The Commission on Presidential Debates (CPD) announced today that the second presidential debate scheduled for October 15, 2020, will be held at the Adrienne Arsht Center for the Performing Arts of Miami-Dade County in Miami, Florida. This debate was originally scheduled for the University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, and the University has concluded that it is not feasible to host the presidential debate as planned.
The Adrienne Arsht Center is one of the world’s leading performing arts organizations and venues. Since opening in 2006, the Arsht Center, a 501(c)3 non-profit organization, has emerged as a leader in presenting innovative programming. The Center’s commitment to the arts includes support for an education program that serves nearly 60,000 children each year through initiatives such as Learning Through the Arts. This will be the second debate that the CPD has hosted in Miami: the first 2004 presidential debate took place at the University of Miami.
The CPD’s schedule for the general election debates is:
First presidential debate:
Tuesday, September 29, 2020
University of Notre Dame, Notre Dame, IN
Vice presidential debate:
Wednesday, October 7, 2020
The University of Utah, Salt Lake City, UT
Second presidential debate:
Thursday, October 15, 2020
Adrienne Arsht Center for the Performing Arts, Miami, FL
Third presidential debate:
Thursday, October 22, 2020
Belmont University, Nashville, TN
All debates will be 90 minutes in length, will run from 9:00-10:30 p.m. Eastern Time without commercial breaks, and be broadcast by the White House pool networks.
All debates will be moderated by a single individual. As always, the moderators alone will select the questions, which are not known to the CPD or to the candidates. The CPD will choose the moderators, who will be announced in early September.
The first and third presidential debates will be divided into six 15-minute segments. The topics for the six segments will be selected and announced by each moderator at least one week before each debate. This is the same format as was used 2012 and 2016.
The second presidential debate will take the form of a town meeting, in which the questions will be posed by citizens from the Miami area.
The vice presidential debate will be divided into nine segments of 10 minutes each.
The CPD will be following all CDC, state, county and site health and safety protocols at the four debate sites.
The CPD is the non-profit, non-partisan, 501(c)3 organization that has sponsored and produced all general election presidential debates since 1987. For more information and to learn about DebateWatch2020, please visit www.debates.org.