Following the announcement that at least one presidential debate between Donald Trump and Kamala Harris will be taking place before November’s election, it looks like a vice-presidential debate is in the works.
Gov. Tim Walz, a Democrat from Minnesota recently chosen as Harris’ running mate, agreed on Wednesday to participate in a debate hosted by CBS News on Oct. 1 in New York City. While JD Vance, a Republican senator from Ohio selected as Trump’s running mate, has not agreed to this specific debate, Vance has asserted that he would like to debate more than once before the election.
“See you on October 1, JD,” Walz wrote on X.
See you on October 1, JD. https://t.co/ssi0FdseN9
— Tim Walz (@Tim_Walz) August 14, 2024
When asked about the possible Oct. 1 matchup by Fox News’ Laura Ingraham on Wednesday, Vance said his team is working to finalize the details before committing.
“We’re certainly going to debate Tim Walz. We just heard about this thing three hours ago, so we’re going to talk to them and figure out when we can debate,” Vance said. “We want to actually look at the debates, look at the moderators, talk about the rules a little bit.”
Vance, who has experienced a meteoric rise in just two short years from junior senator to vice presidential candidate, went on to fire shots at a debate Trump and President Joe Biden did with CNN on June 27 before the latter dropped his reelection bid. While Jake Tapper and Dana Bush received mostly good feedback for their roles in the event, the TV station has received criticism for rules such as no audience and mute buttons for each candidate.
“I strongly suspect we’re going to be there on October 1, but we’re not going to do one of these fake debates, Laura, where they don’t actually have an audience there, where they don’t actually set the parameters in the right way, where we can have a good exchange of ideas,” Vance said, adding that he hopes to debate Walz more than once.
“Hopefully, we’re going to see him on October 1, but hopefully, we’re going to see him either before or after that because I think it’s important for the American people to actually see us discuss our views.”
CBS News provided both campaigns with four dates as options: Sept. 17, Sept. 24, Oct. 1, and Oct. 8. Walz campaign responded first and chose the Oct. 1 date.
“We look forward to their responses and providing voters with an opportunity to hear directly from the vice-presidential candidates,” CBS News said in an official statement before Walz team selected Oct. 1 for an inaugural debate.
With recent studies from Gallup and the AP-NORC Center for Public Affairs showing only a small percentage of Americans believe Harris or Trump would do well in the Oval Office, many politicos believe the outcome of the upcoming election could hinge on which vice presidential candidate is able to separate himself.
