Vice presidential debate (October 1, 2024)

2024 Presidential Election Date: November 5, 2024

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Kamala Harris (D) Donald Trump (R) (won) Jill Stein (G) Chase Oliver (L)

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CBS News hosted a vice presidential debate on October 1, 2024. U.S. Sen. J.D. Vance (R-Ohio) and Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz (D) were the only candidates invited.^[1]

Norah O'Donnell and Margaret Brennan moderated the debate, and the debate was held in the CBS Broadcast Center in New York City.

The debate was 90 minutes in length with two commercial breaks. CBS said microphones would be hot during the debate, and that CBS reserved the right to mute microphones as needed. There was no live audience during the debate.^[2]

This debate was not hosted by the Commission on Presidential Debates (CPD). This was the first presidential election cycle where the major party presidential and vice presidential candidates both declined to participate in debates hosted by the CPD since the organization was founded in 1987.

Debate overview

Video and transcript

• Watch the entire debate on YouTube.
• Read the CBS transcript of the debate

By the numbers

Candidate highlights

This section includes highlights for each vice presidential candidate with a focus on policy. The following paraphrased statements were compiled from the transcript of the debate. A candidate's opponents are generally not mentioned in his or her summary unless there was a significant exchange between them.

Tim Walz discussed foreign policy, climate change, immigration, housing, the economy, his qualifications to be vice president, abortion, firearm laws, healthcare, and January 6. Walz said Israel had a right to defend itself, and that getting hostages back and ending the humanitarian crisis in Gaza were important. Walz said Kamala Harris would provide steady international leadership, while Trump would be fickle. Walz said the Biden-Harris administration made investments in American electric vehicle and solar manufacturing. Walz said he supported producing more oil and natural gas as part of an all of the above energy strategy. Walz said Harris was attorney general of a border state and had experience prosecuting trans-national gangs for human and drug trafficking. Walz said he supported increasing funding for more border agents, drug detection, and adjudication of immigration cases. Walz said Trump opposed the bipartisan border bill because he wanted immigration to be a campaign issue more than he wanted to fix the problem. On the economy, Walz said a Harris-Walz administration would build 3 million new houses and provide down payment assistance, cut taxes for the middle class, implement a child tax credit, increase the small business tax credit, and increase taxes for the wealthy. Walz said Trump would cut taxes for the wealthy and increase the deficit. Walz said he was one of the most bipartisan members of congress and demonstrated a commitment to the people through his work as a teacher and soldier. Walz said he supported codifying Roe v. Wade, and that Trump would reduce access to contraceptives and fertility treatments. On firearm policy, Walz said he supported red flag laws and background checks. Walz said Harris negotiated prescription drug prices for the first time, and that Harris would protect and expand the Affordable Care Act. Walz said he supported national paid parental and medical leave programs and would make it easier for people to get into the childcare business. Walz said Trump tried to overturn the 2020 election on January 6, and that Trump was a threat to democracy.

J.D. Vance discussed foreign policy, energy production, immigration, the economy, tariffs, abortion, gun violence, housing, healthcare, childcare, and censorship. Vance said that it was up to Israel how they chose to keep their people safe. Vance said Trump’s policy of peace through strength made the world more secure and that Harris was in office when international conflicts broke out. Vance said Harris’ environmental policies led to more production in China, a country that he said produced significant carbon emissions. Vance said to reduce carbon emissions he would increase American manufacturing and energy production, including natural gas and nuclear. Vance said he supported re-implementing Trump’s border policies, building a border wall, and deportations, starting with criminal migrants and illegal aliens trying to undercut wages of American workers. Vance said Harris created the problem at the border. Vance said Trump had a record of delivering high take-home pay, low inflation, and bringing manufacturing and American energy back. Vance said Harris drove up the costs of housing, food, and energy. Vance said Trump’s tariff policy would protect American manufacturing, and tell businesses they needed to pay American workers a fair wage to access American markets. Vance said Republicans needed to earn back trust on the issue of abortion by supporting fertility treatments and making it easier to afford to have a family. Vance said individual states should make abortion policy, and said he supported setting a minimum national standard related to abortion when he ran for Senate in 2022, like the partial-birth abortion ban. On gun violence, Vance said he supported increasing security at schools and preventing illegal guns from coming over the border. Vance said the greatest drivers of housing costs were illegal aliens competing with Americans for scarce homes and high energy prices. Vance said Trump reduced prescription drug costs, introduced healthcare pricing transparency, and improved the Affordable Care Act. Vance said he supported promoting choice in how to deliver family care and childcare. Vance said Harris supported censorship, which was a greater threat to democracy than protests about the 2020 election.

