Kamala Harris is officially challenging Donald Trump to another presidential debate. Her campaign announced Saturday that it had accepted an invitation from CNN to attend a second debate on Wednesday, October 23 — just under two weeks before Election Day. But it won’t happen unless Trump also signs on, and at this point there’s no indication he will.
Trump seemed to dismiss the possibility again on Saturday. “The problem with another debate is that it’s just too late, voting has already started,” he said at a rally in North Carolina. (Early voting got underway on Saturday in Minnesota, South Dakota, and Virginia.)
A week ago, Trump teased to reporters that “maybe” he’d agree to another debate “if I got in the right mood.” Shortly after their September 10 debate — which poll respondents and pundits agreed didn’t go well for him — Trump declared in a social-media post: “THERE WILL BE NO THIRD DEBATE!” The day before that, he had said “I am not inclined to do it because I won by a lot, but we’ll see what happens.” (Asked about Harris accepting CNN’s invite, a Trump campaign spokesperson reportedly pointed to Trump’s all-caps declaration as a response.)
Harris, meanwhile, has repeatedly said she’s up for debating Trump a second time and tweeted on Saturday she’d “gladly accept” the October 23 one. Her campaign said in a statement that the “format and setup” would be the same as the CNN debate between Trump and Biden in June:
Donald Trump should have no problem agreeing to this debate. It is the same format and setup as the CNN debate he attended and said he won in June, when he praised CNN’s moderators, rules, and ratings.
Fox News also offered to host another debate in October, moderated by Bret Baier and Martha MacCallum, but neither campaign seems to have officially responded to that offer. (Trump, who had repeatedly floated the idea of a Fox News–hosted debate, said he didn’t want Baier or MacCallum to moderate.)
For now, the only other debate in the race will be the VP face-off between Tim Walz and J.D. Vance on October 1.
This post has been updated.
