Republican vice presidential nominee, Senator J. D. Vance of Ohio, on Thursday accepted a proposed CBS News debate in October against his Democratic rival, Minnesota governor Tim Walz, and challenged him to another contest on CNN.
“The American people deserve as many debates as possible, which is why President Trump has challenged Kamala to three of them already. 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!” Vance said on X Thursday morning.
Walz accepted the CBS News debate Wednesday afternoon, telling Vance “See you on October 1, JD.” The Harris-Walz campaign released a statement on Thursday saying Walz would debate Vance only once and Harris would debate former president Donald Trump twice.
“The debate about debates is over,” the statement reads. “Donald Trump’s campaign accepted our proposal for three debates – two presidential and a vice presidential debate. Assuming Donald Trump actually shows up on September 10 to debate Vice President Harris, then Governor Walz will see JD Vance on October 1 and the American people will have another opportunity to see the Vice President and Donald Trump on the debate stage in October.”
Vance’s recent campaign stops have been policy-heavy as he settles into the role of articulating the former president’s agenda for voters across the country. Over the weekend, Vance held his own on the Sunday shows, defending Trump and going on the attack against the Harris-Walz campaign.
A Marine veteran, Vance has attacked Walz for embellishing his military record and abandoning his national guard unit to run for Congress instead of deploying to Iraq. On the flip side, Walz’s criticism of Vance has largely been focused on his “weird” comments and personality.
Trump and Harris are scheduled to debate September 10, on ABC News, with Trump challenging the newly minted Democratic presidential nominee to two other debates. The debates will present a rare opportunity for journalists to ask Harris substantive questions and solicit off-script responses.
Thus far, she has not done any major interviews since launching her presidential campaign, and the mainstream press has largely avoided scrutinizing her. Harris recently told reporters she hopes to schedule an interview by the end of August. Harris is experiencing a major boost in polling and fundraising thanks in part to Democratic excitement over her candidacy ahead of next week’s Democratic convention.
CNN aired the first presidential debate on June 27 and President Joe Biden’s poor performance fundamentally reshaped the presidential race. Biden’s debate showing caused panic among Democrats, and a weeks-long pressure campaign that culminated in him dropping out of the presidential race.