The first presidential debate between President Trump and former vice president Joe Biden took place in Cleveland on Sept. 29. Two more presidential debates are set for Oct. 15 and 22, but Trump’s coronavirus diagnosis and hospitalization have thrown into question whether those can happen at all and what format they would take if they do.
The vice-presidential debate between Vice President Pence and Sen. Kamala D. Harris (D-Calif.) is Oct. 7, and that is still on. Pence has tested negative for coronavirus after the outbreak at the White House, and his campaign says he plans to keep up a rigorous travel schedule, despite being first in line for the presidency should Trump be unable to perform his duties. At the debate, the candidates and the moderator will be divided by plexiglass.
Here’s more about the upcoming debates.
Each debate will have a slightly different format, but because of the pandemic, the candidates will appear onstage far apart and won’t shake hands. And the audience will be smaller than in years past. The first debate had 80 to 90 people in the audience, all masked and tested for the novel coronavirus. The nonpartisan Commission on Presidential Debates said that it will follow all Centers for Disease Control and Prevention guidelines and that it has retained the Cleveland Clinic as a health security adviser for the debates.
Here’s what we know:
Vice-presidential debate: Wednesday, Oct. 7
Location: The University of Utah in Salt Lake City.
Time: 9-10:30 p.m. Eastern
Where to watch: The Washington Post will have an uninterrupted live stream of the debate. It will also be carried on most major news stations.
Moderator: Susan Page, Washington bureau chief, USA Today
Details: The debate will be 90 minutes long and have no commercial breaks. It will be divided into nine segments of 10 minutes each that the moderator gets to chose.
Second presidential debate: Thursday, Oct. 15
Location: Adrienne Arsht Center for the Performing Arts in Miami. The debate was moved to this location because of the pandemic. It was originally scheduled for the University of Michigan, which determined it wasn’t safe to bring campaigns, journalists and guests to the university in a pandemic.
Time: 9-10:30 p.m. Eastern
Where to watch: Assuming this debate is still on in some form, The Washington Post will have an uninterrupted live stream of the debate. It will also be carried on most major news stations.
Details: The debate will be 90 minutes long and have no commercial breaks. This debate was planned to be a town hall format, where people who live in the Miami area can pose questions.
Moderator: Steve Scully, political editor of C-SPAN
Third and final presidential debate: Thursday, Oct. 22
Location: Belmont University in Nashville. This is one of the few original hosting universities that has not reversed its decision to hold this debate.
Time: 9-10:30 p.m. Eastern
Where to watch: The Washington Post will have an uninterrupted live stream of the debate. It will also be carried on most major news stations.
Moderator: Kristen Welker, NBC News White House correspondent and co-anchor of “Today Weekend”
Details: The debate will be 90 minutes long and have no commercial breaks. It will be divided into six 15-minute segments that the moderator gets to choose and is expected to announce at least a week before the debate.
Correction: A previous version of this post said there would be just one moderator in part due to the pandemic, but many debates in recent years have featured only one moderator.