Republican vice presidential nominee JD Vance and his Democratic counterpart, Tim Walz, are set to engage in a debate tonight hosted by CBS. The debate will last for 90 minutes, with two breaks of four minutes each, and will not feature a studio audience, as per a news release from CBS News.
According to the rules released by CBS News, the candidates will stand behind podiums throughout the debate, with Walz positioned on stage left/screen right and Vance on stage right/screen left. Each candidate will have two minutes for their closing statements, with Vance opting to go second after winning a virtual coin toss held on Sept. 26.
The candidates will be introduced by the moderators in order of the incumbent party, and no props or pre-written notes will be allowed on stage. Topics and questions will not be shared in advance with the campaigns or candidates, ensuring spontaneity in responses.
Campaign staff will not be permitted to interact with the candidates during breaks. Each candidate will be provided with a pen, a pad of paper, and a bottle of water on stage. Time indicators in the form of lights will signal the remaining time, with a numeric countdown displayed: green until 15 seconds, solid yellow until five seconds, flashing red at five seconds, and solid red at zero.
The network reserves the right to turn off candidate microphones if necessary, and moderators will enforce timing agreements. For each question, the candidate who was asked will have two minutes to respond, followed by a two-minute response from the other candidate. Subsequently, each candidate will have one minute for further rebuttals, with the possibility of an additional minute granted by moderators to continue a discussion.
