James David Vance, the Republican vice presidential nominee and his Democratic counterpart, Tim Walz, are set to participate in a debate hosted by CBS on October 1 after the Ohio senator accepted the invitation Thursday, a day after the Minnesota governor did the same.
Traditionally, there has only been one vice presidential debate in an election cycle, though Vance on Thursday called for holding “as many debates as we possibly can.” He responded on social media to the news that his Republican counterpart had committed to a sole debate by saying, “Tim Walz refuses to deploy”.
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Harris and Trump have agreed to meet for a presidential debate on ABC on September 10. Trump has also agreed to debates on Fox News and NBC. Harris is open to an additional debate with the former president in October, a senior campaign adviser told CNN, but the details will not be settled until the first debate is in the books.
Vance, whom Trump named as his running mate last month, said earlier Thursday on social media that he was “looking forward” to debating Walz.
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“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!” he wrote.
Walz, who joined Harris on the Democratic ticket last week, accepted the CBS invitation Wednesday, wrote on social media, “See you on October 1, JD.”
CBS News offered the candidates two dates in September and two dates in October as options for a debate in New York City.
Speaking to reporters Thursday after a campaign stop outside Pittsburgh, Vance called for more debates while accusing Walz and his ticket mate Harris of running “from every media interview.”
“President Trump has invited Kamala Harris to do three debates. She’s only agreed to one. Tim Walz, I guess we agreed to do a debate on October 1,” the senator said. “CNN wants to do a debate in mid-September. And I said, ‘Yes, absolutely,’ because the American people deserve it.”
Asked by CNN about the rules for the vice presidential debates, Vance said that his team didn’t “really didn’t ask or require much.”
“We just wanted to make sure that we had an opportunity to do a real exchange of views,” Vance said. “That was my only directive, and I told my staff, ‘Agree to whatever we have to agree to,’ because I think it’s important, again, to be able to stand before the American people and actually ask for their vote, not just pretend it’s going to be given to you.”
