1st Presidential Debate To Be Held In Ohio

CLEVELAND — The first debate of the 2020 presidential election will be held in Cleveland.

The Sept. 29 debate — which will feature President Donald Trump and Joe Biden — will be hosted by Case Western Reserve University and the Cleveland Clinic. The event will be held in the Health Education Campus' Sampson Pavilion.

The debate will last 90 minutes and will begin at 9 p.m. ET. The event will be broadcast without commercial interruption.

“We are honored to host this presidential debate at our shared Health Education Campus,” Cleveland Clinic CEO Dr. Tom Mihaljevic, and Case Western Reserve University President Barbara Snyder said in a statement. “This pandemic has highlighted the critical importance of health care and scientific discovery in unprecedented ways. To have the presidential candidates discuss these issues in our innovative learning space represents a tremendous opportunity for both institutions — and our entire region.”

The University of Notre Dame was originally slated to host the debate. University officials withdrew from the event, citing COVID-19 risks.

In a letter to students, Notre Dame officials 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.”

Case Western officials said the Sampson Pavilion's distance from the university's main campus made co-hosting the debate more palatable. The Cleveland Clinic will have safety guidelines in the facility, including audience size, distance among seats and disinfectant measures. The hospital system will also help determine if an audience will be present at all during the debate.

“We are all challenged with adapting to a ‘new normal’ and safety is key as we all face this pandemic together,” said Dr. James Merlino, chief clinical transformation officer at Cleveland Clinic. “The Cleveland Clinic has been focused on understanding, containing and preparing for COVID-19. We are sharing our knowledge and advising various industries to help keep our communities safe as we enter into this next phase of COVID-19 response.”

Case Western Reserve University previously hosted the 2004 vice presidential debate between Dick Cheney and John Edwards.