By Vice President Kamala Harris and former President Donald Trump will meet for two presidential debates, while their running mates will face off just once, the Harris campaign said Thursday.
“The debate about debates is over,” Harris campaign spokesman Michael Tyler said in a statement.
The Republican nominee’s campaign has “accepted our proposal for three debates — two presidential and a vice presidential debate,” according to the Democrat’s campaign.
Both Trump and Harris had agreed last week to a debate on Sept. 10 hosted by ABC News.
The next debate will come on Oct. 1, when Trump’s running mate, Sen. JD Vance of Ohio, and Harris’ pick, Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz, meet for the one and only vice presidential debate, Tyler said.
The spokesman’s statement also said, “The American people will have another opportunity to see the vice president and Donald Trump on the debate stage in October.”
He did not specify on which day that debate would take place, or which network would host it.
Vance earlier Thursday agreed to debate Walz on Oct. 1, while also challenging his opponent to accept another debate on Sept. 18 hosted by CNN.
A CNN spokesperson told CNBC that it invited both Vance and Walz to a debate in the fall, but only Vance has accepted so far.
Vance, in response to the Harris campaign’s statement, made a reference to recent allegations of stolen valor by Walz, who served in the National Guard for 24 years.
“Tim Walz refuses to deploy!” Vance wrote on X.
“In all seriousness, if you want to be the VP of the United States, you should make your pitch directly to the American people,” he added in another post. “A debate is an opportunity to take your case to voters without a teleprompter or a script. Can’t imagine why anyone would say no.”
Walz has defended his military record.
Trump had suggested during a news conference at Mar-a-Lago last week that he also wanted to debate Harris in a Sept. 4 event on Fox News and a Sept. 25 debate hosted by NBC News.
Trump’s campaign did not immediately respond to CNBC’s request for comment on the Harris campaign’s statement.
The presidential debates have taken on extra significance in the 2024 election, after the former presumptive Democratic nominee, President Joe Biden, delivered a debate performance so poor that it galvanized many of his allies to call for him to drop out of the race.
Biden withdrew on July 21 and endorsed Harris as his replacement. Days later, Harris accused Trump of “backpedaling” after he did not immediately agree to debate her on Sept. 10, a date when he was previously set to take on Biden a second time.
Trump’s campaign said at the time that the debate schedule could not be set in stone until the Democrats formally picked Harris as their nominee.
Tyler’s statement Thursday accused Trump and Vance of trying to play tricks with the debates.
“Voters deserve to see the candidates for the highest office in the land share their competing visions for our future,” he said.
“The more they play games, the more insecure and unserious Trump and Vance reveal themselves to be to the American people. Those games end now.”
