For the first time in more than three decades, an independent presidential candidate may take part in a general election debate.
The Commission on Presidential Debates announced the schedule and prerequisites for the 2024 cycle Monday, with three presidential debates set for:
A single vice presidential debate is slated for Sept. 25, 2024, at Lafayette College in Easton, Pa.
To qualify for the debate stage, candidates for president and vice president must have achieved at least 15% in national polling.
With under 10 months to go until the first debate, environmental lawyer and anti-vaccine advocate Robert F. Kennedy Jr. is averaging 16.7% in the latest RealClearPolitics aggregate.
Business magnate Ross Perot was the only third-party candidate in the modern era to make a general election debate, in 1992.
The CPD, which has overseen all general election debates since 1988, will determine which polls will be considered qualifying after consulting with experts.
Moderators and formats for the debates haven’t been announced yet. Each one is expected to start at 9 p.m. ET and last approximately 90 minutes.
However, it remains unclear whether the Republican and Democratic standard-bearers will participate.
Both of the frontrunners — former President Donald Trump, 77, and President Biden, 81 — appear noncommittal to squaring off onstage.
Spokespersons for both campaigns declined requests for comment from The Post, as did reps for both the Republican National Committee and Democratic National Committee.
Friction emerged between the RNC and the CPD during the 2020 election cycle, with RNC Chair Ronna McDaniel accusing the commission of bias.
Trump famously skipped the second planned debate, protesting plans to make it virtual following his contraction of COVID-19.
Republicans also took issue with the choice of then-C-SPAN host Steve Scully as moderator, who had interned for Biden in the late 1970s. Scully was then suspended by C-SPAN after he lied about communicating with former White House Communications Director Anthony Scaramucci ahead of the debate.
Trump has also skipped all three of the GOP primary debates so far this cycle.
The general election is slated for Nov. 5, 2024.