Vance and Walz set for vice presidential debate on Oct. 1

Republican vice presidential nominee JD Vance and his Democratic counterpart, Tim Walz, are set to participate in a debate hosted by CBS on Oct. 1 after the Ohio senator accepted the invitation Thursday, a day after the Minnesota governor did the same.

Vance also said that he has accepted CNN’s invitation for a vice presidential debate this fall. CNN has reached out to the Kamala Harris campaign for comment.

A CNN spokesperson said that the network had “invited both Senator Vance and Governor Walz to a Vice Presidential debate this fall, and Senator Vance has accepted. We are always in communication with the campaigns around opportunities for the American public to hear from leading candidates for President and Vice President of the United States, and we look forward to this programming in the fall.”

Vance said on social media Thursday that he was “looking forward” to both debates.

“The American people deserve as many debates as possible, which is why President Trump has challenged Kamala to three of them already. Not only do I accept the CBS debate on Oct. 1st, I accept the CNN debate on September 18th as well. I look forward to seeing you at both!” he wrote.

Walz accepted the CBS invitation in a social media post a day earlier, writing, “See you on Oct. 1, JD.”

CBS News offered the candidates two dates in September and two dates in October as options for a debate in New York City.

In May, before President Joe Biden dropped out of the race, Harris accepted an invitation from CBS to debate Donald Trump’s future running mate on either July 23 or Aug. 13. Trump said on his Truth Social platform at the time that his campaign had accepted an invitation for his future running mate to participate in a Fox News debate.

Trump named Vance as his running mate last month. Harris ascended to the top of the Democratic ticket shortly after Biden ended his reelection campaign, and she picked Walz as her running mate last week.

Following Biden’s exit, Vance expressed disappointment that he wouldn’t get the chance to face off against Harris onstage.

“I was told I was gonna get to debate Kamala Harris, and now President Trump’s gonna get to debate her? I’m kind of pissed off about that, if I’m being honest with you,” Vance said at a hometown rally in Middletown, Ohio, last month.

Harris and Trump have agreed to meet for a presidential debate on ABC News on Sept. 10. It will be the second presidential debate of the year, following Trump’s faceoff with Biden on CNN in late June. Biden’s dismal performance at that debate set off alarm bells among Democrats that culminated with him departing the race.