Rules for vice presidential debate between JD Vance and Tim Walz

Published 3:00 pm Sunday, September 29, 2024

WASHINGTON — Vice-presidential candidates JD Vance, a Republican U.S. senator from Ohio, and Tim Walz, the Democratic governor of Minnesota, will face each other Tuesday in their only debate.

The event will be sponsored by CBS News and held in New York. It begins at 9 p.m. Eastern.

Here are the rules agreed to by the candidates:

Advance notices. Questions and topics will not be shared in advance with either the candidates or their campaigns.

Audience. No live audience.

Closing statements. Candidates will have two minutes apiece. Vance won a virtual coin toss and decided to go second. There will be no opening statements.

Debate aids. No prewritten notes will be allowed and props are forbidden. Candidates will receive a pen, paper and water.

Introductions. With Democrats controlling the White House, Walz will be introduced first.

Microphones. They will remain on, but the moderators will be able to shut them off if necessary.

Questioning. Only the moderators, Margaret Brennan and Norah O’Donnell, can question the candidates.

Setup. The candidates will be standing behind podiums, with Vance to viewers’ left and Walz to viewers’ right.

Staff. Campaign staff can’t interact with the candidates during breaks.

Timekeeping. Each candidate gets two minutes to respond to questions and one minute to rebut his opponent. The moderators can give the candidates another minute to respond a second time. Colored lights will warn them as time runs out — green lights until 15 seconds, yellow lights until five seconds, and then flashing red lights until time runs out.

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