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JD Vance has finally committed to two vice presidential debates on CBS News and CNN against his Democratic rival Tim Walz.
The Republican candidate initially refused to commit to a debate yesterday after CBS News sent the two vice presidential candidates four suggested dates and Walz defiantly responded with: “See you on October 1.”
Hours later, on Thursday morning, Vance confirmed he had since accepted the CBS News debate on October 1 and also an additional debate with CNN on September 18.
Responding to Walz’s post on X, he hit back at his rival: “The American people deserve as many debates as possible, which is why President Trump has challenged Kamala to three of them already.
“Not only do I accept the CBS debate on October 1st, I accept the CNN debate on September 18th as well. I look forward to seeing you at both!”
Neither Walz or Kamala Harris’s campaign have yet responded to Vance over the CNN debate. The Independent has contacted Walz’s campaign for comment.
Should Walz commit to the CNN debate this would mark the first time in American history that there has been more than one vice presidential debate in an election cycle.
The debate saga echoes that of Vance’s running mate Donald Trump’s recent back-and-forth with Harris over their first presidential debate which is now slated for September 10.
On Wednesday, CBS News invited Walz and Vance to participate in a debate in New York City, offering them four dates: September 17, 24, October 1 and 8.
Walz was quick off the mark to confirm he is up for the debate and picking a date, posting on X: “See you on October 1, JD.”
However, Vance shirked making a quick commitment.
When Vance was asked on Wednesday night if there was any doubt he would be there on October 1, he skirted around the subject to Fox News host Laura Ingraham.
The Republican candidate said that he “strongly suspected” he would attend but claimed he first wanted assurances from CBS News on the debate format before committing to what he described as “a fake news media garbage debate.”
“We want to actually look at the debates, look at the moderators, talk about the rules a little bit. CBS reached out to us literally three hours ago, I was landing from a rally at a press conference in Michigan,” he said.
“I strongly suspect we’re going to be there on October 1 but we’re not going to do one of these fake debates where they don’t actually have an audience there, where they don’t actually set the parameters in a right way where you can have a good exchange of ideas.”
He added: “In other words we’re not going to walk into a fake news media garbage debate. We’re going to do a real debate and if CBS agrees to it, then certainly we’ll do it.”
A statement from the Harris campaign responded saying: “Harris for President has accepted CBS’ invitation to a Vice Presidential Candidate Debate on October 1. Governor Walz looks forward to debating JD Vance – if he shows up.”
Vance’s initial reluctance to commit to a debate comes after Trump previously refused to commit to debating Harris – before ultimately agreeing, while throwing an additional Fox News event into the mix.
In May, campaigns for Trump and President Joe Biden agreed to a debate on September 10 with ABC News.
After Biden withdrew his re-election campaign and Harris replaced him at the top of the Democratic party’s ticket, the vice president agreed to debate Trump on the same date.
But, with the prospect of facing Harris not Biden, Trump then backed out of the ABC News debate and, instead, said he planned to debate her on Fox News.
He wrote on Truth Social: “I have agreed with FoxNews to debate Kamala Harris on Wednesday, September 4th.
“The Debate was previously scheduled against Sleepy Joe Biden on ABC, but has been terminated in that Biden will no longer be a participant, and I am in litigation against ABC Network and George Slopadopoulos, thereby creating a conflict of interest.”
The Harris campaign refused to accept the Fox debate and accused Trump of “running scared.”
“Donald Trump is running scared and trying to back out of the debate he already agreed to and running straight to Fox News to bail him out,” the campaign said.
After some back and forth, Trump backed down and the stage has been set for the pair to debate on September 10 on ABC News as originally planned.
