Tim Walz and JD Vance agree to vice presidential debate
Gov. Tim Walz of Minnesota and Sen. JD Vance of Ohio have agreed to participate in at least one vice presidential debate this fall, with both candidates accepting an invitation from CBS News to face off on Oct. 1.
The network announced Wednesday on the social platform X that it had offered Walz and Vance, the running mates of Vice President Kamala Harris and former President Donald Trump, four potential dates: Sept. 17, Sept. 24, Oct. 1 and Oct. 8.
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“See you on October 1, JD,” Walz wrote in response. The Harris campaign confirmed that it had accepted the network’s invitation for that day.
On Thursday, Vance said he had accepted the Oct. 1 invitation, as well.
He also said he was willing to have a second, earlier debate on Sept. 18, a date offered by CNN.
“The American people deserve as many debates as possible,” Vance said in a post on X.
The Harris-Walz campaign indicated in a statement that it would not accept an additional vice presidential date. “The debate about debates is over,” Michael Tyler, a spokesperson for the campaign, said in a statement. “Donald Trump’s campaign accepted our proposal for three debates — two presidential and a vice presidential debate.”
It is normal, historically, for vice presidential candidates to have only one debate.
Vance previously shied away from committing to a date. He said after Harris announced Walz as her running mate that he wanted to wait until Walz was officially nominated. (While that traditionally happens at the party convention, Harris and Walz were nominated through an online voting process early this month.) And on Wednesday night, he said his decision on the CBS debate would depend on the format and rules, telling Fox News: “We’re not going to walk into a fake news media garbage debate. We’re going to do a real debate.”
Walz, for his part, said as he made his debut alongside Harris in Philadelphia on Aug. 6, “I can’t wait to debate the guy.”
Harris and Trump have agreed to a presidential debate on Sept. 10, according to ABC News, the network hosting it. Trump, after refusing to participate in debates during the Republican primary, previously debated President Joe Biden in June — an event that was so disastrous for Biden that it led to his withdrawal from the race. But he repeatedly complained about the switch to Harris and suggested he would skip the September debate before ultimately agreeing to appear.
Tyler said that, “assuming Donald Trump actually shows up on Sept. 10,” Walz and Vance would debate on Oct. 1, and Harris and Trump would have a second debate in October.
This article originally appeared in The New York Times.
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