Republican National Committee (RNC) Chairwoman Ronna McDaniel announced on April 14 that the RNC would be withdrawing from the Commission on Presidential Debates (CPD), starting with the 2024 presidential election.
“Debates are an important part of the democratic process, and the RNC is committed to free and fair debates,” McDaniel stated in a press release. “The Commission on Presidential Debates is biased and has refused to enact simple and commonsense reforms to help ensure fair debates, including hosting debates before voting begins and selecting moderators who have never worked for candidates on the debate stage.”
The release stresses that the RNC is not refusing to debate, merely declining to do business with the CPD. The committee’s leaders said they would seek better, fairer platforms to conduct debates during future elections.
The New York Times reports that the selection of CSPAN host Steve Scully as the moderator for the second 2020 debate was one of the RNC’s listed complaints. Scully began his political career as a college intern for then-Senator and current U.S. President Joe Biden.
The RNC also complained about the commission’s unilateral decision to change the eventually-canceled second debate into a virtual one instead of an in-person debate without speaking to either candidate beforehand. The committee charges that the CPD has failed to maintain impartiality, with multiple board members releasing public statements about Donald Trump ahead of the 2020 election.
The statement echoes many complaints Republicans have made about fairness in the past years, including some leveled against debate moderators.
Fox News journalist Megyn Kelly, who moderated a 2015 debate, accused Donald Trump of making disparaging comments against women. Moderator Candy Crowley inserted herself into the debate by “fact-checking” Mitt Romney in 2012.
Republicans have also complained that left-wing activists have been consistently presented as independent, undecided voters in town-hall-format discussions.
The move to cut ties with the CPD was not unexpected. In January, the RNC announced that any candidate running for president in 2024 as a Republican would be obligated to sign a pledge to refuse entry into debate conducted by the CPD.
Fox News reports the Democratic National Committee said it would not be commenting on the move. The CPD has not responded to multiple requests for comment from various media organizations.
According to its website, the CPD was established in 1987 “to ensure, for the benefit of the American electorate, that general election debates between or among the leading candidates for the offices of President and Vice President of the United States are a permanent part of the electoral process. CPD’s primary purpose is to sponsor and produce the quadrennial general election debates and to undertake research and educational activities relating to the debates.”