The Republican National Committee has voted to withdraw from the Commission on Presidential Debates, the commission that controls the general election debates. The vote was unanimous.
RNC Chairwoman Ronna McDaniel said on Twitter that the Republicans will “find newer, better debate platforms to ensure that future nominees are not forced to go through the biased CPD in order to make their case to the American people.”
In 2020, C-SPAN’s Steve Scully was chosen to moderate a debate, even though he had worked for Joe Biden when Biden was a senator. Later, it became known that Scully reached out to former Trump aide Anthony Scaramucci, then lied by saying his Twitter account had been hacked.
“Debates are an important part of the democratic process, and the RNC is committed to free and fair debates. 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,” McDaniels said.
“Today, the RNC voted to withdraw from the biased CPD, and we are going to find newer, better debate platforms to ensure that future nominees are not forced to go through the biased CPD in order to make their case to the American people.”
The commission has sponsored presidential debates since it was founded in 1987.
The RNC criticized the CPD for biases, including:
- Waiting until 26 states had begun early voting before hosting the first presidential debate in 2020.
- Making unilateral changes to previously agreed-upon debate formats and conditions, in some cases without even notifying the candidates.
- Selecting a moderator in 2020 who had once worked for Joe Biden.
- Failing to maintain the organization’s strict nonpartisanship, with a majority of its Board Members publicly disparaging the Republican-nominee.
- Refusing to make changes despite numerous requests by the RNC.
