Vice President Kamala Harris over the weekend desperately tried to revive the prospect of having another debate against former President Donald Trump before the election by accepting a new debate offer.
Harris’ campaign said in a statement that the American people “deserve another opportunity” to watch the two debate.
“It would be unprecedented in modern history for there to just be one general election debate,” the campaign said. “Vice President Harris is ready for another opportunity to share a stage with Donald Trump, and she has accepted CNN’s invitation to a debate on October 23.”
“Donald Trump should have no problem agreeing to this debate,” they added.
Trump fired back at a rally in Wilmington, North Carolina, on Saturday, saying that it was too late to do another, especially after she rejected additional debate offers from Trump in the past.
“She’s done one debate. I’ve done two. It’s too late to do another. I’d love to, in many ways, but it’s too late. The voting is cast,” Trump said, adding: “She’s had her chance to do it with Fox. You know, Fox invited us on, and I waited and waited, and they turned it down. They turned it down, but now she wants to do a debate right before the election with CNN because she’s losing badly.”
Trump did a CNN debate with President Joe Biden in late June that went so poorly for Biden that he ended up being forced out of the race by his own party.
Trump and Harris teed off against each other earlier this month on ABC News in a debate that was widely panned as being extremely biased against Trump.
Trump agreed last month to a Fox News debate on September 4, which Harris rejected; and an NBC News debate on September 25, which Harris never accepted; in addition to the September 10 debate that they both agreed to on ABC News.
“Harris now wants another CNN debate, so it would be CNN-ABC-CNN, with CBS hosting the VP debate. Why CNN twice but no Fox? Since when does one side get all home games?” asked National Review senior writer Dan McLaughlin. “The typical rule of thumb is that the side that wants more debates is the side that’s losing. Which suggests that the Harris campaign’s internal polling may belie the smug certainty of victory that pervades her online supporters.”
Fox News host Laura Ingraham posted on X: “The fact that Kamala’s team is pushing for a new debate is a sign of weakness, not strength. They obviously don’t think they have the electoral college.”
“Hilarious bravado from the campaign that hasn’t done a press conference and pretended the Fox News debate invitation just didn’t exist even after Trump went on ABC,” said Republican strategist Matt Whitlock.
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