The 2024 election cycle is in full swing, and the calendar is chock-full of important political events that will carry Americans through to the November election.
While some of the major events of the season have already passed, there are still a few more to come before voters head to the polls on Nov. 5 to decide the fate of the country.
Historically, every season has at least two presidential debates between the candidates from the Republican and Democratic Parties, and this year is no exception. There's also slated to be a vice-presidential debate between the running mates.
Donald Trump makes bizarre claim there are signs Justin Trudeau is the son of Fidel Castro in new book
Trump vs. Harris: How this debate will compare to former president’s previous debates with Joe Biden
The 2024 matchup will be a race between former President Donald Trump and current Vice President Kamala Harris, with their running mates junior Ohio Sen. JD Vance and Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz, respectively, at their sides.
As of the end of August, Harris and Walz have pulled ahead of Trump and Vance in the polls, but only slightly as the race remains incredibly close. The scales could tip in either side's favor in November.
So, what remains this election cycle? As it stands, there are two debates left over the next two months, then the election will occur a month after the second of them. There has already been one debate, and both parties' national conventions were also already held.
Sept. 10 presidential debate
The next major event in the election cycle will be the presidential debate on Sept. 10, which is just a couple of Tuesdays from now. It will be hosted by ABC and will be the first and only debate officially scheduled that features Harris and Trump facing off.
The network is slated to host the debate in Pennsylvania, a key swing state in the election. Doing so could help voters decide which of the candidates they want over the other, which could ultimately determine what color the state turns on Nov. 5.
At approximately 9 p.m. EDT, the candidates will take the stage and field questions from hosts David Muir and Linsey Davis at the National Constitution Center in Philadelphia.
Click here to follow the Mirror US on Google News to stay up to date with all the latest news, sports and entertainment stories.
For 90 minutes, both Harris, a Democrat, and Trump, a Republican, will debate policy issues and likely lob attacks at one another as they attempt to prove to the public why they're they're the better candidate for America's future.
The debate will not feature a live audience, and microphones will be muted as the candidates aren't speaking, it was reported. They also won't be allowed to carry notes with them to the exchange. They'll face off against one another while standing at lecterns.
Both campaigns are reportedly discussing the issue of muted mics with the network, as neither wants them muted while one of them is speaking — Harris' campaign reportedly said it would curb the authenticity of the event and prevent genuine reactions and exchanges in real-time to the comments of the other person.
In that sense, the parameters of the debate on Sept. 10 closely mirror that of the one held in Atlanta, Georgia, on June 27 by CNN. And the stakes are high — the Sept. 10 debate is likely to be the only one that features Trump and Harris debating one another before voters choose between them in just a few months.
Oct. 1 vice-presidential debate
Just a few weeks after Trump and Harris face off in Pennsylvania in a presidential debate on ABC News, Vance and Walz are slated to face off in a vice-presidential contest on CBS News.
As of yet, the contest is the only formally scheduled debate between both selected running mates, and it occurs shortly after early voting begins in several states.
This debate will likely take place in New York City, which is where CBS invited the vice-presidential candidates to debate and where the network has several studios fit for the matchup — and access to other arenas, should the rules for the vice-presidential debate differ from the restrictions imposed on the presidential ones this year.
Brittany Mahomes cannot make stance on U.S. election any clearer amid backlash
Trump threatens to pull out of debate with Harris as campaigns feud over microphone rules
"See you on October 1, JD," Walz wrote in a message on X that quote reposted a series of dates CBS had outlined as potential debate dates for the pair — they were Sept. 17, Sept. 24, Oct. 1 and Oct. 8. Promptly after Walz' own post, the Harris-Walz campaign posted a message that said Walz "looks forward to debating JD Vance — if he shows up."
Vance then posted on X that he would accept the invitation for the debate on Oct. 1 as he also challenged Walz to a separate debate on CNN. Neither Walz nor the Harris-Walz campaign have responded to that challenge as of yet.
The moderators of the CBS debate will be CBS Evening News anchor Norah O'Donnell and Margaret Brennan of "Face the Nation." Trump had reportedly pushed for Vance to accept the debate on CBS.
Future debates
No future debates have yet been scheduled between the presidential candidates or the vice-presidential candidates — meaning, at this point, it's likely the public will only get to see each pair face off once before the November election.
The Harris-Walz campaign is pushing for a second presidential debate before the election — but the catch is that Trump has to show up for the Sept. 10 one on ABC before Harris said she'll entertain the idea of a second debate. She's previously said she wants two.
Vance has been pushing Walz to accept a second debate with him, but so far, there has been nothing but radio silence from Walz on the matter. If there is a second debate between them, it seems likely at this point that it will be hosted by CNN.
A couple of network options are at the forefront of discussions for the second presidential debate, but according to the old Biden-Trump debate rules, the networks can only be ones that agreed to host debates in both 2016 and 2020 amid those election cycles. That would therefore disqualify Fox News, which Trump wants to have a debate on, and also MSNBC, which has been floated around.
NBC News, however, which Trump also proposed for a debate on Sept. 25, would qualify, as debates were hosted in both 2016 and 2020 on the network. Time will tell, however, what ends up happening ahead of the November election.
Past debates
Back when President Joe Biden was still in the running for reelection, he participated in a presidential debate with Trump hosted by CNN on June 27 in Atlanta, Georiga, another swing state.
That debate was arguably the tipping point for Democrats — Biden performed exceptionally poorly, prompting many members of his own party to call for him to step down and drop out of the race.
Eventually, Biden did "pass the torch" to Harris, who he promptly endorsed following his July 21 announcement that he would be dropping out.
That debate featured no studio audience and had muted mics, too, just like the rules for the ABC debate in a couple of weeks. Reporters were only allowed into the CNN Spin Room, which was across the street from the studio at which the debate occurred — CNN's Techwood campus, which is right across the street from Georgia Tech's McCamish Pavilion.
Groans sprung up from reporters around the room the second Biden opened his mouth and began speaking, and it was immediately clear that Biden's performance would have a massive impact on polling numbers and party decisions moving forward over the next few weeks. The debate was also approximately 90 minutes.
While not technically debates, the Republican and Democratic National Conventions (the RNC and the DNC) were held in the following months, the RNC in July and the DNC just recently in August. Those featured speeches from prominent figures in each party and saw both Trump and Harris officially nominated as their party's presidential contenders.
Unsurprisingly, their acceptance speeches also featured attacks against one another as they talked about policies and how they would work to move America forward in the coming years if elected.
