President Joe Biden agreed to debates with former President Donald Trump ahead of their rematch in November, but the president rejected proposals from the traditional debate commission in favor of writing his own rules.
The Commission on Presidential Debates has organized debates for the leading presidential candidates ahead of general elections since the 1988 election between George H.W. Bush and Michael Dukakis.
Jen O’Malley Dillon, Biden campaign chairwoman, outlined in a letter to the Commission on Presidential Debates why the president is refusing to go along with its proposed rules, arguing they are “out of step with changes in the structure of our elections and the interests of voters.”
Here are the Biden campaign’s main points for why it wants a different structure for the debates against Trump.
Timing
The commission had announced that its three proposed presidential debates would be held on Sept. 16, Oct. 1, and Oct. 9, along with a vice presidential debate on Sept. 25. O’Malley Dillon argued the debates were too late in the cycle and would be held after early voting had begun in several states, meaning millions of voters may have already cast their ballot.
“The Commission’s failure, yet again, to schedule debates that will be meaningful to all voters — not just those who cast their ballots late in the fall or on Election Day — underscores the serious limitations of its outdated approach,” O’Malley Dillon noted in the letter.
The Biden campaign has suggested two presidential debates in June and September, along with a vice presidential debate in July. Trump said he is “ready and willing” to debate Biden at those proposed dates.
Later on Wednesday morning, CNN announced both candidates had agreed to a June 27 debate on the network and ABC News announced the two had agreed to a Sept. 10 debate on the network.
Substance over ‘spectacle’
The Biden campaign also took issue with the commission holding debates with an audience, saying that the commission’s “model of building huge spectacles with large audiences at great expense simply isn’t necessary or conducive to good debates.”
O’Malley Dillon argued the debates should be held in a television studio, similar to the first series of televised presidential debates between John F. Kennedy and Richard Nixon in 1960.
Enforcement of debate rules
The Biden campaign also expressed frustration with the commission’s enforcement, or lack of enforcement, of the rules for each candidate.
O’Malley Dillon accused the commission of being “unable or unwilling to enforce the rules in the 2020 debates” and said it “was far from — indeed entirely inconsistent with — the orderly and informative process the voters deserved in 2020.”
The first presidential debate in 2020 was criticized for the lack of control of the candidates by moderator Chris Wallace. The second, and final, debate between the two in 2020 featured the ability for microphones to be muted in an effort to reduce interruptions and chaos.
Instead of debates organized by the commission, the Biden campaign offered that they be hosted by a broadcast organization that hosted a 2016 GOP primary debate Trump was in and a 2020 Democratic primary debate Biden participated in. The television networks that meet both requirements include CNN, ABC, CBS, and Spanish-language network Telemundo.
Boxing out RFK Jr.
In its memo, the Biden campaign outlined its desire to include only the leading two candidates, Biden and Trump, in the debates in a thinly veiled nod at not wanting independent presidential candidate Robert F. Kennedy Jr. to make the debate stage.
“The debates should be one-on-one, allowing voters to compare the only two candidates with any statistical chance of prevailing in the Electoral College — and not squandering debate time on candidates with no prospect of becoming President,” O’Malley Dillon said.
CNN and ABC News announced requirements for their debates that could allow for Kennedy to make the debate stage, but it appears unlikely.
To qualify for either debate, a candidate must be set to appear on ballots in enough states to get to 270 electoral votes and must get 15% in four national polls that meet each news organization’s standards.
Biden and Trump have qualified already, while recent polls on the RealClearPolitics polling average have shown Kennedy polling as high as 16% and as low as 3%. Kennedy has also only secured ballot access in states worth 28 electoral votes and has claimed he has qualified for access in states worth an additional 131 electoral votes, according to a tracker from the Hill-Decision Desk.
Pushback
Despite Trump’s quick response agreeing to Biden’s challenge, the president was criticized for his decision to give the debate commission the run-around.
Polling and elections analyst Nate Silver slammed Biden’s reasons for wanting to rewrite the rules, calling the early-voting talking point a “red herring.” By setting its own rules, he said, Biden’s team is broadcasting weakness and torching his position as the “norms and traditions” candidate.
“If you’re confident you’ll win the debates, you’d ask for 2 early debates *in addition* to the 3 late ones. At least as a bargaining position,” he wrote on X. “You’re supposed to be the candidate who stands up for norms and traditions and now you’re ducking this tradition?”
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In 2022, the Republican National Committee voted to withdraw from the commission after it refused to make changes the RNC was seeking, and the Trump campaign had criticized the commission for keeping its earliest debate scheduled for mid-September.
The top presidential candidates have debated each other every year since 1976. The debates hosted by CNN and ABC News later this year will be the first time an entity besides the commission has organized a general election presidential debate since 1984.
