Kamala Harris agrees to VP debate with Trump’s running mate - a day after frontrunners agree to square off

Kamala Harris has agreed to take part in a vice presidential debate with former President Donald Trump’s so-far-unnamed running mate just a day after Mr Trump and President Joe Biden agreed to two showdowns.

The Biden-Harris campaign said on Thursday that it accepted an invitation from CBS News to take part in a VP debate either on July 23 or August 13.

It comes after Mr Biden and Mr Trump agreed to take each other on in two presidential debates on June 27 and September 10 to be hosted by CNN and ABC News.

If the VP debate is held on July 23, it would come shortly after the Republican National Convention. Mr Trump has said that he may announce his running mate around the time of the convention.

“Well, I’m not in a rush and we’ll do it sometime around the convention, but we have a lot of great people in the Republican Party,” he told WPVI in April.

Some of those who appear to be vying for the running mate slot include North Dakota Governor Doug Burgum, Ohio Senator JD Vance, former presidential candidate Vivek Ramaswamy and South Carolina Senator Tim Scott, among others.

The Biden-Harris campaign said in a statement that it “has informed CBS News that we accept the network’s invitation to participate in a Vice Presidential debate, in studio, on either of two dates”.

“We look forward to the Trump campaign accepting one of these dates so that the full debate calendar for this campaign can be set,” the campaign added.

The VP debate is set to follow the same rules as the presidential showdowns – meaning that there’ll be no in-person audience, there will be time limits set on answers, the chance to speak will alternate between the candidates and a candidate’s microphone will only be on when it is their turn.

Much like the presidential debates, the proposed dates are much earlier in the year than during previous campaigns. For instance, Ms Harris took on then-Vice President Mike Pence in October 2020.