Political Debates

In an unusual move, the five major broadcast and cable news networks have prepared a joint open letter that urges President Biden and former President Donald J. Trump to participate in televised debates ahead of Election Day, according to two people with direct knowledge of their plans. The letter — endorsed by ABC, CBS, CNN, NBC and Fox News — thrusts into public view a question that has swirled within media and political circles: whether the presidential debates, one of the nation’s last remaining mass civic rituals in a polarized age, will occur this year at all.

As Donald Trump’s two main Republican rivals slugged it out Wednesday on an Iowa debate stage, the former president appeared across town on a Fox News Channel town hall in a counterprogramming move where few discouraging words were heard. (Carolyn Kaster/AP)

Yet with two of the three debate moderators associated with conservative media and not NewsNation, including podcast star Megyn Kelly, the event threatens to be at odds with the centrist image the Nexstar-owned network is trying to cultivate.

Newsmax is clashing with the Republican National Committee after the conservative, Trump-friendly channel wasn’t able to co-sponsor one of the first four GOP presidential primary debates. The dispute is a view into the delicate and at times fraught negotiations over the debates, which can propel or depress a candidacy — and add prestige and viewers to networks that sponsor them.

Fox News‘ Ron DeSantis–Gavin Newsom debate drew 5.46 million million viewers — 4.75 million in its live telecast and 706,000 for a rebroadcast — giving a ratings bump to Sean Hannity in the time slot. The Thursday 90-minute debate — billed as a Red State vs. Blue State showdown — easily beat the competition on MSNBC and CNN.

The event moderated by Sean Hannity on Thursday will feature two governors who aren’t rivals for office but have long sparred.

The Wednesday night debate was the second in a row that the front-runner, former President Donald Trump, skipped to have the spotlight follow him instead of his distant rivals. Viewership was down from the 12.8 million who tuned into August’s debate, which marked the first time much of America heard from the other Republicans hoping to take on Trump.

Semafor reviewed the rates the network shared with one prospective ad buyer for both the first and second GOP primary debates. For the first debate, the cost of a single 30-second spot topped $495,000. But the same 30-second spot during Wednesday night’s contest cost just over $200,000.

The former president’s apparent decision to skip the first debate is a major affront both to the Republican National Committee and to Fox News, which is hosting the event.

The California governor had taunted his Florida counterpart for months. Now, with his presidential campaign struggling, DeSantis agreed to a debate hosted by Sean Hannity.

It declines C-SPAN’s request for carriage, opting for national exposure on its co-owned NewsNation cable network. Above: WJW Cleveland’s debate between U.S. Senate candidates Rep. Tim Ryan (D-Ohio) and J.D. Vance aired on Nexstar-owned NewsNation.

The cable industry-backed C-SPAN is making sure cable and broadband subscribers have plenty of access to important political action in their states. With only two weeks before arguably one of the most important midterm elections in recent memory, C-SPAN is airing and streaming coverage of more than a dozen debates among candidates for governors, U.S. senators and representatives over the next week.

Direct political engagement with voters is waning as candidates surround themselves with supporters. “They run these campaigns in bubbles,” a former congressman says. Above: A debate in the Nevada governor’s race between Gov. Steve Sisolak (l) and Joe Lombardo (r) was streamed live for $99 before it was broadcast to the public the next day. (Ellen Schmidt/Associated Press)

In several key states with competitive races, Nexstar said it is the only local broadcaster with the scale and resources capable of bringing opposing candidates together for a live broadcast carried in virtually every county to an audience of millions of voters. Many of the Nexstar-hosted debates, including for the U.S. Senate races in Georgia and Pennsylvania and the Governor’s race in Texas, represent the only face-to-face meetings between the candidates ahead of the November elections.

Debate Night in America will feature news and analysis from NewsNation’s team of journalists, including George Will and Chris Stirewalt. Nexstar’s TV stations serving Texas, Georgia and Pennsylvania are hosting the events and also televising them locally.

An extended back-and-forth between the campaigns threw the presidential debate schedule into chaos Thursday, raising the question: Will there even be another debate? In addition to safety concerns, there is also a political standoff between the two campaigns, with a fight over the dates and settings of the two remaining debates.

Trump’s campaign is seeking to delay the final two debates by one week after the president pulled out of next Thursday’s event to protest the organizing commission’s decision to make the debate virtual. The Biden campaign said it will not agree to the delays, but instead wants the final debate to be a town hall style event to make up for next week’s scuttled showdown.

Minutes after the bipartisan Commission on Presidential Debates announced this morning that next week’s second debate would be held virtually, President Trump announced that he would not participate. “I’m not going to waste my time on a virtual debate,” he told Fox Business host Maria Bartiromo in an interview.

The events of the past week show that in-person showdowns won’t work in this pandemic, with this administration.