John Jefferson
JD Vance has refused to commit to a vice presidential debate against Tim Walz on CBS News – while his Democratic rival has defiantly told him “see you on October 1”.
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 has so far shirked making a firm commitment – in a move that echoes his running mate Donald Trump’s recent back-and-forth with Kamala Harris over their first presidential debate.
When Vance was asked on Wednesday night if there was any doubt he would be there on October 1, he told Fox News host host Laura Ingraham he skirted around the subject.
The Republican candidate said that he “strongly suspected” he would attend but claimed he first wants 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.”
The Independent has contacted Vance’s campaign for further comment.
A statement from the Harris campaign said: “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.”
Walz’s 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.
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