After months of questions about whether general election debates would happen, President Joe Biden and Republican nominee Donald Trump have agreed to participate in two: one in June and one in September.
There are still some details to be worked out, including the formats of the events and who will moderate. Here’s what we know so far:
The details
Trump and Biden have agreed to two debates. The first will held at 9pm local time on June 27 (11am on June 28 AEST) at CNN’s studios in Atlanta with no audience.
To qualify, candidates must receive at least 15 per cent in four national polls of registered or likely voters that meet CNN’s standards.
Anchors Jake Tapper and Dana Bash will moderate the debate.
The second debate will take place on September 10 and will be hosted by ABC US. The time and place have not been confirmed. This debate has the same polling threshold as CNN.
What have the candidates said?
“It is my great honor to accept the CNN Debate against Crooked Joe Biden,” Trump posted on his Truth Social site.
“Likewise, I accept the ABC News Debate against Crooked Joe on September 10th.”
Biden said he’d done the same.
“Trump says he’ll arrange his own transportation,” Biden wrote on X.
“I’ll bring my plane, too. I plan on keeping it for another four years.”
Robert F. Kennedy Jr also weighed in, claiming he had been excluded from the debate because they are afraid he could win.
“Keeping viable candidates off the debate stage undermines democracy,” he wrote on X.
Timing
The first debate will play out in a jam-packed political calendar, before either candidate becomes his party’s official nominee at the summer conventions — scheduled to begin July 15 for Republicans and August 19 for Democrats.
The June 27 match-up will come after the expected conclusion of Trump’s criminal hush money trial in New York, foreign trips by Biden in mid-June to France and Italy, and the end of the Supreme Court’s term.
That term will include a ruling on whether Trump is immune from federal prosecution for his role in the January 6 Capitol insurrection.
The debate will also come before the expected start of two criminal trials on opposite coasts for the president’s son, Hunter Biden.
The second debate would take place before most states begin early voting — though some overseas and military ballots may already be in the mail.
Sticking points
Trump’s campaign is also pushing for more debates.
In a memorandum on Wednesday, senior campaign advisers Chris LaCivita and Susie Wiles sent a memo to Biden campaign chair Jen O’Malley Dillon saying, “we believe there should be more than just two opportunities for the American people to hear more from the candidates themselves”.
They proposed holding one debate a month, with events in June, July, August and September, in addition to a vice-presidential debate.
Biden’s campaign didn’t respond to a request for comment on the push for additional match-ups.
Trump has also told conservative radio host Hugh Hewitt, he agreed the debates “should go two hours” and also said he’d prefer if the men stand instead of sit and there should be a live audience in larger venues.
“A stand-up podium is important,” he said, adding he thinks Biden wants to sit.
The Biden campaign said it wants candidates’ microphones muted when they aren’t recognised to speak to promote “orderly proceeding,” and it is opposed to live studio audiences. They also argued third-party candidates should be excluded.
Debate commission
The deal between the campaigns now sidelines the Commission on Presidential Debates, the nonpartisan group that has organised them for more than three decades.
Both campaigns had expressed longstanding concerns about the commission’s operations, with Trump blaming it for microphone issues during a debate in 2016 and Biden’s campaign calling its plans “out of step with changes in the structure of our elections and the interests of voters”.
Both sides had taken particular issue with the dates the commission had announced, arguing the debates should happen earlier, before voting begins.
In a statement, the debates commission noted it had been “established in 1987 specifically to ensure that such debates reliably take place and reach the widest television, radio and streaming audience. Our 2024 sites, all locations of higher learning, are prepared to host debates on dates chosen to accommodate early voters. We will continue to be ready to execute this plan.”
AP