Fox News invites Harris, Trump to Sept. 17 debate in Pennsylvania

Fox News has invited newly minted presidential candidate Vice President Kamala Harris and former President Donald Trump to a Sept. 17 debate.

The network sent out invitations to both campaigns on Wednesday to participate in the debate. It is tentatively scheduled to take place just a week after a proposed debate on Sept. 10 from ABC News, which both President Joe Biden and Trump committed to participating in before the incumbent bowed out of the race. Fox News is proposing to hold the debate in Pennsylvania, but left the door open to discussions with each campaign about the date, format, location, and whether or not there is an audience.

The invitation comes after Trump pushed for the conservative network to host a debate during a conference call with reporters on Tuesday afternoon, though he committed to debating Harris regardless of the host network. The Harris and Trump campaigns did not immediately respond to requests for comment about the invitation.

The letters sent to the Harris and Trump campaigns were penned by Fox News Media President Jay Wallace and Vice President of Politics Jessica Loker. The network described its invitation as an amendment of its proposal for a debate during the 2024 campaign and suggested that hosts Bret Baier and Martha MacCallum would be the “best choices” to moderate.

A Harris-Trump face-off would be closely watched, after Biden’s disastrous performance at his June debate against Trump caused a Democratic revolt against his campaign that culminated in the president’s stunning withdrawal from the campaign on Sunday.

Trump previously sought a vice presidential debate on Fox News between Harris and his then-unidentified running mate, now announced as Sen. JD Vance of Ohio. Harris had previously agreed to a vice presidential debate on CBS News on either July 23 or Aug. 13. Now that she’s the all-but-certain Democratic nominee for president, the status of the vice presidential debate is unclear.