Dr. Jill Biden and former Vice President Joe Biden at the National Constitution Center on March 10, when Joe delivered a speech after a second Tuesday of primary victories.
Credit: Sukhmani KaurFormer Vice President Joe Biden will hold a town hall in Philadelphia on Oct. 15 in lieu of the second presidential debate.
On Oct. 8, the Commission on Presidential Debates announced that the second presidential debate, originally planned for Oct. 15, would be virtual after President Donald Trump was diagnosed with and hospitalized for COVID-19. The debate was canceled on Oct. 19 after Trump refused to participate in a virtual debate.
The next and final debate is set to be held on Oct. 22 in Nashville, two weeks before the election.
Biden will instead participate in a town hall hosted by ABC News and moderated by George Stephanopoulos in Philadelphia on Thursday.
Both the Biden and Trump campaigns have pushed for the Commission on Presidential Debates to move the second debate to Oct. 22, when it may be possible to hold a meeting between the two candidates in person, 6 ABC News reported.
The two candidates first met on Sept. 29 for what was generally viewed as a chaotic debate, featuring frequent interruptions and a number of falsehoods. Several Penn students and political science professors were frustrated by Trump's false statements and angry at his refusal to explicitly condemn white supremacy.
Biden has a number of connections to Philadelphia, which is the location of his campaign headquarters. Before launching his campaign, Biden spent his post-Vice Presidency years as a Presidential Professor of Practice at Penn and made several high-profile speaking appearances.
Trump held a town hall in Philadelphia on Sept. 16, which was also hosted by ABC News and moderated by Stephanopoulos. More than 200 people, including members of the Penn community, gathered outside the National Constitution Center to protest the event as Trump downplayed the severity of the COVID-19 crisis.
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