Vice President Debate Rules: No audience, no fact checking and no opening statements

The 90-minute debate, hosted by CBS, will take place at the network’s studios in New York City and is likely to be the final debate of the 2024 cycle for the presidential or vice presidential candidates. Here are the rules for the Vance-Walz debate.

2024 VICE PRESIDENTIAL DEBATE: VANCE AND WALZ GO HEAD-TO-HEAD IN CBS CONTEST

No muted microphones

The microphones were muted during the two presidential debates between President Joe Biden and former President Donald Trump in June and between Trump and Vice President Kamala Harris in September, but for the vice president debate, CBS said the microphones were muted in each case only at the candidate’s discretion.

The network said it “reserves the right to turn off the candidates’ microphones,” but unlike the CNN and ABC debates, the microphones will not be muted while the other candidate speaks.

Moderators will not be fact checkers

CBS said it would not fact-check the candidates. Rather, it is left to the candidates to fact-check each other. The media has announced that it will offer a live fact check on its website during the broadcast of the debate.

CBS’ approach will likely be more similar to CNN’s June debate than ABC News’ September debate. The fact checks that ABC News moderators offered in the September debate were criticized for being biased against Trump while failing to investigate Harris’ false statements.

Strict timing for questions and answers

CBS’s Norah O’Donnell and Margaret Brennan will be the only ones asking questions during the debate, with each candidate having two minutes to answer a question and the other candidate having two minutes to respond. Each candidate also receives one minute for rebuttals, with candidates “each receiving an additional minute to continue the discussion” at O’Donnell and Brennan’s discretion.

The candidates will not give an opening speech, but each will receive a two-minute closing speech. A coin toss was held, which Vance won, allowing him to make the second closing statement – meaning he will have the final say between the two candidates.

CBS has stated that neither Vance nor Walz have received any topics or questions that will be asked at the debate.

Candidates on their feet

The venue for the debate will be a television studio, like the CNN debate between Biden and Trump in June, and there will also be no live audience.

Both Vance and Walz will stand behind the podium for the duration of the debate, while O’Donnell and Brennan will sit. Vance will stand on the left while Walz will stand on the right. This is the first time since 2008 that candidates will not participate in a vice presidential debate.

At the podium, each candidate receives a pen, paper and a bottle of water. Candidates are not permitted to have props or pre-written notes.

The venue also has a countdown with lights showing how much time a candidate has left. The light will glow green until 15 seconds remain. At this point the light turns yellow and five seconds later the light flashes red. Once the clock reaches zero, the light turns solid red.

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Other rules

The debate will last 90 minutes, with two four-minute commercial breaks, starting at 9 p.m. During commercial breaks, campaign staff are prohibited from interacting with candidates.

The candidates are introduced with the incumbent party first, meaning Walz is introduced as the Democratic candidate for vice president ahead of Vance.

The debate will be broadcast Tuesday night on CBS and streamed on Paramount+. Several other networks, including ABC News, NBC, Fox News and CNN, will also broadcast the debate live.