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Texas State University selected for first 2024 presidential debate

by Caroline Vakil - 11/20/23 1:29 PM ET

MIAMI, FLORIDA – NOVEMBER 08: Republican presidential candidates (L-R) former New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie, former U.N. Ambassador Nikki Haley, Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis, Vivek Ramaswamy and U.S. Sen. Tim Scott (R-SC) participate in the NBC News Republican Presidential Primary Debate at the Adrienne Arsht Center for the Performing Arts of Miami-Dade County on November 8, 2023 in Miami, Florida. Five presidential hopefuls squared off in the third Republican primary debate as former U.S. President Donald Trump, currently facing indictments in four locations, declined again to participate. (Photo by Joe Raedle/Getty Images)

Texas State University has been selected as the host for the first 2024 general election White House debate, the Commission on Presidential Debates announced Monday.

Scheduled for Sept. 16, the first of four planned debates is set to be held at the San Marcos school, though it is unclear if the general election events will go forward as the Republican Party has pledged to boycott events held by the commission.

“It’s fitting that the only university in Texas to graduate a U.S. president will be the first university in Texas to host a presidential debate,” school Chancellor Brian McCall said in a statement. “This is an exciting time at Texas State, and we can’t wait to showcase our great university before a global audience.”

Former President Lyndon B. Johnson graduated in 1930 from “Texas State, then known as Southwest Texas State Teachers College,” according to the university website.

The Commission on Presidential Debates posted on X, the platform formerly known as Twitter, that the second debate will be held on Oct. 1 at Virginia State University and the University of Utah will host the third on Oct. 9. One general election vice presidential debate will be held on Sept. 25 at Lafayette College in Pennsylvania.

The 2024 election increasingly looks like a rematch between President Biden and former President Trump. Trump has been widely leading his rivals in national and early state polling despite facing multiple indictments in several cases.

Trump has skipped each of the Republican National Committee’s (RNC) primary debates, holding counterprogramming events instead.

The former president has accused the Commission on Presidential Debates of anti-Republican bias, and last year the RNC voted to effectively bar its nominees from events organized by the group.

Surveys have pointed to a tight general election race between Trump and Biden, with polling from The New York Times and Siena College earlier this month showing Trump besting Biden in five out of six battleground states.

Still, the Biden campaign has publicly sought to shrug off the bad polling and argued that the election is still a year out.

–Updated at 2:35 p.m.

Tags Joe Biden Lyndon B. Johnson