Kamala Harris challenges Donald Trump to debate again on television in late October, without success

No sooner said than done. Democratic candidate Kamala Harris challenged her Republican opponent Donald Trump on Saturday, September 21, to debate again on CNN on October 23, a few days before the American presidential election, according to a statement from her campaign team. A proposal declined by the former president a few hours later. “It is too late to organize a new debate, the vote has already started,” Donald Trump said at a campaign rally in North Carolina, referring to the start of early voting in some states across the country.

By all accounts, Harris dominated the September 10 debate, continually drawing her rival to the topics most likely to hurt his ego—her rallies’ attendance, the disaffection of her former political allies, and her international reputation. That didn’t stop Donald Trump from claiming, on the contrary, that he was the one who had “won” the debate, while attacking the impartiality of the two ABC journalists who moderated the discussions.

Donald Trump’s team did not immediately respond to AFP’s requests for comment on the possibility that he would ultimately accept this new exchange. “There will be no third debate”the Republican candidate had asserted in mid-September, counting his televised exchange in June with President Joe Biden, then still a candidate, in addition to his confrontation with the vice-president.