Will Joe skip the general election debates? The DNC does NOT commit Biden to participating in future presidential debates – as president says he WILL watch tonight’s GOP primary debate
Will Joe skip the general election debates? The DNC is NOT requiring Biden to participate in future presidential debates — as the president says he WILL watch the GOP primary debate tonight
- A top adviser to the Democratic National Committee has not included President Joe Biden in the general election debates
- DNC adviser Cedric Richmond said, “We haven’t had a conversation about that. Not at all,” speaking to reporters in Milwaukee ahead of the Republican party’s first primary debate
- Biden told reporters while vacationing in Lake Tahoe that he planned to at least see the eight Republican hopefuls on the debate stage on Wednesday night.
A top adviser to the Democratic National Committee did not require President Joe Biden to participate in general election debates on Wednesday.
The message from the DNC was that it was too soon, as party leaders met ahead of the first Republican Party primary debate in Milwaukee.
DNC Chairman Jaime Harrison held a press conference along with adviser Cedric Richmond, a former White House Biden official and Louisiana congressman, and Madison, Wisconsin Mayor Satya Rhodes-Conway.
“We haven’t discussed that. Not at all,” Richmond replied when a reporter asked if Biden would like to debate in the general election. “I’m sure that will happen some day, but it’s not today and I have no news about that.”
Biden himself told reporters while vacationing in Lake Tahoe on Wednesday that he planned to see how the Republican rivals would face off later that night.
Democratic National Committee adviser Cedric Richmond indicated on Wednesday that it was too early for questions about whether President Joe Biden would participate in general election debates. He was in Milwaukee prior to the GOP’s first primary debate
President Joe Biden told reporters Wednesday that he planned to watch tonight’s Republican primary debate. “I don’t have one,” he said when asked what his expectations were, smiling and laughing
“I’m going to try to get as much as I can, yes,” the president said as he left a practice class.
When asked what his expectations were, the president smiled and laughed.
“I don’t have one,” Biden said.
DNC Chairman Harrison called the Republican debate a “circus.”
But the usual headliner – former President Donald Trump – decided to pull out, suggesting he is too far ahead in the polls to care about the other Republican hopefuls.
The Democrats distinguished between Trump’s absence and Biden not debating his two Democratic primary challengers — longshots Robert F. Kennedy Jr. and Marianne Williamson.
“President Biden is the Democratic nominee along with Vice President Harris and if you look at both parties if they have an incumbent president, the incumbent president is not participating in debates and there are no primaries on our side,” Richmond explained.
The stage is set for eight of the Republican presidential candidates — not including former President Donald Trump — to debate Wednesday night at the Fiserv Forum in Milwaukee
He noted that the DNC “has already backed President Biden” and that “no party” has put their incumbent president on the podium next to the main challengers — something that could weaken them politically.
“It’s just something that’s been handled well,” Richmond said.
Biden participated in all primaries in the past cycle, while Trump skipped one in Iowa in 2016 when he led his party’s primary.
Trump later pulled out of a 2020 general election debate when the Commission on Presidential Debates attempted to make it virtual.
Trump had just had COVID-19, so the committee was trying to be cautious.
As Trump skips the first primary debate and likely the second — held at the Ronald Reagan Presidential Library, which has hosted a number of anti-Trump Republicans like former Representative Liz Cheney — one of his top surrogates told DailyMail.com on Tuesday that they I could see him going up against Biden.
“I definitely think he would probably participate in a debate with Biden,” Kari Lake, the former Republican Party gubernatorial nominee from Arizona, suspected.
What the general election debates will look like will be another question as the Republican Party withdraws from the Committee on Presidential Debates, the body that traditionally organized the events.
Despite the committee being bipartisan, the Republican Party echoed Trump and complained of bias following the 2020 debates.