Since 1987, all presidential debates in the United States have been organized by the Commission on Presidential Debates. This nonprofit corporation was established via joint sponsorship of the Republican and Democratic parties, and its purpose was to ensure that candidates had an opportunity to openly debate the issues of the day.
TV debates did, of course, air before the commission was launched. The very first televised debates took place in 1960, when Richard Nixon was running against John F. Kennedy. Then, in 1964, there was no debate. By the time 1976 came around, TV debates were all the rage again, and Jimmy Carter and Gerald Ford went head-to-head thanks to the sponsorship of the League of Women Voters. It was after this debate that the Commission on Presidential Debates (CPD) was launched.
Ever since, the commission has overseen the debates with the purpose of ensuring that the questions were fair, that the candidates were given an equal opportunity to speak, and that the debates themselves remained a “permanent part of the electoral process.”
According to the commission’s website, its primary purpose is to “sponsor and produce the quadrennial general election debates and to undertake research and educational activities relating to the debates.”
But in 2024, the role of the CPD changed. When former President Donald Trump went up against President Joe Biden on June 27, it was a debate held according to rules established by the DNC. The rules were not decided by the commission. Period.
Not only that, but the second debate that was originally scheduled – and which has since been canceled – wasn’t expected to be organized by the commission either.
What Changed…and Why?
In an article for The National Interest, counter-extremism researcher and author Jack Buckby argued that the reason behind the sudden ditching of the Commission on Presidential Debates was a concerted effort by both the Democrats and the Republicans to keep independent candidate Robert F. Kennedy Jr. off the stage.
Buckby explained how, when President Donald Trump accepted a challenge by President Joe Biden to a debate, he completely ignored the long list of strict conditions set out by the DNC to make the debate happen.
Not only did President Biden and his team insist that no third-party candidates were allowed on the stage, but they also insisted that it could only take place on CNN, and it could only be moderated by one of a list of left-leaning anchors they proposed. Donald Trump agreed, without requiring any changes to the rules, and went ahead with the plan.
The debates were also brought forward…by quite a lot. Typically the debates take place later in the year when the candidates have officially become the nominees for their respective parties, but this time, the debate went ahead in June. A full five months before the election.
There are lots of reasons why this might have happened. Looking back, it’s possible that the DNC were acutely aware of the possibility that Joe Biden would perform so badly that they needed to revert to Plan B. And we’ve since seen that Plan B, in the form of Vice President Kamala Harris, was always on the table. But it might also have been a way of simply getting the debates over and done with before President Joe Biden just got…worse. And you know what we mean when we say worse.
But if Buckby is right, there’s still more to the story. According to the researcher, Biden and Trump were running scared of an insurgent Kennedy campaign, who was technically eligible to appear in the debates. Team Kennedy insisted that they met all the requirements to appear on the debate stage – and if that were true, the independent commission would have upheld those rules and allowed Kennedy to stand between the two men on the national stage and have his say.
“In recent months, polling has proven Kennedy to be a formidable force in this election. As of May 15, Kennedy qualifies to appear on more than a dozen state’s ballots, with 187 total eligible electoral votes. To qualify for the official debates, Team Kennedy needs to gain access to the ballot in all states and consistently garner more than 15% in the polls. Mainstream polling data already shows his independent campaign consistently attracting more than 10% in states like Arizona, Pennsylvania, and Nevada, making it clear to both Team Trump and Team Biden that a three-way debate is perfectly likely later in the year,” Buckby wrote earlier this year.
What About the Trump-Kamala Debate?
Former President Donald Trump and Vice President Kamala Harris should be going up against one another in yet another non-commission-organized debate – but the country still doesn’t know when it’s going to happen or on what network it will be hosted.
In recent days, Trump proposed that the pair hash it out on Fox News on September 4, but the Harris campaign insists that it should go ahead on ABC as originally planned. The rules would also be the same as the last debate with Joe Biden. Just as the DNC insisted last time, neither candidate would be allowed to talk over the other, with microphones being muted while the other candidate speaks. This time, though, Trump said that the event should have a live audience – something the last debate lacked.
Team Harris isn’t so keen on the idea, and is already telling the country that Trump is trying to “back out.”
“Donald Trump is running scared and trying to back out of the debate he already agreed to and running straight to Fox News to bail him out,” Michael Tyler, Harris communications director, said over the weekend. “He needs to stop playing games and show up to the debate he already committed to on Sept 10.”
As it stands, the country doesn’t know. The chances of a debate not going ahead are slim, though, given just how much is at stake. One thing we do know for certain, though, is that the commission won’t be involved in any way.
Why? We’ll leave that for you to decide – but it certainly seems as though both candidates are afraid of something.
