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Politics

Commission on Presidential Debates all but gives up on hosting 2024 forums after being ditched by Biden

By
Victor Nava
Published June 24, 2024, 8:09 p.m. ET

The nonpartisan Commission on Presidential Debates informed four universities on Monday that they no longer need to plan to host 2024 candidate forums after the group was spurned by President Biden.

CPD’s board of directors “regrettably announced”  that Texas State University, Lafayette College, Virginia State University and the University of Utah have been released from their contracts to host presidential and vice presidential debates that had been planned for September and October.

“Given the letter dated May 15, 2024 from Jen O’Malley Dillon, Campaign Chair for the Biden-Harris Campaign, in which the Biden-Harris Campaign informed the Commission that President Biden will not agree to debate under the sponsorship of the Commission during the 2024 general election campaign, it is unfair to ask the four campuses to continue to prepare for their debates, as they have been doing since their November, 2023 selection,” CPD Co-Chairs Antonia Hernández and Frank Fahrenkopf said in a statement. 

Commission on Presidential Debates
The commission released Texas State University, Lafayette College, Virginia State University and the University of Utah from contracts to host debates this cycle. AP

“We are grateful to the sites, and we are sorry to come to this decision,” they added. “We are dismayed that students of the four campuses will not have the opportunity to participate in these historic voter education forums.”

The Biden campaign ditched the longstanding debate organizers in May and independently negotiated one-on-one showdowns against former President Donald Trump, scheduled for Thursday and Sept. 10. 

The first Biden-Trump debate will be hosted by CNN and is set to take place at the network’s Atlanta studios. 

The second showdown between the 81-year-old incumbent and the 78-year-old presumptive GOP nominee will air on ABC. The location for that event has yet to be announced. 

CPD has held 30 of its 33 debates on college or university campuses since its founding in 1987. 

Until this election cycle, the CPD has organized every presidential and vice presidential debate since 1988.

Joe Biden
The Biden campaign opted to negotiate directly with the Trump campaign on debates for the 2024 cycle, cutting the commission out of the process. AP

Despite Monday’s announcement, Hernández and Fahrenkopf noted that CPD is still prepared to sponsor 2024 debates should circumstances change.

“The reason for the CPD’s creation remains compelling: a neutral organization with no other role during the general election is well-positioned to offer formats that focus on the candidate and the issues that are most important to the American people,” the co-chairs said. 

Fahrenkopf, who co-founded the commission, lashed out at top White House aide Anita Dunn in May after his group was cut out of the debates. 

“I know where all this is coming [from] — this is Anita Dunn,” Fahrenkopf, a former chairman of the Republican National Committee, told Politico’s “Playbook Deep Dive” podcast. 

“This is her plan. I know. She’s fought — she was against the commission for years and years and years,” he added.