Fox News Proposes Trump-Harris Debate for Sept. 17
WASHINGTON — Fox News has proposed a new Sept. 17 debate to the presidential campaigns of former President Donald Trump and Vice President Kamala Harris, a sign that the anything-and-everything-can-happen nature of the 2024 race has extended to the television networks.
The Trump and Biden camps had previously agreed to two debates, the one hosted by CNN in June, and a second debate to be hosted by ABC News on Sept. 10.
In mid-May, Harris accepted an invitation from CBS News to debate Trump’s nominee for vice president on either July 23 or Aug. 13, a face-to-face that has now, obviously, fallen by the wayside.
The Trump campaign had not agreed to the CBS debate, but it said it would agree to a vice-presidential debate hosted by Fox News.
Earlier this week, in the aftermath of President Joe Biden dropping out of the race, Trump said he would “absolutely” debate Vice President Kamala Harris, and would be willing to do so more than once.
“I agreed to debate with Joe Biden. But I want to debate her and she’ll be no different because they have the same policies,” Trump told reporters during a call organized by the Republican National Committee.
But Trump also suggested he wouldn’t be averse to abandoning plans for the ABC debate, saying, “I guess [the campaigns] committed but I have at least equal say, and I don’t like the idea of ABC.”
In a Truth Social post, he suggested that Fox News host a debate instead.
In letters to the Harris and Trump campaigns that were subsequently shared with The Well News, Jay Wallace, the president and executive editor of Fox News Media, and Jessica Loker, its vice president of politics, proposed a debate moderated by Bret Baier and Martha MacCallum, who typically lead the cable network’s coverage of elections and breaking political news.
The debate they are proposing would be held in Pennsylvania, “just as early voting is getting underway there and in other key battlegrounds.”
“We are open to discussion on the exact date, format and location — with or without an audience,” Wallace and Loker wrote.
“As you recall, despite not having a Democratic debate in 2016/2020, FOX News was able to secure town halls with Democratic candidates such as: Hillary Clinton, Bernie Sanders, Pete Buttigieg, Julian Castro, Amy Klobuchar and Kirsten Gillibrand,” they continued, attaching a detailed list of “viewership stats” and information on the Fox News Channel’s “strength with key demographics” such as independents in swing states.
The Well News reached out to both campaigns and will update this story with their initial responses to the proposal.
Dan can be reached at [email protected] and @DanMcCue
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