President Trump’s re-election campaign penned a letter to the nonpartisan commission on presidential debates, asking for an additional debate at an earlier date, on top of the three debates already scheduled. Trump surrogate and former mayor of New York City, Rudy Guiliani, argues that the agreed-upon dates do not give voters adequate time to see President Trump and former Vice President Biden faceoff, given that a substantial number of states have early voting.
“By the time of the first presidential debate on September 29, 2020, at Case Western Reserve University in Cleveland, Ohio, as many as eight million Americans in 16 states will have already started voting. By the time of the vice presidential debate on October 7, 2020, at the University of Utah in Salt Lake City, Utah, as many as 20 million Americans in 24 states will have already started voting. By the time of the second presidential debate on October 15, 2020, at the Adrienne Arsht Center in Miami, Florida, as many as 35 million Americans in 29 states will have already started voting,” he writes. “And by the time of the third and final presidential debate on October 22, 2020, at Belmont University in Nashville, Tennessee, as many as 49 million Americans in 34 states will have already started voting. Simply put, the Commission’s current approach is an outdated dinosaur and not reflective of voting realities in 2020.”
By the time of the first presidential debate on September 29, 2020, as many as eight million Americans in 16 states will have already started voting.
— Andrew Clark (@AndrewHClark) August 5, 2020
The Commission on Pres. Debates needs to add a fourth debate and/or make the debates start earlier! https://t.co/FNjbILxUu9
The letter also includes a list of moderators deemed worthy of the task by the Trump campaign.
Biden’s campaign previously said that the agreed-upon debate schedule is sufficient and that President Trump’s re-election team is trying to “move the goalposts.” By the time the two presidential contenders face off, on the first scheduled date of September 29, early voting will have begun in 16 states.