CBS News on Friday announced rules for the vice presidential debate it’s hosting Tuesday night between Democratic vice presidential nominee Gov. Tim Walz and Republican vice presidential nominee Sen. JD Vance.
Notably, the network said that the candidates’ microphones will not be muted, but clarified in a press release that it “reserves the right to turn off candidate microphones.”
This is a shift from the CNN presidential debate in June and the ABC News presidential debate held earlier this month, where microphones were muted unless it was the candidate’s turn to speak.
CBS News also said that Vance won a virtual coin toss for the right to choose the order in which each candidate gives their closing statement, and he decided to speak after Walz. (There will be no opening statements.)
Walz will be standing on stage left (the right side of the screen for viewers), and Vance on stage right. Walz will also introduced first, because he is in the incumbent president’s party.
Candidates cannot have notes or props with them.
The debate, set to be held in New York City and moderated by CBS journalists Norah O’Donnell and Margaret Brennan, is scheduled to be 90 minutes long and will be held without a studio audience, similar to the debates hosted by CNN and ABC News.
Each candidate will have two minutes to answer a question, and then their opponent has two minutes to respond. Candidates then have one minute each for additional rebuttals, and CBS News said that the moderators can choose to give the candidates another minute to finish a topic.
The debate likely be the only time the vice presidential candidates face off onstage and comes just over a month before the presidential election.
Both candidates have been preparing for the pivotal event.
Vance’s debate preparations have included sessions at his Cincinnati home and online sessions with his team and with Jason Miller, a senior adviser on former President Donald Trump’s campaign, a source told ABC News. And the Ohio senator is turning to Minnesota Rep. Tom Emmer to help him in debate rehearsals by playing Walz, sources familiar with the plans told ABC News.
Walz, meanwhile, has held mock debates, sources told ABC News, with Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg, in his personal capacity, acting as a Vance stand-in, and held policy sessions with his own longtime aides, Biden White House alumni and members of the Harris-Walz campaign team.
