2020 presidential, vice presidential debate moderators announced

When are the 2020 presidential debates?

With many of the usual staples of presidential campaign politics scrapped because of the pandemic, the debates between President Trump and Joe Biden likely will take on outsized importance.

Moderators for the 2020 presidential and vice presidential debates were announced by the Commission on Presidential Debates Wednesday.

The moderators include:

First presidential debate, Sept. 29:

Chris Wallace, Fox News Sunday anchor

Vice presidential debate, Oct. 7:

Susan Page, USA Today Washington bureau chief

Second presidential debate, Oct. 15:

Steve Scully, C-SPAN senior executive producer and political editor

Third presidential debate, Oct. 22:

Kristen Welker, co-anchor for NBC’s Weekend Today and White House correspondent

The Commission on Presidential Debates also included the formats of each debate, released on June 23:

First presidential debate (Tuesday, Sept. 29, Case Western Reserve University and Cleveland Clinic, Cleveland, Ohio):

The first debate will be split into six segments that will last 15 minutes each on topics selected by the moderator, and those topics will be announced at least one week ahead of the scheduled debate.

Vice presidential debate (Wednesday, Oct. 7, The University of Utah, Salt Lake City, Utah):

The vice presidential debate will be split into nine segments that will be 10 minutes each. Candidates will have two minutes each to discuss their stance on the topic. The moderator will be allowed to balance out the time allotted to delve into deeper discussions on the chosen topic.

Second presidential debate (Thursday, Oct. 15, Adrienne Arsht Center for the Performing Arts, Miami, Fla.):

The second presidential debate will take place in the form of a town meeting where questions will be asked by citizens in the South Florida area. Candidates will have two minutes each to respond to each question and there will be additional time for the moderator to push further discussion on the topic.

Town meeting participants will be uncommitted voters selected under the supervision of Dr. Frank Newport, a senior scientist at Gallup.

Third presidential debate (Thursday, Oct. 22, Belmont University, Nashville, Tenn.):

The format of the final presidential debate will be identical to the first, according to the Commission on Presidential Debates.

All debates, presidential and vice presidential, will be moderated by one person and will last from 9 p.m.-10:30 p.m. ET with no commercial breaks.

Moderators will be given the sole responsibility to choose topics for candidates to discuss and will be given the ability to extend segments to ensure equal speaking time.

“We are grateful to these experienced journalists, who will help ensure that the general election presidential debates continue to serve their unique educational purpose of helping the public learn about the candidates. Each individual brings great professionalism to moderating and understands that the purpose of the 2020 debate formats is to facilitate in-depth discussion of major topics,” Frank J. Fahrenkopf, Jr., Dorothy S. Ridings and Kenneth Wollack, co-chairs of the Commission on Presidential Debates, said.

There was no immediate reaction from either campaign to the selections.

Trump and Biden have said they will attend the scheduled debates, which are meant to offer voters to opportunity to see the contrast between the candidates on live television.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.