; vice-presidential candidates qualify by being the running mate of a qualifying presidential candidate: * Be constitutionally eligible to hold the presidency. * 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.

Debate schedule

The

announced the schedule for its four debates on November 20, 2023. All debates will start at 9 p.m. ET and will run for 90 minutes uninterrupted. # September 16 at

Texas State University Texas State University is a public research university in San Marcos, Texas. Since its establishment in 1899, the university has grown to the second largest university in the Greater Austin metropolitan area and the fifth largest university ...

in San Marcos, Texas (presidential debate). # September 25 at

Lafayette College Lafayette College is a private liberal arts college in Easton, Pennsylvania. Founded in 1826 by James Madison Porter and other citizens in Easton, the college first held classes in 1832. The founders voted to name the college after General Laf ...

Easton, Pennsylvania Easton is a city in, and the county seat of, Northampton County, Pennsylvania, United States. The city's population was 28,127 as of the 2020 census. Easton is located at the confluence of the Lehigh River, a river that joins the Delaware R ...

(vice presidential debate). # October 1 at

Virginia State University Virginia State University (VSU or Virginia State) is a public historically Black land-grant university in Ettrick, Virginia. Founded on , Virginia State developed as the United States's first fully state-supported four-year institution of hi ...

Petersburg, Virginia Petersburg is an independent city (United States), independent city in the Commonwealth (U.S. state), Commonwealth of Virginia in the United States. As of the 2020 United States Census, 2020 census, the population was 33,458. The Bureau of Econ ...

(presidential debate). # October 9 at the

University of Utah The University of Utah (U of U, UofU, or simply The U) is a public research university in Salt Lake City, Utah. It is the flagship institution of the Utah System of Higher Education. The university was established in 1850 as the University of De ...

Salt Lake City, Utah Salt Lake City (often shortened to Salt Lake and abbreviated as SLC) is the Capital (political), capital and List of cities and towns in Utah, most populous city of Utah, United States. It is the county seat, seat of Salt Lake County, Utah, Sal ...

(presidential debate).

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Presidential debates US 2024 2024 in American television September 2024 events in the United States October 2024 events in the United States

2024 Predicted and scheduled events * January 1 ** In the United States, books, films, and other works published in 1928 will enter the public domain, assuming there are no changes made to copyright law. ***''Steamboat Willie'', Walt Disney's f ...

Texas State University Lafayette College Virginia State University University of Utah