Democratic vice presidential candidate Tim Walz agreed on Wednesday to debate his Republican counterpart JD Vance on Oct.1 in New York City.
Should Vance accept his challenge, the showdown will be aired by CBS. The network said earlier in the day it had offered the option of four different dates: Sept. 17, Sept. 24, Oct. 1 or Oct. 8.
“See you on October 1, JD,” Walz posted on social media late Wednesday afternoon.
Vance, the conservative Ohio senator who accepted the Republican VP nomination at the party’s convention last month, did not immediately respond to Walz’s challenge.
Walz has been eager to trade barbs with his counterpart since becoming Kamala Harris’ running mate last week.
“I can’t wait to debate the guy,” Walz said during a rally in Philadelphia where Harris introduced him as her new sidekick. “That is, if he’s willing to get off the couch and show up.”
That jab was in reference to a false social media rumor that Vance confessed to performing lewd acts with a sofa in his 2016 memoir “Hillbilly Elegy.”
Vance told CNN Sunday that “of course” he wants to debate Waltz at some point.
Vance and Walz’s running mates at the top of the ticket, former President Donald Trump and Vice President Harris respectively, will debate Sept. 10 on ABC. Trump has pushed to add two more debates, including one on Fox News.
