2024-07-26 22:15:02
After President Joe Biden stepped out of the race, the details of a debate between presumptive Democratic nominee Kamala Harris and Republican nominee Donald Trump are up in the air.
Trump agreed to debate Harris on Tuesday after Biden dropped out of the election on Sunday, ending his chance for a second term and endorsing Harris.
“I would be willing to do more than one debate, actually,” Trump said on a conference call, CNBC reported.
All eyes will be on Harris’ debate performance after the last Trump-Biden showdown in June ended with top Democrats calling for Biden to step back after concerns about his showing against Trump.
Here’s what we know about a potential Trump-Harris debate.
Where and when is the debate?
No concrete dates have been set for a televised debate between the two candidates, but Trump has been vocal about which network should host it.
Biden and Trump were originally scheduled for a second debate on Sept. 10 on ABC. Both candidates committed to the ABC debate on this date before Biden dropped out of the race.
But Trump recently posted on Truth Social that he would instead have the debate aired on a network other than ABC.
“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,” Trump posted.
Fox News sent a letter to Trump and Harris’ campaigns on Tuesday inviting the candidates to a debate in Pennsylvania on Sept. 17, according to the letter obtained by The Arizona Republic. The letter states that the network would choose Fox News hosts Bret Baier and Martha MacCallum as moderators.
“Now that Vice President Kamala Harris is the presumptive Democratic nominee, FOX News Media is amending our proposal for a debate this cycle. Given the race has changed, we’d like to request the opportunity to host a Presidential Debate between VP Harris and former President Trump,” the invitation says.
When and where was Trump-Biden presidential debate?
The last debate was in Atlanta on June 27. Trump and Biden debated live in CNN’s studios.
Unlike most presidential debates in the past that had an audience, the debate featured only Trump, Biden, and moderators Jake Tapper and Dana Bash of CNN.
CNN reported that over 51 million people tuned into the 90-minute Trump-Biden debate.
When was Kamala Harris last in Arizona?
Harris hasn’t been a stranger to Arizona, appearing six times in the last four years.
She visited Phoenix in June to talk about abortion rights, a policy discussion she’s led during the Biden-Harris administration.
The second gentleman Doug Emhoff made several stops around Phoenix last week to call for Arizona’s support of the Biden-Harris campaign.
When was Donald Trump last in Arizona?
Trump most recently appeared in Arizona last month for the first time since late 2022. He headlined a town hall hosted by Turning Point Action at Dream City Church in northern Phoenix.
His visit to Arizona was a week after a New York jury found him guilty of 34 charges related to a “hush money” scheme during the 2016 election. The sentencing for the trial was recently pushed to Sept. 18 after a U.S. Supreme Court ruling that could cause the case to be tossed.
But as the momentum of the Harris campaign sets in, Trumps recently selected running mate JD Vance is set to visit Arizona next week.
Vance will make his first appearance in Arizona next week after he was declared the Republican vice-presidential nominee at the Republican National Convention last week.
Vance’s rally is scheduled on Wednesday, July 31, at the Arizona Christian University Event Center in Glendale, the Republic reported.
Will there still be a vice-presidential debate?
Details of a televised vice-presidential debate are now skewed after Harris became the presumptive Democratic presidential nominee.
She previously agreed to three preliminary dates for a televised debate with Vance. ABC was set to host the debate on July 23, Aug. 13, or Aug. 12, USA Today reported.
While Harris has yet to choose a running mate, a few candidates are in the running, including Sen. Mark Kelly, D-Ariz.
Vance agreed to debate Harris, saying he was annoyed he wouldn’t be able to.
“I was told I was going to debate Kamala Harris,” Vance said in Ohio on Monday. “And now President Trump is going to get to debate her? I’m kind of pissed off about that, if I’m being honest with you.”
