Presidential debates, 2024

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This page provides an overview of primary and general election debates for the 2024 presidential election.

The Commission on Presidential Debates (CPD), which sponsors, organizes, and establishes guidelines for presidential and vice presidential debates in the general election, has not yet released the dates and sites for the 2024 presidential election. The CPD is expected to provide this information in October or November 2023.[1]

Each political party can also hold its own series of primary debates. Republican debates are scheduled to begin in August 2023.[2] As of May 16, 2023, the Democratic Party does not plan to hold primary debates.[3] Guidelines for the Republican debates have not yet been announced. For reference, the Democratic National Committee announced its debate framework for the 2020 presidential election in December 2018. The Republican National Committee did not hold any sanctioned debates in the 2020 election.


Click on a link below to learn more about upcoming and historical presidential debates:

Republican presidential primary debates, 2023-2024

See also: Republican presidential nomination, 2024

The following table provides an overview of the date, location, host, and number of participants in each scheduled 2024 Republican presidential primary debate.

2024 Republican presidential primary debates
Debate Date Location Host Number of participants
First Republican primary debate August 2023 Milwaukee, Wisconsin[4] Fox News[5] TBD
Second Republican primary debate TBD Simi Valley, California[6] TBD TBD

On June 2, 2023, the Republican National Committee announced that candidates must receive donations from at least 40,000 national contributors and poll consistently above 1% in either three national polls or two national polls and a state poll to qualify for the first debate.[7]

Commission on Presidential Debates

See also: Commission on Presidential Debates

The Commission on Presidential Debates (CPD) is a 501(c)(3) organization that sponsors, organizes, and establishes guidelines for general election presidential and vice presidential debates. Founded in 1987, the CPD has sponsored every general presidential and vice presidential debate since 1988.

The CPD is controlled by an independent board. As of February 2022, Frank Fahrenkopf Jr. and Kenneth Wollack were serving as co-chairs of the commission and Janet Brown served as executive director of the board.[8]

The CPD's funding primarily comes from the communities that host the debates and corporate, foundation, and private donors. It does not receive funding from the government or any political party.[9]

Noteworthy events

Republican National Committee calls for changes to debate process (June 2021)

On June 1, 2021, Republican National Committee Chair Ronna McDaniel wrote an open letter to the co-chairs of CPD, Frank Fahrenkopf and Kenneth Wollack, criticizing the organization's conduct during the 2020 general election and requesting changes in the 2024 presidential election cycle. McDaniel wrote, "The CPD's repeated missteps and the partisan actions of its Board Members make clear that the organization no longer provides the fair and impartial forum for presidential debates which the law requires an the American people deserve." McDaniel said the RNC would advise future nominees not to participate in CPD-hosted debates if changes were not made.[10]

The RNC requested the following changes:[10]

“
  • Adopt term limits for its Board of Directors, several Members of which have sat on the Board for a decade, with two sitting on the Board since 1996.
  • Enact a code of conduct which prohibits CPD officers, directors, and staff from making public comments supporting or opposing any candidate, or otherwise engaging in partisan political activity in connection with the presidential election;
  • Enforce meaningful consequences for violating such rules, up to and including removal from the Board of Directors;
  • Commit to hosting at least one debate prior to the start of early voting in any state, and in no case after the deadline for states to mail absentee ballots to uniformed and overseas voters (45 days before the general election);
  • Establish transparent criteria for selecting moderators, disqualifying individuals from consideration who have an appearance of bias due to personal, professional, or partisan factors;
  • Enact a transparent code of conduct for moderators, to include guidelines for appropriate interactions with the candidates during the debates; and
  • Impose penalties for violating such guidelines, to include suspending their employer network from participating in future debates.[11]
 ”

2020 presidential debates

See also: Presidential debates, 2020

The Commission on Presidential Debates held two presidential debates and one vice presidential debate in 2020.

The first presidential debate took place in Cleveland, Ohio, on September 29, 2020. Case Western Reserve University and Cleveland Clinic co-hosted the event. Fox News' Chris Wallace moderated.

On October 9, 2020, the commission canceled a planned second debate between President Donald Trump (R) and former Vice President Joe Biden (D). The event had been scheduled for October 15, 2020.[12] Click here to learn more about the disagreement between the commission and campaigns over the format and timeline of the debate.

The final presidential debate took place in Nashville, Tennessee, on October 22, 2020, at Belmont University. NBC News' Kristen Welker was the moderator.

The only vice presidential debate took place on October 7, 2020, at the University of Utah in Salt Lake City, Utah. USA Today's Susan Page moderated the event. The following table provides an overview of the date, location, and host in each scheduled 2020 general election debate.

