The Commission on Presidential Debates (CPD) has officially announced the date and location of each general election presidential debate in 2024. The list also includes the vice presidential debate as well.
It’s noteworthy this year that due to requests from the Republican National Committee following the 2020 cycle, the first debate will take place before early voting starts in most states.
2024 Presidential Debate Schedule
First presidential debate:
Monday, September 16, 2024
Texas State University, San Marcos, TX
Vice presidential debate:
Wednesday, September 25, 2024
Lafayette College, Easton, PA
Second presidential debate:
Tuesday, October 1, 2024
Virginia State University, Petersburg, VA
Third presidential debate:
Wednesday, October 9, 2024
The University of Utah, Salt Lake City, UT
As CNN reports, it’s not clear what the change will mean this year or if all the major party candidates will even participate:
Typically, the first debate has been in late September or early October. In 2020, the first debate was on September 29, but amid an uptick in pandemic-era early voting, the Trump campaign called for an additional early September debate.
The schedule tweak also means that the debates will end earlier than they ever have. There will be 27 days between the last debate and Election Day on November 5. That’s compared to 12 days in 2020 and 20 days in 2016.
However, it’s not certain the debates will actually happen.
Last year, the Republican National Committee voted to withdraw from its participation in the commission, with RNC chairwoman Ronna McDaniel saying at the time that commission is “biased and has refused to enact simple and commonsense reforms.”
The scheduling change could make it more likely that the eventual Republican nominee participates in the debates, as the lack of a debate before voting started was one of McDaniel’s specific criticisms.
The so-called “non-partisan” debate commission has been suspect for over a decade now. Ever since moderator Candy Crowley inserted herself into the discussion between Mitt Romney and Barack Obama, it was clear something had to change. Instead of acting as an impartial observer, Crowley fact-checked Romney on the fly but admitted she was wrong after the fact. Too late, the damage was done on live television.
Republicans disdain the CPD for those reasons and more. The simple fact that it’s hard to find moderators who don’t lean explicitly left in their politics means that the pool itself is tainted.
Furthermore, the RNC was right to object to the fact that there is no more “Election Day” but rather “Election Month” or “Election Quarter.” People don’t vote on one day, they vote over weeks, and holding the debates after early voting starts defeats the purpose of having an informed electorate.
In short, the current system of presidential debates is broken but the CPD is part of the swamp and not easily movable.
More details on the debate are available on the official debate schedule page including start time, live stream information, and more.
