When will the next presidential debate of 2024 take place and who will moderate it?
Before President Biden decided to drop out of the race for reelection, he and former President Donald Trump had agreed to one more showdown on the debate stage before the 2024 presidential election.
Then Mr. Biden ended his campaign, and it was unclear whether a debate between Trump and the new Democratic nominee, Vice President Kamala Harris, would actually happen.
Now ABC News has confirmed both campaigns say they will participate in that scheduled debate.
When is the second presidential debate?
ABC News is hosting the second presidential debate on Tuesday, Sept. 10, at 9 p.m. Eastern. It will be the first time Harris and Trump debate each other.
The first presidential debate, on June 27, in which Trump faced President Biden in Atlanta, came unusually early in the election season given that neither candidate had formally received their party's nomination yet. Trump accepted the GOP nomination on July 18 in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. Harris is set to formally accept the Democratic nomination during the party's convention in Chicago, from Aug. 19-22.
Plans for the ABC debate had been in question after Trump said on Aug. 3 that he was "terminating" it and would do a debate hosted by Fox News on Sept. 4 instead. Harris responded that she would be at the ABC News debate on Sept. 10 and hoped "to see him there."
Then, at a news conference at his Mar-a-Lago estate on Thursday, Aug. 8, Trump recommitted to the ABC News debate.
He also proposed two others, with Fox News on Sept. 4 and NBC News on Sept. 25. Harris has not yet agreed to the two additional debates. A Harris campaign spokesperson said Harris is "open to and eager to discuss more debates, but Trump has to show up to the September 10th debate first."
Who will moderate the next debate?
"World News Tonight" anchor David Muir and ABC News Live "Prime" anchor Linsey Davis will moderate the debate the debate, ABC News said.
Which candidates qualify for the debate?
The qualifications are similar to the first debate, making it unlikely that any non-major party candidates will meet the ballot access and polling requirements to earn a spot on stage.
Candidates need to earn at least 15% support in four approved national polls and be on the ballot in enough states to be able to win 270 votes in the Electoral College — the threshold to win the presidency — in order to qualify.
How many more debates will there be for 2024?
There are no other presidential debates scheduled before the election at this point. The campaigns previously agreed to only two debates — the one hosted by CNN on June 27 and the other by ABC News on Sept. 10. Trump has proposed two more, but the Harris campaign has not agreed.
CBS News has also invited both campaigns to participate in a vice presidential debate.
The candidates have bypassed the tradition of three debates organized by the nonpartisan Commission on Presidential Debates, which had overseen presidential debates since 1988. The commission's three debates were scheduled to take place in September and October at universities in Texas, Virginia and Utah. Instead, this year's debates were agreed upon without any involvement by the commission.
The commission met with sharp criticism by both Trump — who has accused the commission of being biased against Republicans — and by close advisers to Mr. Biden, who view commission procedures as outmoded and fussy. The co-chair of the commission, Frank Fahrenkopf, told CBS News' podcast "The Takeout" that top White House communications adviser Anita Dunn "doesn't like us," and he said on a Politico podcast that this was the reason Mr. Biden's team went around the commission to negotiate directly with Trump's campaign.
