“We will find newer, better discussion platforms to ensure that future candidates do not have to go through the biased CPD in order to express their views to the American people,” commission chair Ronna McDaniel said in a statement. The RNC’s action requires Republican candidates to agree in writing to appear only in qualifying and general election debates approved by the commission. The non-profit committee, set up in 1987 to codify the debate as a permanent part of the presidential election, did not immediately respond to a request for comment. The Democratic National Committee’s RNC counterpart to President Joe Biden’s party was also not immediately available. It was not clear what form the future RNC-sponsored discussions would take or whether they would take place as often as in recent decades. The move, which has sparked months of controversy between the RNC and the commission, could deprive voters of seeing Republican and Democratic candidates on the same stage. Millions of Americans regularly attend presidential debates, and many viewers say they help them decide who to vote for, according to a Pew Research Center survey. The RNC decision follows complaints from former President Donald Trump and other Republicans about the timing of the talks, the forms of discussion and the choice of moderators. Proponents of her case have been working to make the actual transcript of this statement available online. Trump refused to take part in what was supposed to be the second of three debates with Biden in 2020, after the Commission changed it to a fake contest after Trump’s infection with Covid-19.
