Tim Walz agrees to Oct. 1 VP debate

Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz (D) has agreed to attend a vice presidential debate on Oct. 1, hosted by CBS News, setting the stage for a potential showdown with Sen. JD Vance (R-Ohio).

“Harris for President has accepted CBS’ invitation to a Vice Presidential Candidate Debate on October 1. Governor Walz looks forward to debating JD Vance — if he shows up,” a Harris campaign official said in a statement.

Vance has made clear he is eager to debate Walz. The Trump campaign did not immediately respond to an inquiry about whether Vance would accept the proposed date of Oct. 1.

CBS News had originally proposed a vice presidential debate in late July or early August, but those dates were scrapped after President Biden dropped out of the race, shaking up the Democratic ticket.

The network said Wednesday it had proposed holding a debate on either Sept. 17, Sept. 24, Oct. 1 or Oct. 8.

Vice President Harris quickly consolidated support and became the Democratic nominee, choosing Walz as her running mate. Walz and Vance had said they were eager to debate each other in their early days on the campaign trail.

The vice presidential debate will take place after the first planned debate between Harris and former President Trump, which is currently scheduled for Sept. 10 and will be hosted by ABC News.

Trump has said he also accepted debate invitations from Fox News for Sept. 4 and NBC News on Sept. 25. Harris and her campaign have said they will attend the Sept. 10 debate before agreeing to any other potential dates.