GOP votes to withdraw from presidential debate panel
The Republican National Committee voted unanimously on Thursday to withdraw from the Commission on Presidential Debates (CPD), levelling accusations of anti-GOP bias against the group.
Taking a line from Republican former President Donald Trump, the RNC said the group, which has run the debates for decades, refused to enact reforms.
"We are going to find newer, better debate platforms to ensure that future nominees are not forced to go through the biased CPD in order to make their case to the American people," the committee's chairperson, Ronna McDaniel, said in a statement.
“Debates are an important part of the democratic process, and the RNC is committed to free and fair debates,” she said. “The Commission on Presidential Debates is biased and has refused to enact simple and commonsense reforms to help ensure fair debates including hosting debates before voting begins and selecting moderators who have never worked for candidates on the debate stage.
Meanwhile, an RNC official said that the group would require GOP presidential candidates to sign a promise that they will only appear at party-sanctioned primary and general election debates.
The CPD, a nonprofit commission, was founded in 1987 with the sponsorship of both major political parties to codify the debates as a permanent part of presidential elections.
And although, over the years, both parties have infrequently complained about how the group handles debates, antipathy toward the commission, has grown among Republicans in recent years.
The CPD was long criticized by Trump, who, in late 2019, tweeted that the commission was “stacked with Trump Haters & Never Trumpers,” suggesting that he would skip the debates altogether.
Responding to the RNC's move, the CPD pointed to a January statement from DNC (Democratic National Committee) Chairman Jaime Harrison in which he said Republicans "can't win a fair fight and they know it."
"After years of having their toxic policies exposed on the national stage, the RNC has decided they would rather hide their ideas and candidates from voters," he said.
The latest move will potentially deprive voters of seeing Republican and Democratic candidates on the same stage.
Millions of Americans usually watch the presidential debates and many viewers, according to research by Pew Research Center, say they help them to make better decisions about whom to vote for.
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