2020 general election debates
Debate Date Location Host
First presidential debate September 29, 2020 Cleveland, Ohio Case Western Reserve University and Cleveland Clinic
Vice presidential debate October 7, 2020 Salt Lake City, Utah University of Utah
Second presidential debate Canceled
October 15, 2020		 Miami, Florida Adrienne Arsht Center
Third presidential debate October 22, 2020 Nashville, Tennessee Belmont University

2020 Democratic primary presidential debates

See also: Democratic presidential primary debates, 2020

The Democratic National Committee (DNC) held 11 presidential primary debates during the 2020 presidential election between June 2019 and March 2020.

"My goal in this framework is to give the grassroots a bigger voice than ever before; to showcase our candidates on an array of media platforms; to present opportunity for vigorous discussion about issues, ideas and solutions; and to reach as many potential voters as possible. That is how we will put our nominee in the strongest position possible to defeat Donald Trump, and how we will help elect Democrats up and down the ballot," DNC Chairman Tom Perez said.[13]
The following table provides an overview of the date, location, host, and number of participants in each scheduled 2020 Democratic presidential primary debate.

2020 Democratic presidential primary debates
Debate Date Location Host Number of participants
First Democratic primary debate June 26-27, 2019 Miami, Florida NBC News, MSNBC, and Telemundo 20 candidates
Second Democratic primary debate July 30-31, 2019 Detroit, Michigan CNN 20 candidates
Third Democratic primary debate September 12, 2019 Houston, Texas ABC News and Univision 10 candidates
Fourth Democratic primary debate October 15, 2019 Westerville, Ohio CNN and The New York Times 12 candidates
Fifth Democratic primary debate November 20, 2019 Georgia MSNBC and The Washington Post 10 candidates
Sixth Democratic primary debate December 19, 2019 Los Angeles, California PBS NewsHour and Politico 7 candidates
Seventh Democratic primary debate January 14, 2020 Des Moines, Iowa CNN and The Des Moines Register 6 candidates
Eighth Democratic primary debate February 7, 2020 Manchester, New Hampshire ABC, WMUR-TV, and Apple News 7 candidates
Ninth Democratic primary debate February 19, 2020 Las Vegas, Nevada NBC News and MSNBC 6 candidates
Tenth Democratic primary debate February 25, 2020 Charleston, South Carolina CBS News and Congressional Black Caucus Institute 7 candidates
Eleventh Democratic primary debate March 15, 2020 Washington, D.C. CNN, Univision, and CHC Bold 2 candidates

2016 presidential debates

See also: Presidential debates (2015-2016)
Presidential debate, September 26, 2016

More than two dozen primary and general election debates took place during the 2016 presidential election cycle. The first general election presidential debate took place on September 26, 2016, in New York. Hillary Clinton and Donald Trump debated and Lester Holt of NBC News moderated. An estimated 84 million people tuned in to the first debate, a record in the history of presidential debates. The previous record was held by Ronald Reagan (R) and Jimmy Carter (D), who attracted 80.6 million viewers in 1980.[14]

Two more general election debates were held on October 9, 2016, at Washington University and on October 19, 2016, at the University of Nevada. Vice presidential candidates Tim Kaine (D) and Mike Pence (R) also debate on October 4, 2016, at Longwood University.

2016 presidential primary debates

Democrats held nine primary debates. The last took place on April 14, 2016, between Hillary Clinton and Bernie Sanders. Republicans held 12 primary debates; the final debate was held on March 10, 2016, with Donald Trump, Ted Cruz, John Kasich, and Marco Rubio.

Democratic presidential primary debate, January 17, 2016

Democratic Debates

Republican Debates

Republican presidential primary debate, February 15, 2016

History of televised presidential debates

Although the 1960 general election debate between John F. Kennedy (D) and Richard Nixon (R) is frequently cited as the first televised presidential debate, two came before it.

The first televised presidential debate took place on May 21, 1956, when an ABC affiliate in Miami broadcast a Democratic primary debate between Adlai Stevenson and Estes Kefauver.[15] In the general election that year, Stevenson and incumbent President Dwight Eisenhower (R) used surrogates in a televised debate on November 4, 1956. They were represented by former First Lady Eleanor Roosevelt (D) and Sen. Margaret Chase Smith (R), respectively.[16]

The Kennedy-Nixon debates that took place four years later showed the importance of television as a visual medium, "Nixon, pale and underweight from a recent hospitalization, appeared sickly and sweaty, while Kennedy appeared calm and confident. As the story goes, those who listened to the debate on the radio thought Nixon had won. But those listeners were in the minority. ... Those that watched the debate on TV thought Kennedy was the clear winner. Many say Kennedy won the election that night," TIME reported on the 50th anniversary of the event.[17]

While a handful of presidential primary debates were held between 1964 and 1972, the televised presidential debate did not become a staple of American politics until 1976.[18]

Overview

The following chart shows the number of presidential and vice presidential debates that took place in each election cycle between 1960 and 2020.

