Cleveland will be site of first presidential debate of 2020 campaign, commission announces

Case Western Reserve University and the Cleveland Clinic are hosting the first presidential debate on Sept. 29, 2020, at the Health Education Campus in Cleveland, The Commission on Presidential Debates announced in a tweet Monday afternoon.

The University of Notre Dame has withdrawn from hosting the first presidential debate in an announcement made Monday, according to the commission.

Notre Dame President, the Rev. John Jenkins, CSC, after consultation with Dr. Mark Fox, St. Joseph County deputy health officer, and with the unanimous support of the Executive Committee of the University’s Board of Trustees, made what he called “this difficult decision because the necessary health precautions would have greatly diminished the educational value of hosting the debate on our campus.”

In a letter earlier Monday to the Notre Dame community, Father Jenkins said “the inevitable reduction in student attendance in the debate hall, volunteer opportunities and ancillary educational events undermined the primary benefit of hosting — to provide our students with a meaningful opportunity to engage in the American political process.”

The 2020 debate would have been the university’s first presidential debate.

Cox Media Group