June’s presidential debate dramatically changed the course of the 2024 election. President Joe Biden’s dreadful showing against Donald Trump led to his dropping out of the race, and now Vice-President Kamala Harris is pretty much set to become the new Democratic nominee. As Harris hits the campaign trail in earnest, the question remains: Will we actually get to see her and Trump face off in a debate? While Harris has maintained that she’s ready, Trump keeps changing his mind about the conditions under which he’d debate her. Here’s what we know.
First, when is the next presidential debate?
Before Biden announced he wouldn’t seek reelection, he and Trump had agreed to participate in a second and final debate to be hosted by ABC News on September 10 at 9 p.m. World News Tonight anchor David Muir and ABC News Live Prime anchor Linsey Davis were set to moderate.
Whether Trump and Harris will actually debate on that date remains unclear. Shortly after becoming the presumptive Democratic nominee, Harris told reporters she was committed to debating Trump. “I think the voters deserve to see the split screen that exists in this race on the debate stage,” she said. ABC News also has said that the network is moving “full steam ahead” with preparations for the scheduled debate. Trump refused to commit to the previously scheduled face-off, but ABC News has now confirmed that he’ll participate.
What has Trump said about debating Harris?
Trump immediately began distancing himself from his commitment within hours of Biden dropping out, posting on Truth Social that the next debate “should be held on FoxNews,” an extremely friendly network, “rather than very biased ABC.”
Trump’s campaign then appeared to backtrack further. Trump’s communications director issued a statement saying that due to the “continued political chaos surrounding” Biden and the Democratic Party, “general election debate details cannot be finalized until Democrats formally decide on their nominee.” He went on to say, “It would be inappropriate to schedule things with Harris because Democrats very well could still change their minds.”
Four days later, Trump wavered once again in an interview with Fox News host Laura Ingraham. “I want to do a debate,” he said. “But I also can say this: Everybody knows who I am, and now people know who she is.” Ingraham pressed him about debating Harris, and he replied, “The answer is ‘yes.’ I’ll probably end up debating.” Still, Trump remained noncommittal: “But I can also make a case for not doing it.”
If Trump ultimately decides to skip a debate, it wouldn’t be the first time. Between August 2023 and January 2024, Republicans held five primary debates. The former president didn’t participate in any.
Will Trump and Harris debate on Fox News?
After Trump’s initial wavering, Fox News quickly proposed a face-off on September 17. Trump then posted on Truth Social on August 3: “I have agreed with FoxNews to debate Kamala Harris on Wednesday, September 4th. The Debate was previously scheduled against Sleepy Joe Biden on ABC, but has been terminated in that Biden will no longer be a participant, and I am in litigation against ABC Network and George Slopadopoulos, thereby creating a conflict of interest.”
Trump added that the debate will be held in a yet-to-be-determined location in Pennsylvania in front of an audience. In a follow-up post, he accused Harris of not having “the mental capacity” to debate him and said he will only face her on a Fox News debate on that date.
During a press conference on August 8, Trump said he’d participate in three debates: one on Fox News on September 4, the previously agreed-upon ABC News debate on September 10, and a third debate on NBC News on a yet-to-be-determined date.
What has Harris said about the debate?
Harris is clearly itching to face Trump. Following the staffer’s comments implying that Trump would back out in late July, her campaign wrote on X, “What happened to ‘any time, any place’?” referencing his previous remarks calling for debates against Biden to be held “ANYTIME, ANYWHERE, ANYPLACE.”
And after Trump’s interview with Ingraham, the Harris campaign sent out a press release with a subject line calling Trump “Duckin’ Don.” “It’s clear from tonight’s question-dodging: He’s scared he’ll have to defend his running mate’s weird attacks on women or his own calls to end elections in America in a debate against the vice-president,” Harris spokesperson Ammar Moussa said.
Following Trump’s comments about a debate on Fox News, the Harris campaign said the former president is “running scared and trying to back out of the debate he already agreed to” and was now “running straight” to Fox News expecting the network to “bail him out.” The campaign added that Harris will appear on ABC on September 10, regardless of whether Trump shows up to debate her.
The campaign has also posted a clip on social media from Harris’s 2019 appearance on The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon. Speaking about a potential debate against Trump in that election cycle, she said, “Well, Jimmy, if I do debate President Trump, I’m sure it’ll be a competitive face-off where either one of us could end up on top.” Fallon responded, “Really?” to which she shot back, “No. I’d wipe the floor with him.”
