Minnesota Governor Tim Walz and Ohio Senator J.D. Vance have agreed to participate in a television debate that will be produced by CBS News in early October.
The news follows a confirmation by former President Donald Trump and Vice President Kamala Harris that they will participate in a separate presidential debate scheduled for September 10, which will be produced and distributed by ABC News.
Vance has further called for his challenger to accept an offer to participate in a second vice presidential debate that would air in early September on CNN. A spokesperson for the Harris-Walz campaign said they will not accept that invitation, affirming their willingness to offer Walz for only one TV debate.
Historically, in election years, the candidates for vice president participate in one TV debate, while the candidates for president participate in three. Those debates were arranged by the Commission on Presidential Debates, the non-partisan and not-for-profit group that produced and distributed the debates to TV and radio networks for three decades.
This year’s debates are being produced by the TV networks themselves, with the first debate between Trump and President Joe Biden taking place in June on CNN. The network allowed other TV broadcasters and media outlets to simulcast the debate, as long as they agreed to certain rules related to how CNN’s brand appeared on TV or online and how each network or news outlet referred to the debate.
ABC News will also distribute its debate to other TV networks, radio stations and news outlets when it happens on September 10. It was not clear if CBS News plans to distribute its debate to other outlets when the candidates for vice president take part in the event on October 1.
Less clear is whether Harris will participate in a potential third debate that could air on another TV network, given that her candidacy for president was affirmed after the CNN debate in June. The Fox News Channel has offered to produce and distribute a debate moderated by journalists Martha MacCallum and Bret Baier, an offer that is apparently still on the table. It is not known if Comcast’s NBC News has made a similar offer.