List of presidential debates, 1960-2020

The following table shows the date, location, and moderators for each presidential debate between 1960 and 2020.[19]

Presidential debates, 1960-2020
Date Location Moderator
September 26, 1960 Chicago, IL Howard K. Smith, CBS News
October 7, 1960 Washington, D.C. Frank McGee, NBC
October 13, 1960 Los Angeles, CA / New York, NY Bill Shadel, ABC
October 21, 1960 New York, NY Quincy Howe, ABC News
September 23, 1976 Philadelphia, PA Edwin Newman, NBC News
October 6, 1976 San Francisco, CA Pauline Frederick, NPR
October 22, 1976 Williamsburg, VA Barbara Walters, ABC News
September 21, 1980 Baltimore, MD Bill Moyers, PBS
October 28, 1980 Cleveland, OH Howard K. Smith, ABC News
October 7, 1984 Louisville, KY Barbara Walters, ABC News
October 21, 1984 Kansas City, KS Edwin Newman, formerly NBC News
September 25, 1988 Winson-Salem, N.C. Jim Lehrer, PBS
October 13, 1988 Los Angeles, CA Bernard Shaw, CNN
October 11, 1992 St. Louis, MO Jim Lehrer, PBS
October 15, 1992 Richmond, VA Carole Simpson, ABC
October 19, 1992 East Lansing, MI Jim Lehrer, PBS
October 6, 1996 Hartford, CT Jim Lehrer, PBS
October 16, 1996 San Diego, CA Jim Lehrer, PBS
October 3, 2000 Boston, MA Jim Lehrer, PBS
October 11, 2000 Winson-Salem, N.C. Jim Lehrer, PBS
October 17, 2000 St. Louis, MO Jim Lehrer, PBS
September 30, 2004 Coral Gables, FL Jim Lehrer, PBS
October 8, 2004 St. Louis, MO Charles Gibson, ABC
October 13, 2004 Tempe, AZ Bob Schieffer, CBS
September 26, 2008 Oxford, MS Jim Lehrer, PBS
October 7, 2008 Nashville, TN Tom Brokaw, NBC
October 15, 2008 Hempstead, NY Bob Schieffer, CBS
October 3, 2012 Denver, CO Jim Lehrer, PBS
October 16, 2012 Hempstead, NY Candy Crowley, CNN
October 22, 2012 Boca Raton, FL Bob Schieffer, CBS
September 26, 2016 Hempstead, NY Lester Holt, NBC
October 9, 2016 St. Louis, MO Martha Raddatz, ABC
Anderson Cooper, CNN
October 19, 2016 Las Vegas, NV Chris Wallace, FOX
September 29, 2020 Cleveland, OH Chris Wallace, FOX
October 22, 2020 Nashville, TN Kristen Welker, NBC


See also

Footnotes

  1. ↑ Commission on Presidential Debates, "News," accessed July 7, 2021
  2. ↑ PBS Wisconsin, "Republicans set their first 2024 presidential primary debate for Milwaukee," February 24, 2023
  3. ↑ The Washington Post, "Biden preparing to announce reelection campaign next week," April 20, 2023
  4. ↑ The Hill, "RNC votes to hold first presidential debate in Milwaukee," February 23, 2023
  5. ↑ Fox News, "Fox News will host first 2024 Republican presidential primary debate in Milwaukee," April 12, 2023
  6. ↑ The Hill, "McDaniel announces California will host second GOP debate for 2024," April 20, 2023
  7. ↑ Politico, "RNC will require debate participants to support eventual nominee," June 2, 2023
  8. ↑ Commission on Presidential Debates, "Commission Leadership," accessed February 2, 2022
  9. ↑ Commission on Presidential Debates, "Overview," accessed September 23, 2019
  10. ↑ 10.0 10.1 GOP, "Letter to Fahrenkof and Wollack from McDaniel," June 1, 2021
  11. ↑ Note: This text is quoted verbatim from the original source. Any inconsistencies are attributable to the original source.
  12. ↑ CNN, "Commission cancels second debate between Trump and Biden," October 9, 2020
  13. ↑ Cite error: Invalid <ref> tag; no text was provided for refs named Announce
  14. ↑ Commission on Presidential Debates, "1980 Debates," accessed October 10, 2016
  15. ↑ Illinois Channel, "From 1956, the First Televised Presidential Debate," June 15, 2016
  16. ↑ United States Senate, "The First Televised Presidential Debate," accessed June 12, 2019
  17. ↑ TIME, "How the Nixon-Kennedy Debate Changed the World," September 23, 2010
  18. ↑ Center for Politics, "Eight Decades of Debate," July 30, 2015
  19. ↑ Commission on Presidential Debates, "Debate History," accessed September 28, 2020
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