Debates took place among candidates in the

campaign Campaign or The Campaign may refer to: Types of campaigns * Campaign, in agriculture, the period during which sugar beets are harvested and processed *Advertising campaign, a series of advertisement messages that share a single idea and theme * Bl ...

for the Republican Party's nomination for the

president President most commonly refers to: *President (corporate title) * President (education), a leader of a college or university * President (government title) President may also refer to: Automobiles * Nissan President, a 1966–2010 Japanese ...

in the 2020 United States presidential election. 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 ...

(RNC) did not schedule any official RNC-sanctioned primary debates, and incumbent 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 ...

stated that he would not debate any primary challenger. Thus, the debates held among Trump's primary challengers were instead sponsored by private organizations.

Debates

The

(RNC) chose not to schedule any official RNC-sanctioned primary debates. On May 3, 2018, the RNC eliminated its debate committee for the 2020 election cycle, as John Hammond, the co-chairman of the RNC's subcommittee governing the primary process, stated that it would be less relevant "as we continue to support the President and the vice president and the current administration". Trump also stated on September 9, 2019, that he was not willing to debate any primary challenger, saying, "I'm not looking to give them any credibility." ''

Business Insider ''Insider'', previously named ''Business Insider'' (''BI''), is an American financial and business news website founded in 2007. Since 2015, a majority stake in ''Business Insider''s parent company Insider Inc. has been owned by the German pub ...

'' announced on September 10, 2019 that it would host a debate on September 24, inviting Trump and his main primary challengers. Politicon, a nonpartisan political convention, announced on October 22, 2019 that it would host a debate on October 26 among Trump's three main primary challengers. The

Forbes ''Forbes'' () is an American business magazine owned by Integrated Whale Media Investments and the Forbes family. Published eight times a year, it features articles on finance, industry, investing, and marketing topics. ''Forbes'' also r ...

Under 30 Summit hosted a debate on October 28 between Mark Sanford, Bill Weld, and Joe Walsh.

Schedule

Participation

The following is a table of participating candidates in each debate:

''Business Insider'' debate (September 24, 2019)

''Business Insiders 2020 Republican primary debate was held on September 24, 2019, at the headquarters of ''

'' in

New York City New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the most densely populated major city in the Un ...

. It was streamed on ''Business Insider Today'', their daily

Facebook Watch Facebook Watch is a video on demand service operated by American company Meta Platforms (previously named Facebook, Inc.). The company announced the service in August 2017 and was available to all U.S. users that month. Facebook Watch's original ...

show and streamed live on the Business Insider website. It was hosted by ''Business Insider'' CEO

Henry Blodget Henry McKelvey Blodget (born 1966) is an American businessman, investor and journalist. He is notable for his former career as an equity research analyst who was senior Internet analyst for CIBC Oppenheimer and the head of the global Internet ...

and moderated by its politics editor Anthony Fisher, and its opinion columnist Linette Lopez.

Joe Walsh Joseph Fidler Walsh (born November 20, 1947) is an American guitarist, singer, and songwriter. In a career spanning over five decades, he has been a member of three successful rock bands: the James Gang, Eagles, and Ringo Starr & His All-Starr ...

and

Bill Weld William Floyd Weld (born July 31, 1945) is an American attorney, businessman, author, and politician who served as the 68th Governor of Massachusetts from 1991 to 1997. A Harvard and Oxford graduate, Weld began his career as legal counsel to ...

attended the debate, but

Mark Sanford Marshall Clement "Mark" Sanford Jr. (born May 28, 1960) is an American politician and author who served as the U.S. Representative for South Carolina's 1st congressional district from 1995 to 2001 and again from 2013 to 2019, and also as the ...

declined due to scheduling conflicts, and

did not respond to the invitation. The debate was characterized by a focus on Trump, with both attending candidates spending the majority of their time criticizing him. Other topics that were discussed included

climate change In common usage, climate change describes global warming—the ongoing increase in global average temperature—and its effects on Earth's climate system. Climate change in a broader sense also includes previous long-term changes to ...

Iran Iran, officially the Islamic Republic of Iran, and also called Persia, is a country located in Western Asia. It is bordered by Iraq and Turkey to the west, by Azerbaijan and Armenia to the northwest, by the Caspian Sea and Turkmeni ...

, and

automation Automation describes a wide range of technologies that reduce human intervention in processes, namely by predetermining decision criteria, subprocess relationships, and related actions, as well as embodying those predeterminations in machines ...

Politicon debate (October 26, 2019)

Politicon's 2020 Republican primary debate was held on October 26, 2019, at Politicon in Nashville,

Tennessee Tennessee ( , ), officially the State of Tennessee, is a landlocked state in the Southeastern region of the United States. Tennessee is the 36th-largest by area and the 15th-most populous of the 50 states. It is bordered by Kentucky to th ...

. Sanford, Walsh and Weld were all in attendance.

''Forbes'' debate (October 28, 2019)

''Forbess 2020 Republican primary debate was held on October 28, 2019, at the Detroit Masonic Temple in

Detroit Detroit ( , ; , ) is the largest city in the U.S. state of Michigan. It is also the largest U.S. city on the United States–Canada border, and the seat of government of Wayne County. The City of Detroit had a population of 639,111 at t ...

. It was moderated by Randall Lane (journalist), Randall Lane and Daniela Pierre-Bravo.

and

all attended the debate. Among other issues, Trump's potential Federal impeachment in the United States, impeachment and climate change were discussed.

References

{{United States presidential debates 2020 United States presidential debates Republican Party presidential debates, 2020