Presidential debates, 2024

2024 Presidential Election Date: November 5, 2024

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Ballotpedia's presidential election coverage 2024 • 2020 • 2016

The Commission on Presidential Debates (CPD), which sponsors, organizes, and establishes guidelines for general election presidential and vice presidential debates, will hold three presidential debates and one vice presidential debate in 2024.

The first general election presidential debate will take place on September 16, 2024, at Texas State University in San Marcos, Texas. The second will take place on October 1 at Virginia State University in Petersburg, Virginia. The third will take place on October 9 at the University of Utah in Salt Lake City, Utah. The vice presidential debate will take place on September 25 at Lafayette College in Easton, Pennsylvania.

Each political party can also hold its own series of primary debates. The Democratic Party does not plan on holding primary debates. Four debates sanctioned by the Republican National Committee took place from August 23, 2023, to December 6, 2023. Following the fourth debate, the RNC lifted its ban on debates not sanctioned by the RNC. Three additional debates have been announced, with the next set to take place on January 10, 2024.

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

• General election debates
• 2024 Republican primary debates
• Commission on Presidential Debates
• Noteworthy events
• 2020 presidential debates
• 2020 presidential primary debates
• 2016 presidential debates
• History of televised presidential debates

General election debates

See also: Presidential debates, 2024

The following table provides an overview of the date, location, and host in each scheduled 2024 general election debate.

2024 general election debates
Debate	Date	Location	Host
First presidential debate	September 16, 2024	San Marcos, Texas	Texas State University
Vice presidential debate	September 25, 2024	Easton, Pennsylvania	Lafayette College
Second presidential debate	October 1, 2024	Petersburg, Virginia	Virginia State University
Third presidential debate	October 9, 2024	Salt Lake City, Utah	The University of Utah

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 23, 2023	Milwaukee, Wisconsin	Fox News	8
Second Republican primary debate	September 27, 2023	Simi Valley, California	Fox Business, Univision	7
Third Republican primary debate	November 8, 2023	Miami, Florida	NBC News, Salem Radio Network	5
Fourth Republican primary debate	December 6, 2023	Tuscaloosa, Alabama	NewsNation, The Megyn Kelly Show, the Washington Free Beacon	4
On December 7, 2023, CNN reported the RNC would lift its ban on non-RNC sanctioned debates.
Fifth Republican primary debate	January 10, 2024	Des Moines, Iowa	CNN	TBD
Sixth Republican primary debate	January 18, 2024	Manchester, New Hampshire	ABC News, WMUR-TV, New Hampshire Republican State Committee	TBD
Seventh Republican primary debate	January 21, 2024	Goffstown, New Hampshire	CNN	TBD

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.

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.

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.

The RNC requested the following changes:

“

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.

”

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. 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.
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.

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

• October 13, 2015
• November 14, 2015
• December 19, 2015
• January 17, 2016
• February 4, 2016
• February 11, 2016
• March 6, 2016
• March 9, 2016
• April 14, 2016

Republican Debates

Republican presidential primary debate, February 15, 2016

• August 6, 2015
• September 16, 2015
• October 28, 2015
• November 10, 2015
• December 15, 2015
• January 14, 2016
• January 28, 2016
• February 6, 2016
• February 13, 2016
• February 25, 2016
• March 3, 2016
• March 10, 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. 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.

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.

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.

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.

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

• Presidential candidates, 2024
• Presidential debates, 2020
• Democratic presidential primary debates, 2020
• Presidential candidates, 2020
• Democratic presidential nomination, 2020
• Republican presidential nomination, 2020
• Presidential debates (2015-2016)