General election debates

See also: Presidential debates, 2024

The following table provides an overview of the date, location, and host in each scheduled 2024 general election debate. Click a link in the Debate column to read more about each debate.

First presidential debate

See also: Presidential debate (June 27, 2024)

CNN hosted the first general election presidential debate on June 27, 2024. President Joe Biden (D) and former President Donald Trump (R) were the only two candidates who qualified.^[3][4]

Jake Tapper and Dana Bash moderated the debate. The debate took place at CNN studios in Atlanta, Georgia.

The debate was 90 minutes with two commercial breaks. Candidates' microphones were muted until it was their turn to speak, and there was no studio audience present for the debate.^[5]

Second presidential debate

See also: Presidential debate (September 10, 2024)

ABC News hosted a second general election presidential debate on September 10, 2024. It was the first debate between Vice President Kamala Harris (D) and former President Donald Trump (R).^[6][7]

David Muir and Linsey Davis moderated the debate, and the National Constitution Center in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, hosted the debate.^[8]

The debate was 90 minutes in length with two commercial breaks. Candidate microphones were muted when it was not the candidate's turn to speak, and there was no live audience during the debate.^[9]

At the time the debate was announced, President Joe Biden (D), who dropped out of the race on July 21, 2024, and Trump were the only two candidates who had qualified.^[10]

On July 23, Trump said he had only agreed to a debate against Biden, not against Harris.^[11] On July 25, Harris accepted the invitation to the debate, while a Trump campaign spokesman said Trump would not accept a debate invitation until the Democratic presidential nomination became official.^[12][13] Harris officially became the Democratic nominee on August 2. The following day, Trump said he would not participate in the September 10 ABC News debate, and instead proposed a September 4 Fox News debate.^[11] Harris responded, saying she would appear at the September 10 ABC News debate regardless of whether Trump attended.^[14] On August 8, Trump said he would rejoin the September 10 ABC News debate.^[15]

Republican primary debates

The following table provides an overview of the date, location, host, and number of participants in each scheduled 2024 Republican presidential primary debate.

History of televised presidential debates

Although the 1960 general election debate between John F. Kennedy (D) and Richard Nixon (R) is frequently cited as the first televised presidential debate, two came before it.

The first televised presidential debate took place on May 21, 1956, when an ABC affiliate in Miami broadcast a Democratic primary debate between Adlai Stevenson and Estes Kefauver.^[22] In the general election that year, Stevenson and incumbent President Dwight Eisenhower (R) used surrogates in a televised debate on November 4, 1956. They were represented by former First Lady Eleanor Roosevelt (D) and Sen. Margaret Chase Smith (R), respectively.^[23]

The Kennedy-Nixon debates that took place four years later showed the importance of television as a visual medium, "Nixon, pale and underweight from a recent hospitalization, appeared sickly and sweaty, while Kennedy appeared calm and confident. As the story goes, those who listened to the debate on the radio thought Nixon had won. But those listeners were in the minority. ... Those that watched the debate on TV thought Kennedy was the clear winner. Many say Kennedy won the election that night," TIME reported on the 50th anniversary of the event.^[24]

While a handful of presidential primary debates were held between 1964 and 1972, the televised presidential debate did not become a staple of American politics until 1976.^[25]

Overview

The following chart shows the number of presidential and vice presidential debates that took place in each election cycle between 1960 and 2024.

