The Commission on Presidential Debates (CPD) is a
nonprofit corporation
A corporation is an organization—usually a group of people or a company—authorized by the state to act as a single entity (a legal entity recognized by private and public law "born out of statute"; a legal person in legal context) and ...
established in 1987 under the joint sponsorship of the
Democratic and
Republican
Republican can refer to:
Political ideology
* An advocate of a republic, a type of government that is not a monarchy or dictatorship, and is usually associated with the rule of law.
** Republicanism, the ideology in support of republics or agains ...
political parties in the
United States
The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territori ...
.
The CPD sponsors and produces debates for U.S. presidential and vice-presidential candidates and undertakes research and educational activities relating to the debates. It has run all of the presidential debates held since 1988. The commission's debates are sponsored by private contributions from foundations and corporations as well as fees from hosting institutions.
The commission's exclusion of
third-party
Third party may refer to:
Business
* Third-party source, a supplier company not owned by the buyer or seller
* Third-party beneficiary, a person who could sue on a contract, despite not being an active party
* Third-party insurance, such as a Ve ...
candidates from the debates has been the subject of controversy and legal challenges.
History
Debates before the CPD
The first televised
presidential debates were held between
Richard Nixon
Richard Milhous Nixon (January 9, 1913April 22, 1994) was the 37th president of the United States, serving from 1969 to 1974. A member of the Republican Party, he previously served as a representative and senator from California and was ...
and
John F. Kennedy
John Fitzgerald Kennedy (May 29, 1917 – November 22, 1963), often referred to by his initials JFK and the nickname Jack, was an American politician who served as the 35th president of the United States from 1961 until his assassination ...
during the
1960 campaign. No general-election debates were done in 1964, and Richard Nixon refused to participate in any debate in 1968 and 1972. Beginning with the
1976 election, the
League of Women Voters sponsored the televised
Gerald Ford–
Jimmy Carter
James Earl Carter Jr. (born October 1, 1924) is an American politician who served as the 39th president of the United States from 1977 to 1981. A member of the Democratic Party, he previously served as the 76th governor of Georgia from 1 ...
debates, followed by the
John B. Anderson–
Ronald Reagan and Reagan–Carter debates for the
1980 election, and Reagan and
Walter Mondale
Walter Frederick "Fritz" Mondale (January 5, 1928 – April 19, 2021) was an American lawyer and politician who served as the 42nd vice president of the United States from 1977 to 1981 under President Jimmy Carter. A U.S. senator from Minnesota ...
in 1984.
Formation
After studying the election process in 1985, the bipartisan National Commission on Elections recommended "
rning over the sponsorship of presidential debates to the two major parties".
The CPD was established in 1987 by the chairmen of the Democratic and Republican Parties to "take control of the presidential debates".
The commission was staffed by members from the two parties and chaired by the heads of the Democratic and Republican parties,
Paul G. Kirk and
Frank Fahrenkopf.
At a 1987 press conference announcing the commission's creation, Fahrenkopf said that the commission was not likely to include third-party candidates in debates, and Kirk said he personally believed they should be excluded from the debates.
In 1988, the League of Women Voters withdrew its sponsorship of the presidential debates after the
George H. W. Bush and
Michael Dukakis
Michael Stanley Dukakis (; born November 3, 1933) is an American retired lawyer and politician who served as governor of Massachusetts from 1975 to 1979 and again from 1983 to 1991. He is the longest-serving governor in Massachusetts history a ...
campaigns secretly agreed to a "memorandum of understanding" that would decide which candidates could participate in the debates, which individuals would be panelists (and therefore able to ask questions), and the height of the lecterns. The league rejected the demands and released a statement saying that it was withdrawing support for the debates because "the demands of the two campaign organizations would perpetrate a fraud on the American voter."
The CPD has sponsored the debates in
1988
File:1988 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: The oil platform Piper Alpha explodes and collapses in the North Sea, killing 165 workers; The USS Vincennes (CG-49) mistakenly shoots down Iran Air Flight 655; Australia celebrates its Bicenten ...
,
1992,
1996,
2000
File:2000 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: Protests against Bush v. Gore after the 2000 United States presidential election; Heads of state meet for the Millennium Summit; The International Space Station in its infant form as seen from S ...
,
2004,
2008
File:2008 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: Lehman Brothers went bankrupt following the Subprime mortgage crisis; Cyclone Nargis killed more than 138,000 in Myanmar; A scene from the opening ceremony of the 2008 Summer Olympics in Beijing; ...
,
2012
File:2012 Events Collage V3.png, From left, clockwise: The passenger cruise ship Costa Concordia lies capsized after the Costa Concordia disaster; Damage to Casino Pier in Seaside Heights, New Jersey as a result of Hurricane Sandy; People gat ...
,
2016
File:2016 Events Collage.png, From top left, clockwise: Bombed-out buildings in Ankara following the 2016 Turkish coup d'état attempt; the Impeachment of Dilma Rousseff, impeachment trial of Brazilian President Dilma Rousseff; Damaged houses duri ...
, and
2020
2020 was heavily defined by the COVID-19 pandemic, which led to global social and economic disruption, mass cancellations and postponements of events, worldwide lockdowns and the largest economic recession since the Great Depression in t ...
.
Washington University in St. Louis
Washington University in St. Louis (WashU or WUSTL) is a private research university with its main campus in St. Louis County, and Clayton, Missouri. Founded in 1853, the university is named after George Washington. Washington University is r ...
has been selected by the commission to host more presidential and vice-presidential debates than any institution in history.
