Sept. 21 (UPI) — Vice President Kamala Harris said Saturday she has accepted an offer from CNN to debate former President Donald Trump for a second time on Oct. 23, but Trump says it’s too late.
Harris said she “will gladly accept a second presidential debate” in a post on X, adding she hopes Trump will participate.
“The American people deserve another opportunity to see Vice President Kamala Harris and Donald Trump debate before they cast their ballots,” Harris campaign chair Jennifer O’Malley Dillon said in a statement issued to media outlets.
She said Trump liked the moderators, rules and ratings of the first CNN debate against President Joe Biden on June 27 and so should not object to participating in another on the network.
The proposed debate would have the same rules as the first, including no live audience and muted microphones when the other candidate is speaking, O’Malley Dillon said.
Trump’s CNN-moderated debate with Biden on June 27 was a decisive win for the Republican nominee and went so poorly for the Democratic incumbent he was all but forced to withdraw from the race in favor of Harris.
His ABC-moderated debate against Harris Sept. 10, however, was much more rocky and resulted most observers declaring it a momentum-building victory for the Democrat. Many Trump supporters accused moderators David Muir and Linsey Davis of bias for immediately fact-checking Trump’s responses but not Harris’.
Trump did not mention the CNN debate invite during a campaign rally in North Carolina Saturday but said he isn’t going to do another debate.
“It’s too late to do another,” Trump said during the rally. “I’d love to in many ways, but it’s too late. The voting is cast.”
Many states already have initiated early voting and an Oct. 23 debate would be too close to the Nov. 5 general election, he said.
When asked to comment on the CNN debate invite, Trump’s election campaign referred UPI to a Truth Social post that Trump made on Sept. 12.
“When a prizefighter loses a fight, the first words out of his mouth are, ‘I want a rematch,'” Trump posted. “Polls clearly show that I won the debate against Comrade Kamala Harris, the Democrats’ radical left candidate, on Tuesday night, and she immediately called for a second debate.”
Trump ended his post saying, “There will be no third debate!”
Trump’s running mate, Sen. JD Vance, is scheduled to debate Harris’ running mate Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz Oct. 1 on CBS.
On Saturday, Vance said in Leesport, Pa.: “I’d love to have a second debate. We’ve actually offered Tim Walz a second debate, and they’ve totally rejected it.”
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