President Joe Biden and former President Donald Trump are set to participate in their first presidential debate after election officials have already started mailing absentee ballots to voters in certain states and after early voting has commenced in Pennsylvania.
Biden confirmed on Sirius XM’s “The Howard Stern Show” that he is willing to debate Trump, despite doubts about the incumbent president’s willingness to engage in a debate. Trump responded on Truth Social by expressing his readiness to debate “ANYWHERE, ANYTIME, ANYPLACE.”
Even though the Trump campaign urged the Commission on Presidential Debates to move up the debate schedule to allow more Americans to see the candidates before voting begins, the Commission insisted on sticking to the original schedule released last November.
The first debate is scheduled to take place on September 16 at Texas State University, followed by debates in Virginia and Salt Lake City. However, some states send out mail-in ballots before the first scheduled debate, raising concerns about voters missing the opportunity to hear from the candidates before casting their votes. Early in-person voting also begins as early as 50 days before the election in states like Pennsylvania.
Despite the concerns raised by the Trump campaign, the Commission on Presidential Debates maintained their original schedule, prompting criticism from campaign managers LaCivita and Wiles. They expressed disappointment in the Commission’s refusal to move up the debates to allow voters to hear from both candidates before casting their ballots.
Looking back at the 2020 election cycle, the first presidential debate was held only 35 days before Election Day. Brianna Lyman serves as the elections correspondent at The Federalist.
