Presidential debate commission defends schedule after Trump campaign pushes for new dates
Source: NBC News
May 1, 2024, 11:06 PM EDT
The Commission on Presidential Debates is pushing back against criticism from the Trump campaign over its debate schedule. The nonpartisan entity, which announced the dates and locations for three debates late last year, responded Wednesday to Trump campaign officials' calling the timeline "unacceptable."
"The CPD has only one mission: to sponsor and produce general election debates that inform and educate the public," it said in a statement. "Our schedule is designed with that single mission in mind."
The first debate is scheduled for Sept. 16 at Texas State University in San Marcos. Trump's campaign said in a statement Tuesday that the commission's schedule does not begin "until after millions of Americans will have already cast their ballots."
The overwhelming majority of states will not have started mailing out absentee ballots by the first debate. While a handful of states start mailing absentee ballots in early September, most begin sending them within a month and a half of the election, according to the National Conference of State Legislatures. Election Day this year falls on Nov. 5.
Read more: https://www.nbcnews.com/politics/2024-election/presidential-debate-commission-defends-schedule-trump-campaign-pushes-rcna150328
= new reply since forum marked as read
of getting out of the debates? 
