Key Moments of Election Season 2024

Presidential Debate Watch Party Guide

Will the Candidates Talk about Kids’ Needs? 

On Tuesday, September 10, Vice President Harris and former President Trump will take to the debate stage to talk about critical issues. Debates are more fun to watch with friends and other Save the Children Action Network (SCAN) volunteers – whether you watch together virtually or in-person!  

This guide will equip you with everything you need to organize a debate watch party and highlight the need to focus on critical kids’ issues this election season.  

Presidential Debates Details 

The presidential debate will be hosted by ABC News on Tuesday, September 10.  The debate will air live on ABC, the 24/7 streaming network ABC News Live, and Hulu.  

ABC News will also simulcast the debate on additional broadcast and streaming news networks within the United States. For those who wish to watch the livestream, it will be available on ABC.com. 

Watch with Friends 

Debates are a great opportunity to learn more about where candidates stand on key issues. Because the debates are often televised or livestreamed, they provide an exciting opportunity to gather friends, community members and other SCAN volunteers together to watch the debate.

Watch together virtually with SCAN advocates: Contact your state’s SCAN staff member to find out what’s happening in your state online.  

Organize an In-Person Watch Party: Invite friends, neighbors, and community members to watch together.  

Here’s how!  

Step 1: Determine how you will show the debate.  

Will you watch the debate on live TV or streamed online? The presidential debate will be livestreamed, which may give you more options for finding a space for your event.  

Step 2: Find a space to host your debate watching party.  

There are many options for spaces to host your event, including: 

• Your home or the house of another SCAN volunteer 
• The local library  
• A private room in a restaurant 
• A community center  

Make sure that whatever space you choose is comfortable and accessible. Your space should also be equipped with a screen large enough for everyone to see and the required technology to watch it (e.g. Wi-Fi to watch it livestreamed or broadcast TV coverage). 

Step 3: Promote your debate watch party

An effective promotion plan uses various strategies to let people know about your debate watch party and to help drive turnout.   Be sure to work with your SCAN staff contact and other volunteers in your community to develop a promotion plan that leverages the contacts everyone has. After all, people are more likely to respond to an invite from a friend! Some commonly used promotion strategies include:  

• If your event is open to the public, work with your SCAN staff content to create an event sign up page and share it with your friends.  
• Promote the event page via social media. Share why you are planning to attend the debate watch party. 
•  Invite your friends. Send a short text inviting them to the event. Remind them that you’ll be there too, so it will be a great opportunity to catch up.  
•  Share with other groups, clubs, and community contacts. Create a list of local groups and community contacts and invite them to attend. Ask them to help spread the word. 

Making Your Debate Watch Party Fun  

Help elevate critical kids’ issues during your debate watch party. Throughout the debate, you can ask people to do the following whether in-person or virtual: 

• Share our debate bingo with our downloadable bingo cards: Bingo Card 1, Bingo Card 2, Bingo Card 3
• Invite them to volunteer for an upcoming SCAN event.
• Take a debate watch selfie and share it on social media. Be sure to use the hashtag #Debate2024 and #VoteforKids. 
• Ask people to sign a petition urging candidates to prioritize child poverty on the campaign trail.

Elevating Early Childhood Education & Child Hunger at the National Presidential Nominating Convention

Save the Children and SCAN headed to both the Republican National Convention (July 15-18, 2024) in Milwaukee and the Democratic National Convention (August 19-22, 2024) in Chicago to make sure kids’ issues were front and center.

At both conventions we partnered with Axios for a thought leadership event, released our new poll, engaged with media, ran digital ads that reached hundreds of thousands of people, and spoke with hundreds of delegates about early childhood education and child hunger. 

SCAN at The RNC

At the Republican National Convention, we presented the Axios’ The Cost of Living Crisis for American Families event, focusing on how inflation is impacting the cost of child care and groceries – and what policy makers can do about it. SCAN founder Mark Shriver was our featured speaker during the View from the Top segment. In addition to Mark, Senator Daines (R-MT), Senator Britt (R-AL), and Representative Banks (R-IN) spoke at the event.

Learn more about how we elevated early learning and child hunger at the Republican National Convention.

SCAN at the DNC

At the Democratic National Convention, we again presented the Axios’ The Cost of Living Crisis for American Families event, focusing on the rising cost of food and child care. We shared our polling which found that voters want the government to do more to address these issues. In addition to Mark Shriver as our featured speaker for the View from the Top segment, other speakers included Governor Cooper (D-NC), Representative DeLauro (D-CT), and Moms First Founder & CEO, Reshma Saujani.

Learn more about how we elevated early learning and child hunger at the Democratic National Convention.