Utah’s presidential debate officially canceled after Biden, Trump opt for other plans

SALT LAKE CITY — The proposed presidential debate at the University of Utah in October between President Joe Biden and Donald Trump — thrown into doubt last month — has officially been canceled.

The Commission on Presidential Debates conveyed the news in a statement on Monday, saying the University of Utah and three other U.S. universities had been released from their contracts to host presidential or vice presidential debates in September and October. On May 15, Biden announced he wouldn’t take part in the commission debates, opting instead to take part in a pair of debates with Trump hosted by television news networks, the first planned for Thursday on CNN.

“We are grateful to the sites and we are sorry to come to this decision. We are dismayed that students of the four campuses will not have the opportunity to participate in these historic voter education forums,” Antonia Hernández and Frank Fahrenkopf, co-chairs of the commission said in a statement. They cited the May 15 Biden announcement.

Aside from the University of Utah debate on Oct. 9, the commission had planned to conduct presidential debates at Texas State University in San Marcos, Texas, on Sept. 16, and at Virginia State University in Petersburg, Virginia, on Oct. 1. It had also planned a vice presidential debate at Lafayette College in Easton, Pennsylvania, on Sept. 25.

Biden, a Democrat, and Trump, a Republican, are both going for their second terms as president. Aside from Thursday’s CNN debate, they have agreed to a debate hosted by ABC News on Sept. 10, according to ABC.

The Associated Press reported last month after Biden and Trump announced their alternative debate plans that both campaigns had been critical of the commission’s planned debate dates in September and October, “after voters in many states will have already started casting ballots by mail.”

The scheduled Oct. 9 debate in Salt Lake City was big news for the state when it was announced, as it promised to focus the eyes of the nation on the state’s flagship university and capital city less than a month before the Nov. 5 general election.

The Commission on Presidential Debates has hosted 33 debates on college and university campuses since its founding in 1987. The two commission leaders said they are still willing to host debates this cycle and defended the organization.

“The reason for the CPD’s creation remains compelling: A neutral organization with no other role during the general election is well-positioned to offer formats that focus on the candidate and the issues that are most important to the American people,” they said in their statement.