Trump vs. Biden: Atlanta announced as location for first presidential debate of 2024 campaign – WSB-TV Channel 2

“Your turn, Donald. Like you said: anywhere, anytime, anywhere,” Biden wrote.

“It is my great honor to accept the CNN debate against crooked Joe Biden,” Trump wrote.

Both said they had also accepted invitations to ABC News debate scheduled for September.

Political experts said Channel 2 Action News that Georgia will be a key player again in November.

“Georgia is indeed important. This is a must-win state, I think, for both Trump and Biden. I can’t imagine winning the presidency this year without winning Georgia, it’s that important,” said Kerwin Swint, a political science professor at Kennesaw State University.

Trump and Biden have already visited the state several times this year and will likely return several more times before the election is over.

Biden won the state of Georgia in the 2020 election against Trump. It was the first time a Democrat took power since the election of Bill Clinton in 1992.

What happened after that election led to Trump and several of his allies being charged with conspiring to overturn the election here in Georgia, which will likely be a hot topic in the next debate.

Trump has pushed for more and earlier debates, arguing that voters should be able to see the two men face off well before early voting begins in September. He has repeatedly said he would debate Biden “anytime, anywhere, anywhere,” even proposing that the two men face off in front of the Manhattan courthouse where he is currently on trial. criminal in a secret money case. He also taunted Biden with an empty lectern at some of his rallies.

The Trump campaign on Wednesday challenged the Biden campaign to agree to at least two more debates between the two candidates, outside of the June and September dates. The Biden campaign did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

Biden’s campaign has long resented the nonpartisan commission for failing to uniformly enforce its rules during the 2020 Biden-Trump clashes — notably when it failed to apply its COVID-19 testing rules to Trump and her entourage.

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Biden campaign chairwoman Jen O’Malley Dillon sent a letter to the Commission on Presidential Debates on Wednesday to say that Biden’s campaign opposed the fall dates chosen by the commission, which come after some Americans began voting, repeating a complaint also voiced by the Trump campaign. She also expressed frustration with rule violations and the commission’s insistence on holding proceedings in front of a live audience.

“The debates should be conducted for the benefit of American voters, whether watched on television or at home – not as entertainment for an in-person audience surrounded by noisy or disruptive supporters and donors,” he said. she declared. “As was the case with the original televised debates in 1960, a television studio with only the candidates and moderators is a better and more cost-effective way to go: focusing solely on the interests of voters.”

Nor has Trump lost much love for the commission, which struggled with technical issues during its first debate with Democrat Hillary Clinton in 2016 and was upset after a debate with Biden in 2020 after the Republican contracted COVID-19. The Republican National Committee had already promised not to work with the commission on the 2024 elections.

The Trump campaign released a statement on May 1 objecting to the commission’s scheduled debates, saying the schedule “starts AFTER early voting” and “this is unacceptable” because voters deserve to hear the candidates before the vote.

The commission said in a statement Wednesday that “the American public deserves substantive debates from the leading presidential and vice-presidential candidates,” adding that its mission is “to ensure that such debates take place reliably and reach the widest television, radio and streaming audiences.” .”

The Biden campaign also proposed that the Biden-Trump debates this year be hosted by “any broadcast organization that hosted a 2016 Republican primary debate in which Donald Trump participated, and a 2020 Democratic primary debate in which the President Biden participated – so neither campaign. I can say that the sponsoring organization is obviously unacceptable: if both candidates have already debated on their airwaves, neither will be able to object to such a venue.

These criteria would eliminate Fox News, which did not hold a Democratic primary debate in 2020, and potentially NBC News, which did not hold a Republican debate in 2016 – although its affiliates CNBC and Telemundo co-hosted one debate each this year. .

Kicking off the debates, Biden and Trump traded barbs on social media – each claiming victory the last time they faced each other in 2020.

“Donald Trump lost two debates to me in 2020, since then he has not shown up for a debate,” Biden said in a post on X, the site formerly known as Twitter. “Now he’s acting like he wants to debate me again. Well, make my day, buddy.

Trump, for his part, said Biden was “the worst debater I’ve ever faced – he can’t put two sentences together!” »

The Associated Press contributed to this article.

The Associated Press contributed to this article.