Vice presidential candidates U.S. Sen. J.D. Vance (R-OH) and Gov. Tim Walz (D-MN) have agreed to participate in a debate hosted by CBS on Oct. 1.
Moderating the debate will be “CBS Evening News” anchor and managing editor Norah O’Donnell and “Face the Nation” moderator and CBS News chief foreign affairs correspondent Margaret Brennan.
The official public relations account for CBS News posted to X Wednesday explaining that they had invited both vice presidential candidates to participate in a debate on one of several dates and appeared to indicate that they were still awaiting final responses from both campaigns.
Gov. Walz replied to the post within minutes writing: “See you on October 1, JD.”
On Thursday morning, Sen. Vance responded to the post as well, stating that he not only accepts the invitation from CBS for October 1, but that he also would like to participate in a CNN-hosted debate on Sept. 18.
“The American people deserve as many debates as possible, which is why President Trump has challenged Kamala to three of them already,” said Vance. “Not only do I accept the CBS debate on October 1st, I accept the CNN debate on September 18th as well. I look forward to seeing you at both!”
As of this article’s publication, Walz has not yet publicly responded to CNN’s invitation to debate on September 18.
“CNN invited both Senator Vance and Governor Walz to a Vice Presidential debate this fall, and Senator Vance has accepted,” a CNN spokesperson told CNBC.
During a press conference held at Mar-a-Lago in early August, former President Donald Trump (R) appeared to indicate that Vance had already, at that time, agreed to a CBS-hosted vice presidential debate.
Earlier this month, Vice President Kamala Harris (D) — the presumptive 2024 Democratic presidential nominee — agreed to a single debate with former President Trump after he had previously announced a desire for three debates during this same Mar-a-Lago press conference.
“I am looking forward to debating Donald Trump, and we have a date of September 10. I hear he’s finally committed to it, and I’m looking forward to it,” said Vice President Harris when questioned by an NBC reporter.
[RELATED: Kamala Agrees to One Debate with Trump While Ignoring His Request for Two Others]
Although the reporter also asked her explicitly about the other two debates proposed by former President Trump, Harris began to ignore him and walked away without providing an answer.
Trump has urged Harris to agree to a debate hosted by Fox News on September 4, saying that in exchange, he would participate in two debates hosted by more left-leaning media outlets: an ABC debate on September 10, and an NBC debate on September 25.
ABC News’ White House Correspondent Selina Wang clarified Harris’ position in a post on X.
“Harris will not agree to the September 4th Fox debate, campaign official tells me. Says future debates are contingent on Trump showing up to [ABC] debate on Sept 10th Willing to have convos before Sept 10 about debates after that date So ABC will have 1st Harris/Trump debate,” said Wang.
This is the first election cycle since 1988 where debates have not been organized by Commission on Presidential Debates (CPD).
In 2022, the Republican National Committee voted unanimously withdraw from the CPD, alleging that the commission “is biased and has refused to enact simple and commonsense reforms to help ensure fair debates including hosting debates before voting begins and selecting moderators who have never worked for candidates on the debate stage.”
As a result of this, presidential and vice presidential debates this election cycle have been negotiated directly by networks and the candidates.
I don’t need to see JD Vance say anymore weird, gross stuff about how my daughter should get back in the kitchen and make babies. I can’t believe his elitely educated Yale law wife believes the crazy stuff he’s saying… and for a guy who had his name changed 3 times, I don’t think he believes the stuff he says either.