President Biden’s reelection campaign isn’t yet committing to general election debates in a contest that is shaping up to again pit Biden against former President Trump, who holds a massive lead in the GOP primary polls.
Deputy campaign manager Quentin Fulks told reporters in Alabama on Wednesday that the Biden campaign “will have those conversations” when asked about general election debates, adding that the team is focused on building out the campaign’s infrastructure ahead of 2024.
“We can have those conversations, but as of right now our focus remains on building out a campaign and infrastructure,” Fulks said. “While the Republicans remain in a divisive primary, where their front-runner is not attending debates, our campaign is focusing on what we need to do to win an election next year.”
In August, campaign communications director Michael Tyler told reporters there hadn’t been “any real substantive conversations” about a potential general election debate yet.
Nationally, Trump is leading in the Republican primary by almost 50 points in the weighted polling average maintained by data site FiveThirtyEight.
There have been four GOP primary debates, and Trump has skipped all of them. Four candidates, all polling behind Trump, took the stage Wednesday night for the final GOP debate of 2023.
Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis (R), former United Nations Ambassador Nikki Haley, businessman Vivek Ramaswamy and former New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie (R) duked it out in Alabama for the debate hosted by NewsNation which, like The Hill, is part of Nexstar Media Group.