State of the debates: What happens to 2024 presidential and VP debates now?

Before President Joe Biden dropped out of the 2024 race, the 2024 debate arrangements already looked a bit different than before.

Earlier in the year, the Commission of Presidential Debates announced a proposed schedule for its debates.

However, the Republican National Committee amended its internal rules to bar its nominees from participating in CPD-sponsored debates. The Biden campaign, meanwhile, criticized the CPD schedule, which included presidential debates Sep. 16, 2024, Oct. 1, 2024, and Oct. 9, 2024 and a vice presidential debate Sept. 25, 2024.

It then became clear the CPD would effectively be sidelined and candidates began talks directly with networks.

CNN ended up nabbing the first debate on June 27, 2024, during which Biden gave the performance that would largely lead to the derailing of his campaign. The date was the earliest general election presidential debate in history. 

The network and both the Biden and Trump campaigns hashed out a set of rules, including a stipulation that microphones be muted outside of allotted speaking time. 

Both campaigns also agreed to the Sept. 10 debate on ABC.

ABC News had planned on having David Muir and Linsey Davis moderate and it’s not immediately clear if that will still be the case.

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However, after weeks of leaving the debate schedule up in the air, Trump agreed to the ABC debate during an Aug. 8, 2024, press conference. During the event, Trump referred to the incorrect date for the ABC event, with both the network and the Trump camp later confirming it would be Sept. 10, 2024.

The campaigns and network are still sorting on final details about the rules, including whether or not an audience will be present.

Trump also announced that he has agreed to debates on NBC and Fox’s conservative commentary channel in September. Harris previously said she would not participate in a Fox-hosted event.

Fox had previously offered Sept. 17, 2024, but that was then shifted to Sept. 4, 2024. 

NBC, meanwhile, has reported suggested Sept. 25, 2024, but the Harris camp has not confirmed its participation. 

Trump had said that because he is in litigation with ABC and “George Slopadopolus” (his nickname for George Stephanopoulos), he considered appearing on ABC a “conflict of interest.”

The lawsuit was originally filed in March 2024, though a July 24, 2024, ruling in the case did firm up some aspects of the suit.

Trump had agreed to the ABC-hosted debate in May 2024, a few weeks after filing his lawsuit agains ABC. It’s not clear why he did not consider the arrangement a conflict then (Stephanopoulos was not slated to moderate).

“It’s interesting how ‘any time, any place’ becomes ‘one specific time, one specific safe space,'” Harris wrote on X Aug. 3.

The network proposed having Bret Baier and Martha MacCallum moderate while being open to other rules, including having an audience or not. Trump said later that the format and rules would be “similar” to the previous debate between him and Biden, but with a studio audience. 

Both the Trump and Biden campaigns had originally agreed to the Sept. 10 ABC date and its rules. With Biden no longer running, Kamala Harris, assuming she is the DNC nominee, wasn’t necessarily bound by that agreement but appeared to move forward under that framework.

However, since Biden stepped aside and endorsed Harris, Trump switched gears and suggested the Fox event.

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“My debate with Crooked Joe Biden, the Worst President in the history of the United States, was slated to be broadcast on Fake News ABC, the home of George Slopadopolus , sometime in September,” he wrote on his right-leaning social network Truth Social. “Now that Joe has, not surprisingly, has quit the race, I think the Debate, with whomever the Radical Left Democrats choose, should be held on FoxNews, rather than very biased ABC. Thank you! DJT”

Trump later stated he would “absolutely” debate Harris, but said he was “not thrilled” about it being on ABC.

“ABC Fake News is such a joke, among the absolute WORST in the business. They try to make Crooked Joe into a brave warrior because he didn’t have the ‘guts’ to fight it out — He quit!” Trump wrote on Truth Social.

Trump has had a mixed relationship with the network over the years. Its hosts are frequently pro-GOP and pro-Trump, but Trump has also attacked the network in rambling social media posts and rally speeches. 

The Biden campaign had already laid out a set of criteria, saying that host networks should be picked from the pool of outlets that hosted debates in both 2016 and 2020, which would eliminate Fox (as well as left-leaning MSNBC).

Harris still says she intends to participate in the Sept. 10 debate on ABC even if Trump doesn’t show up. It’s not clear how the network might handle such a scenario. 

CBS News and Harris, when she was the presumptive VP nominee on Biden’s ticket, had agreed to schedule one on either July 24, 2024, Aug. 12, 2024 or Aug. 13, 2024, though a date was never officially selected.

On Aug. 14, 2024, Harris running mate Tim Walz agreed to an Oct. 1, 2024, debate on CBS. That date was eventually confirmed by the Trump campaign with running J.D. Vance agreeing to appear and the event went forward as planned.

Meanwhile, both Fox and CNN extended additional invites to Trump and Harris for another debate on their respective networks. CNN had pitched an Oct. 23, 2024, date, while Fox suggested Oct. 24, 2024, or Oct. 27, 2024.

Harris has accepted CNN’s invitation, but the Trump camp has yet to respond. CNN set an Oct. 10, 2024, deadline for candidates. Trump did not accepted CNN’s invitation before the offer expired.

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CNN shifted gears by offering both candidates town hall format events with audience participation.

Trump also went on record saying he would, at least for now, no longer participate in any further debates, claiming it is “too late” in the election process. 

Trump had said earlier he would accept an invitation from Fox, while Harris had said she would not participate in such a debate, though there has been no immediate word on if either candidate has accepted the latest Fox proposal.