Vice President Kamala Harris’ campaign said Saturday that she would accept an invitation to participate in a second debate with former President Donald Trump.
The potential debate would take place on October 23 and would be hosted by CNN, Harris campaign chair Jennifer O’Malley Dillon said in a statement.
“The American people deserve another opportunity to watch Vice President Kamala Harris and Donald Trump debate before they vote,” O’Malley Dillon said, adding, “Donald Trump should have no problem agreeing to this debate. It’s the same format and setup as the CNN debate he attended and claimed he won in June, when he praised CNN’s moderators, rules and audience.”
The statement came a day after Harris told supporters at an event in Georgia: “I’m trying to get another debate. We’ll see.”
A CNN spokesperson did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
In response to a request for comment on the Harris campaign’s Saturday statement, Trump campaign spokesman Steven Cheung pointed to a post from Truth Social in which the former president wrote, “THERE WILL BE NO THIRD DEBATE!”
“We just don’t think it’s necessary,” Trump said in an interview earlier this month with Telemundo Arizona, which is also owned by NBC Universal.
O’Malley Dillon’s statement comes after Trump and Harris met for their first debate on September 10, hosted by ABC.
Although this is the first debate between the two major party presidential candidates, Trump also debated President Joe Biden on CNN in June, while Biden was still in the race.
An October 23 debate would pit Trump and Harris against each other less than two weeks before Election Day but several weeks after early voting in several states.