In January 2022 the
Republican National Committee
The Republican National Committee (RNC) is a U.S. Political action committee, political committee that assists the Republican Party (United States), Republican Party of the United States. It is responsible for developing and promoting the Republi ...
warned the CPD that it planned to amend the Rules of the Republican Party to prohibit Republican presidential nominees from attending CPD-sponsored debates. The amendment was unanimously passed on April 14.
Leadership
The commission is headed by
Frank Fahrenkopf, a former
Republican National Committee
The Republican National Committee (RNC) is a U.S. Political action committee, political committee that assists the Republican Party (United States), Republican Party of the United States. It is responsible for developing and promoting the Republi ...
chairman, Dorothy S. Ridings, the president and chief executive officer of the
Council on Foundations, and Kenneth Wollack, former president of the
National Democratic Institute.
As of 2020, the
board of directors consisted of
John C. Danforth,
Charles Gibson
Charles deWolf Gibson (born March 9, 1943) is an American broadcast television anchor, journalist and podcaster. Gibson was a host of ''Good Morning America'' from 1987 to 1998 and again from 1999 to 2006, and the anchor of ''World News with Char ...
, John Griffen, Yvonne Hao,
Jane Harman
Jane Margaret Lakes Harman (born June 28, 1945) is the former U.S. Representative for , serving from 1993 to 1999, and from 2001 to 2011; she is a member of the Democratic Party. Harman was the ranking Democrat on the House Intelligence Committ ...
,
Antonia Hernandez,
Reverend John I. Jenkins,
Newton N. Minow,
Richard D. Parsons, and
Olympia Snowe.
Janet H. Brown is the current
executive director
Executive director is commonly the title of the chief executive officer of a non-profit organization, government agency or international organization.
The title is widely used in North American and European not-for-profit organizations, though ...
.
Criticism
In 2000 the CPD established a rule that candidates must garner at least 15% support across five national polls to be included in the national debates. This rule has been controversial as it has effectively excluded
U.S. parties other than the two major parties.
On October 8, 2004, two presidential candidates,
Libertarian candidate
Michael Badnarik
Michael J. Badnarik ( ; August 1, 1954 – August 11, 2022) was an American software engineer, political figure, and radio talk show host. He was the Libertarian Party nominee for President of the United States in the 2004 elections, and plac ...
and
Green Party candidate
David Cobb, were arrested while protesting against CPD for excluding third-party candidates from the nationally televised debates in
St. Louis, Missouri.
On October 16, 2012,
Green Party presidential nominee
Jill Stein
Jill Ellen Stein (born May 14, 1950) is an American physician, activist, and former political candidate. She was the Green Party's nominee for President of the United States in the 2012 and 2016 elections and the Green-Rainbow Party's candidat ...
and vice-presidential nominee
Cheri Honkala were arrested for disorderly conduct while trying to take part in the second presidential debate at
Hofstra University in Hempstead, New York.
The
2020 United States presidential debates
The 2020 United States presidential debates between Joe Biden and Donald Trump, the major candidates in the 2020 United States presidential election, were sponsored by the Commission on Presidential Debates. There were three initially planne ...
were controversial and received complaints from both Republicans and Democrats. Democrats criticized the commission following the first debate, feeling they were too lenient on President
Donald Trump
Donald John Trump (born June 14, 1946) is an American politician, media personality, and businessman who served as the 45th president of the United States from 2017 to 2021.
Trump graduated from the Wharton School of the University of P ...
and felt not enough was done to prevent interruptions from the candidate by moderator
Chris Wallace
Christopher Wallace (born October 12, 1947) is an American broadcast journalist. He is known for his tough and wide-ranging interviews, for which he is often compared to his father, ''60 Minutes'' journalist Mike Wallace. Over his 50-year care ...
.
Conversely, Republicans criticized the commission's choice of
Steve Scully to moderate the second debate, after he accidentally leaked an exchange between himself, former
White House Communications Director
The White House communications director or White House director of communications, also known officially as Assistant to the President for Communications, is part of the senior staff of the president of the United States. The officeholder is resp ...
Anthony Scaramucci
Anthony Scaramucci ( ; born January 6, 1964) is an American financier who briefly served as the White House Director of Communications from July 21 to July 31, 2017.
Scaramucci worked at Goldman Sachs's investment banking, equities, and priv ...
, asking him how he should respond to criticism issued by the president. Scully claimed his
Twitter
Twitter is an online social media and social networking service owned and operated by American company Twitter, Inc., on which users post and interact with 280-character-long messages known as "tweets". Registered users can post, like, and ...
account, which the exchange was leaked onto, was hacked, but he later admitted to lying about this.
In response to complaints concerning interruptions, President Trump and former Vice President
Joe Biden had their microphones muted after each would deliver their responses for the third debate,
and the second debate that was to be hosted by Scully was cancelled for unrelated reasons, though Scully was suspended by
C-SPAN for having lied about his dialogue with Scaramucci.
Multiple lawsuits have been filed by third-party candidates challenging the CPD's policy of requiring a candidate to have 15% support in national polls to be included in presidential debates. The lawsuits have challenged the requirement on a number of grounds, including claims that it violates
Federal Election Commission
The Federal Election Commission (FEC) is an independent regulatory agency of the United States whose purpose is to enforce campaign finance law in United States federal elections. Created in 1974 through amendments to the Federal Election Cam ...
(FEC) rules and that it violates antitrust laws; none of the lawsuits have been successful.
References
External links
*
Full text of CPD's contract for the Bush/Kerry debates of 2004 (PDF)Fair Debates ProjectOpen DebatesFree And Equal Elections Foundation
{{Authority control
United States presidential debates
1987 establishments in the United States
Organizations established in 1987