Minnesota Governor Tim Walz has accepted an invitation from CBS News for a vice presidential debate against Senator JD Vance of Ohio on Oct. 1, setting the stage for a potential showdown between the two candidates weeks before Election Day.
Walz responded promptly to the network's proposal on social media platform X, writing, "See you on Oct. 1, JD," just minutes after CBS News announced the invitation.
A Harris campaign official followed up with a statement, saying, "Governor Walz looks forward to debating JD Vance – if he shows up." The pointed remark hinted at potential uncertainty surrounding Vance's participation.
When asked about the debate during a Fox News interview Wednesday night, Vance expressed interest but stopped short of committing to the specific date. "We're certainly going to debate Tim Walz. We just heard about this thing three hours ago, so we're going to talk to them and figure out when we can debate," Vance told host Laura Ingraham.
The Ohio senator added a caveat to his potential participation, stating, "I strongly suspect we're going to be there on October the first, but we're not going to do one of these fake debates, Laura, where they don't actually have an audience there."
Vance's comments alluded to the recent debate between former President Donald Trump and President Joe Biden on June 27, which took place in a venue without any audience members. "In other words, we're not going to walk into a fake news media garbage debate," Vance emphasized. "We're going to do a real debate, and if CBS agrees to it, then certainly we'll do it."
CBS News had proposed four potential dates for the vice presidential debate: September 17, Sept. 24, Oct. 1, and Oct. 8. The network stated, "We look forward to their responses." As of now, CBS News has not publicly responded to Vance's comments or conditions for participation.
Last week, Trump announced that his campaign had agreed to participate in a vice presidential debate on CBS News, praising Vance's performance. "He's doing a fantastic job," Trump said, although no specific debate date was mentioned at that time.
Trump and Kamala Harris have already agreed to a Sept. 10 debate hosted by ABC News, setting the stage for a series of high-profile political face-offs as the election season intensifies.
