Announcing the locations of the presidential debate and the dates of the general elections

WASHINGTON — The Commission on Presidential Debates on Monday announced the dates and locations of three 2024 presidential debates General elections.

the First discussion It is scheduled for September 16 at Texas State University in San Marcos, followed by October 1 at Virginia State University in Petersburg and October 9 at the University of Utah in Salt Lake City.

The only vice presidential debate will take place at Lafayette College in Easton, Pennsylvania, on September 25.

“The U.S. general election debates, watched live around the world, are a model for many other countries: the opportunity to hear and see the major candidates address serious issues in a fair and impartial framework,” said committee co-chairs Frank Fahrenkopf and Antonia Hernandez. . In a statement accompanying the announcement. “This tradition has not been interrupted since 1976.”

the Biden The campaign declined to comment on this announcement.

Kate Bedingfield, former White House communications director and deputy campaign manager for Biden’s 2020 campaign, discussed the noncommittal stance of the 2024 campaign, saying it’s “a good strategic decision to know who your opponent is going to be before you commit to discussing it.”

“We know that the Republican National Committee has already withdrawn from the general election debates, and of course Trump is not currently debating the primaries,” she told NBC News. “The Biden campaign doesn’t need to lock itself into a process just yet when there are so many unknowns — and the only thing we know is that his potential opponent is skipping the debate stage. They can wait and make a strategic decision.” When more is focused on.”

Another source familiar with the Biden team’s thinking pointed to issues with the 2020 debates that the campaign is likely to want to discuss with the committee before 2024, including whether and how moderators will vet candidates, as well as what safeguards the committee can do. Provided that there is no repeat of the first debate of 2020, as… strict Covid safety rules It does not appear to have been fully upheld.

Asked to comment on the committee’s announcement, Stephen Cheung, a spokesman for former President Donald Trump’s campaign, said: “President Trump has already addressed this in multiple interviews in the past year.”

Trump, whose opponents are leading in the polls for the Republican nomination, has chosen to skip every primary debate so far this election cycle. He attacked The Commission on Presidential Debates, claiming it is “extremely biased” and “full of Trump haters and never Trump supporters.”

The committee is a non-partisan group that organizes debates “to give members of the public an opportunity to articulate their views, in the form of a focused debate, on those candidates from whom the next president and vice president will be chosen,” according to the British Daily Mail. Its website.

Last year, the Republican National Committee Vote to demand The Republican presidential candidates do not participate in the debates organized by the committee. In a statement about the decision last year, Republican National Committee Chair Ronna McDaniel called the committee “biased,” saying it “refused to enact simple, common-sense reforms to help ensure fair debates, including hosting debates before voting begins and selecting moderators who have never served.” “. For candidates in the debate stage.

The RNC did not immediately respond to a request for comment on Monday.

To participate in a debate organized by the commission, candidates must be constitutionally eligible to serve as president, be eligible to have their names appear on a sufficient number of ballots in the state to have potential to win the Electoral College and have at least 15% of voters support their candidate. Campaigns, as measured by polling organizations selected by the committee.

The committee said it would announce additional details about the discussions, including the format and moderators, next year.