Concerns over the COVID-19 pandemic are scrapping plans for a 2020 presidential debate taking place in Ann Arbor this fall as planned.
The University of Michigan was scheduled to host the second of the three debates between President Donald Trump and presumptive Democratic nominee former vice president Joe Biden on October 15.
But university officials this week withdrew from the debate hosting duties, saying it would be not be “feasible” to safely host the presidential debate as planned.
“It is with great disappointment that I must ask for the University of Michigan to be released from its agreement with the Commission on Presidential Debates to host the Presidential Debate,” University of Michigan President Mark Schlissel wrote in a letter to the Commission on Presidential Debates.
The university announced plans this week for a modified fall semester, with a mix of in-person and online learning, in response to the pandemic.
The Commission on Presidential Debates has moved the debate to Miami, Florida. The first debate is set for September 29 at the University of Notre Dame in South Bend, Indiana and the third debate is to be October 22 at Belmont University in Nashville.
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