President Joe Biden and former President Donald Trump are scheduled to have their first presidential debate after election officials have started mailing absentee ballots to voters in some states and after early voting has opened in Pennsylvania.
Biden recently committed while on Sirius XM’s “The Howard Stern Show” that he would be “happy to debate” the former president, amid skepticism the gaffe- and confusion-prone incumbent would not go head-to-head with Trump. Trump responded via Truth Social that he was ready to debate “ANYWHERE, ANYTIME, ANYPLACE.”
Trump campaign managers Chris LaCivita and Susie Wiles had previously called on the commission to move up the debates “to ensure more Americans have a full chance to see the candidates before they start voting.” The campaign also argued for “adding more debates in addition to those on the currently proposed schedule.”
But the Commission on Presidential Debates told Fox News on Tuesday it would continue with its original schedule that was released last November.
“The CPD’s criteria […] will be applied in early September; afterward, the Commission will extend debate invitations to qualifying candidates,” the commission told Fox News.
The first debate is scheduled for Sept. 16 at Texas State University, followed by an Oct. 1 debate in Petersburg, Virginia with a third debate scheduled for Oct. 9 in Salt Lake City.
But states like Delaware and North Carolina send absentee/mail ballots out 60 days before the election, which means those ballots will go out before the first scheduled debate, which falls 50 days before the election. Arkansas, Kentucky, Minnesota, Pennsylvania, South Dakota, Tennessee, West Virginia, and Wisconsin send mail-in ballots to voters “more than 45 days before the election,” and 11 additional states send ballots out 45 days before the election, according to the National Conference of State Legislatures. The second debate, on Oct. 1, will take place 35 days before the election — at least 10 days after about two-fifths of states have started mailing voters their absentee ballots.
Additionally, early in-person voting starts as early as 50 days before the election — the same day of the debate — in the battleground state of Pennsylvania, for example. The presidential debate is scheduled to start at 9:00 p.m.
LaCivita and Wiles rebuked the commission’s refusal to schedule the first debate prior to ballots being sent out to voters.
“The Presidential Debate Commission’s schedule does not begin until after millions of Americans will have already cast their ballots. This is unacceptable, and by refusing to move up the debates, they are doing a grave disservice to the American public who deserve to hear from both candidates before voting begins,” LaCivita and Wiles said in a statement. “President Trump has stated he will debate Joe Biden anytime, anywhere, anyplace, and Joe Biden himself just agreed to debate.”
“We are committed to making this happen with or without the Presidential Debate Commission,” the statement continued. “We extend an invitation to every television network in America that wishes to host a debate, and we once again call on Joe Biden’s team to work with us to set one up as soon as possible. The American people deserve it.”
During the 2020 election cycle, the first presidential debate was held Sept. 29, only 35 days before Election Day.
Brianna Lyman is an elections correspondent at The Federalist.
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