Weeks after President Joe Biden and former President Donald Trump publicly criticized the Commission on Presidential Debates, opting instead to participate in media-produced forums, the commission formally canceled scheduled debates leading up to the general election, including one at Texas State University.
The university was set to host the first presidential debate in Texas and planned to spend $5 million to make the event happen.
“In a May 15, 2024 letter from Jen O'Malley Dillon, the Biden-Harris campaign's campaign chair, the Biden-Harris campaign informed the committee that President Biden would not consent to a committee-sponsored debate during the 2024 general election campaign, and it would be unfair to ask the four campuses to continue preparing for the debates as they have done since his election in November 2023,” committee co-chairs Antonia Hernandez and Frank Fahrenkopf said in a statement.
“We are grateful for the venue and regret having to come to this decision,” they said. “We are disappointed that students from four campuses will lose the opportunity to participate in this historic voter education forum.”
After presidential candidates Biden and Trump agreed to alternate debate appearances, the San Marcos, Texas, university stopped planning and funding the debates “to be good stewards of public funds and resources,” the school said in a statement.
The university paid the committee $2.7 million in venue fees to cover production costs, according to records obtained by The American-Statesman detailing the university's agreement and application to host the debate. If canceled, the committee would agree to “refund any funds or contributions not used, expended or committed prior to cancellation,” according to the agreement.
It has not yet been made public how much the commission has paid in site fees in Texas, or where the parties are in the reimbursement process.
more:Texas was set to host the first presidential debate. Here's how Biden and Trump upended the plan.
“While we are disappointed by this public announcement, we understand the position of the Chicago Police Department,” Texas State University President Kelly Damphousse said in a statement. “As the only Texas university to have produced a U.S. president, we are pleased to host the first-ever presidential debate in our great state. We are also proud to be the only Hispanic-serving university selected to host a presidential debate.”
Why were the Commission on Presidential Debates forums canceled?
It was a rare presidential rematch, but both the Biden and Trump campaigns had grievances against the committee from the 2020 election. The Biden campaign accused the nonprofit of breaking rules by having Trump repeatedly interrupt Biden, and the Republican National Committee accused the group of bias and withdrew from it in 2022. Both campaigns also said the debate, scheduled to take place after early voting began in some states, came too late.
The candidates said last month that they would participate in debates hosted by CNN and ABC, with the CNN debate on Thursday and ABC on Sept. 10. The Texas debate had been scheduled for Sept. 16.
The commission, a nonpartisan organization created in 1987 to host presidential debates, said in a May statement that the Texas debate would be “the earliest televised general election debate ever.” In a statement announcing the cancellation on Monday, the commission said it had hosted 33 debates on higher education campuses.
Candidates are not required to participate in the committee's debates, but the organization has successfully hosted debates in every presidential election since 1988.
“The reasons for establishing CPD remain compelling: a neutral organization with no other role during a general election is well positioned to provide a format that focuses on the issues that matter most to candidates and the American people,” Hernandez and Fahrenkopf's statement continued.
more:Honor and expense: How Texas State University hosts US presidential debate
The committee co-chairs said they were open to hosting a debate if each side reconsidered their positions, and Damphousse said Texas State would continue to support political literacy among students.
“We remain adamant in supporting our students and the entire University community to continue learning about democracy, engaging in civil discourse and participating in the electoral process through the upcoming election cycle,” Damphousse said.
