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Pa. will host the only 2024 vice presidential debate

The debate at Lafayette College in Easton will be the fifth presidential or vice presidential debate the state has hosted since 1976, and the first outside of Philadelphia.

Democratic vice presidential candidate and then-Sen. Kamala Harris and then-Vice President Mike Pence wave before the vice presidential debate in 2020 at Kingsbury Hall on the campus of the University of Utah in Salt Lake City.
Democratic vice presidential candidate and then-Sen. Kamala Harris and then-Vice President Mike Pence wave before the vice presidential debate in 2020 at Kingsbury Hall on the campus of the University of Utah in Salt Lake City.Read morePatrick Semansky / AP

Pennsylvania’s Lafayette College is slated to host the one and only vice presidential debate next year.

The debate at Lafayette, a private liberal arts college in Easton with about 2,700 students, is the fifth presidential or vice presidential debate the state has hosted and would be the first outside of Philadelphia. Details about the scheduled Sept. 25, 2024 event, its moderators, and its format will be announced next year.

The nonpartisan Commission on Presidential Debates announced the debate schedule on Monday along with three presidential debates:

  1. Sept. 16 at Texas State University in San Marcos, Texas

  2. Oct. 1 at Virginia State University in Petersburg, Va.

  3. Oct. 9 at the University of Utah in Salt Lake City

A lot remains unknown about what debates will look like in 2024.

Vice President Kamala Harris is running alongside President Joe Biden in his reelection campaign.

Former President Donald Trump, who is leading the Republican field in polls, has not indicated whom he might pick as a running mate should he win the nomination. It’s also unclear if Trump or his running mate, should he be on the ballot, will participate in debates. Trump has skipped each GOP primary debate so far this cycle and has publicly blasted the Commission on Presidential Debates as biased against him.

The Republican National Committee also bashed the commission and voted last year to prohibit GOP presidential candidates from participating in commission-organized debates. It’s unclear if that requirement will hold or how candidates respond to it.

The first Pa. debate outside of Philadelphia

Easton is in Northampton County, one of three counties that flipped from voting for former President Barack Obama in 2012 to Trump in 2016, helping to deliver him the state. Northampton and Erie Counties both flipped back in 2020 and supported Biden.

Northampton County sits in the Lehigh Valley at the gateway to the state’s postindustrial northeast. It’s a mix of rural and suburban areas and is expected to be key again this year as Pennsylvania remains a critical state on the road to the White House.

Pennsylvania has hosted two presidential primary debates and one presidential general election debate. Obama and former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton shared a stage in Philadelphia in April 2008 as they vied for the Democratic nomination for president. Philadelphia also hosted a larger field of Democratic candidates in October 2007 during that election cycle.

In 1976, President Gerald R. Ford and then-Gov. Jimmy Carter debated at the Walnut Street Theatre in Philadelphia. It was the first debate in which an incumbent president had participated.

The only other vice presidential debate in the state was in October 1984 between Congresswoman Geraldine Ferraro and then-Vice President George H.W. Bush. That was also in Philadelphia.