Miami Mayor Francis Suarez said he was pleased to hear that the Oct. 15 presidential debate has been moved to his city, but warned it might have to be held without an audience due to the coronavirus, Politico reported on Tuesday.
After the University of Michigan canceled the event due to safety concerns over the pandemic, the Commission on Presidential Debates announced Tuesday it had moved it to the Florida city, which has been a coronavirus hotspot for months.
“The fact that the presidential commission chose Miami for such a critical debate at the end of the campaign highlights the importance of our city and state to determining the outcome of the presidency,” Suarez told Politico. "I can’t see it today being hosted with people in the audience. Impossible to predict where we will be on October 15. It’s possible that we may already be in Phase 3 [full reopening] by then, and it’s also possible that the debate can be held without people in the audience.”
Coronavirus infections and hospitalizations in Miami-Dade County have been on the rise since it joined the state’s Phase 2 partial reopening on June 5.
However, Miami City Commissioner Alex Diaz de la Portilla was more optimistic about the debate, saying it could be done “carefully” with proper safety protocols.
“We need to return to normalcy and presidential politics is no exception,” Diaz de la Portilla said.
The event in Miami will be the second of three presidential debates, all of which will be 90 minutes in length, CNN reported.
The debates will be moderated by a single individual selected by the commission, which is a nonpartisan group that sponsors the general election debates.
Brian Freeman ✉
Brian Freeman, a Newsmax writer based in Israel, has more than three decades writing and editing about culture and politics for newspapers, online and television.
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