List of presidential debates, 1960-2024

The following table shows the date, location, and moderators for each presidential debate between 1960 and 2024.^[26]

See also

Ballotpedia's 2024 presidential election coverage

• Presidential election
• Presidential candidates
• Battleground states
• Presidential election by state
• Ballotpedia's presidential election coverage index

General election presidential debates, 2024
Use the dropdown menu below to navigate Ballotpedia's coverage of 2024 presidential general election debates.

First debate (June 27, 2024)Second debate (September 10, 2024)Vice presidential debate (October 1, 2024)Submit

Additional reading

Presidential debates

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Footnotes

v • e 2024 United States presidential election Overviews 2024 presidential candidates • 2024 battleground states • Debate over 2024 presidential primary calendar • Electoral College in the 2024 presidential election • Presidential debates, 2024 • Presidential election by state, 2024 • Presidential voting history by state • Prediction markets in the 2024 presidential election • Timeline of announcements in the presidential election, 2024 • Presidential election campaign finance, 2024 • Presidential election endorsements, 2024 • Presidential campaign logos and slogans, 2024 • Presidential election key staffers, 2024 • Presidential campaign staff transfers, resignations, and terminations, 2024 • Presidential election campaign managers, 2024 • Vice presidential candidates, 2024 • Policy positions • Ballotpedia's presidential election coverage index Dates and deadlines Important dates in the 2024 presidential race • Deadline to run for president, 2024 • Filing deadlines for independent presidential candidates, 2024 • State laws and party rules on replacing a presidential nominee, 2024 Noteworthy candidates Kamala Harris (D) • Donald Trump (R) • Jill Stein (G) • Chase Oliver (L) Noteworthy campaign staff Kamala Harris (D) • Donald Trump (R) • Chase Oliver (L) Democratic primary Democratic presidential nomination, 2024 • Democratic National Convention, 2024 • Democratic delegate rules, 2024 • Prediction markets in the 2024 Democratic presidential primary • Democratic Party officials on Joe Biden's 2024 presidential election campaign • What happens if Joe Biden drops out or is replaced as the 2024 Democratic Party presidential nominee Republican primary Republican presidential nomination, 2024 • Republican National Convention, 2024 • Republican delegate rules, 2024 • Prediction markets in the 2024 Republican presidential primary • Presidential candidate campaign travel, 2024 • Republican presidential primary debates, 2024 • The Republican Party Platform, 2024 Debates Presidential debates, 2024 • Vice presidential debate (October 1, 2024) • Presidential debate (September 10, 2024) • Presidential debate (June 27, 2024) • Republican presidential primary debate (August 23, 2023) • Republican presidential primary debate (September 27, 2023) • Republican presidential primary debate (November 8, 2023) • Republican presidential primary debate (December 6, 2023) • Republican presidential primary debate (January 10, 2024) • Republican presidential primary debate (January 18, 2024) • Republican presidential primary debate (January 21, 2024) Minor party nominations Green Party presidential nomination, 2024 • Libertarian Party presidential nomination, 2024 • Minor party presidential ballot access, 2024 Withdrawn noteworthy candidates and campaign staff Robert F. Kennedy Jr. (I) • Kennedy's campaign staff • Joe Biden (D) • Biden campaign staff • Dean Phillips (D) • Phillips campaign staff • Marianne Williamson (D) • Williamson campaign staff • Ryan Binkley (R) • Binkley campaign staff • Doug Burgum (R) • Burgum campaign staff • Chris Christie (R) • Christie campaign staff • Ron DeSantis (R) • DeSantis campaign staff • Larry Elder (R) • Elder campaign staff • Nikki Haley (R) • Haley campaign staff • Will Hurd (R) • Hurd campaign staff • Asa Hutchinson (R) • Hutchinson campaign staff • Perry Johnson (R) • Johnson campaign staff • Mike Pence (R) • Pence campaign staff • Vivek Ramaswamy (R) • Ramaswamy campaign staff • Tim Scott (R) • Scott campaign staff • Corey Stapleton (R) • Stapleton campaign staff • Francis Suarez (R) • Suarez campaign staff