On Wednesday, former President Donald Trump, the Republican candidate for the upcoming U.S. presidential election, firmly refused to participate in a second televised debate against his Democratic rival, Kamala Harris.
Trump announced on his social media platform, Truth Social, that “there will be no rematch!” despite proposals from CNN and Fox News to organize a second face-off between the candidates. He added, “Kamala has clearly stated that she will do nothing different than Joe Biden, so there’s nothing to debate about.”
Earlier in September, Trump dismissed Harris’s request for a second debate scheduled for October, just days before the presidential election. During a campaign event in North Carolina on September 21, he remarked, “It’s too late for a new debate; early voting has begun,” referencing the early voting that started in three states.
Speaking to around 600 attendees at the Kope Energy Center for the Performing Arts in Atlanta, Georgia, last month, Harris expressed her desire for another debate, stating, “I’m hoping for another debate. We’ll see.”
Following this, Harris’s campaign announced that the Democratic candidate had accepted an invitation from CNN to participate in a debate on October 23. Campaign chair Jen O’Malley Dillon emphasized in a statement that “Donald Trump should have no issue agreeing to this debate. It follows the same format and rules as the CNN debate he attended and claimed to have won in June (which was against President Joe Biden before he withdrew from the race), where he praised the moderators and the network’s standards.”
Traditionally, the United States holds two televised debates between the major party candidates in presidential elections. However, this time voters will have to settle for the single debate that took place between Trump and Harris.
CNN has given both candidates until Thursday to confirm their participation in the proposed second debate on October 23 in Atlanta, Georgia. Meanwhile, Fox News has suggested holding a second debate in Pennsylvania on either October 24 or 27.