Sen. JD Vance (R-Ohio) said he “strongly suspects” he will attend the vice presidential debate with Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz (D) on Oct. 1 and that he would like to debate him “more than once.”
However, Vance told Fox News host Laura Ingraham on Wednesday that he wanted a “real debate,” noting he wants to “look at the debates, look at the moderators, talk about the rules a little bit.”
“I strongly suspect we’re going to be there on October the 1st, but we’re not going to do one of these fake debates where they don’t actually have an audience there, where they don’t actually set the parameters in a way where we can have a good exchange of ideas,” Vance said.
“In other words, we’re not going to walk into a fake news media garbage debate,” he continued. “We’re going to do a real debate, and if CBS agrees to it, then certainly we’ll do it.”
Walz on Wednesday agreed to attend a vice presidential debate on Oct. 1, hosted by CBS News, in a post on the social platform X. The network had proposed holding a debate either Sept. 17, Sept. 24, Oct. 1 or Oct. 8.
Initially, CBS News had proposed a vice presidential debate in late July or early August. However, those dates were tossed after President Biden dropped out of the race.
Vance added that he wanted to debate Walz “more than once.”
“I think it’s important for the American people to actually see us discuss our views,” he said. “If you look at the way that we’ve run this campaign, Donald Trump and I are giving every media interview. We’re talking to every audience that we can get in front of, because our vision is so clear.”
The vice presidential debate will proceed after the presidential debates.
Former President Trump accepted debate invitations from Fox News for Sept. 4 and NBC News for Sept. 25. Vice President Harris and her campaign have said she will attend the Sept. 10 debate before agreeing to any other potential dates.