Kamala Harris on Saturday challenged Donald Trump to another debate ahead of the US presidential election, with her campaign saying she has accepted broadcaster CNN’s invitation to host the event on October 23.
“Vice President Harris is ready for another opportunity to share the stage with Donald Trump,” her campaign chairwoman Jen O’Malley Dillon said in a statement.
“The American people should have another opportunity to watch Vice President Kamala Harris and Donald Trump debate before they vote.”
Republican Trump has participated in two debates so far, one against President Joe Biden and one against Harris, who has since replaced her boss at the top of the Democratic ticket.
Trump has previously dismissed the idea of ​​facing Harris again. His campaign did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
Most pundits projected Harris as the winner of the final debate, held on September 10.
Biden’s poor performance in a debate against Trump in June, where the president struggled to finish some of his sentences, raised concerns about his age and increased pressure on the 81-year-old Biden to drop out of the race.
With this move, 78-year-old Trump has now become the oldest presidential candidate, while 59-year-old Harris is much younger in comparison.
– Voting has begun –
Saturday’s announcement comes as early voting has already begun in three states — Virginia, Minnesota and South Dakota — that are set to be very closely contested.
While campaigning on Friday, Harris called Trump and his party “hypocrites” on the abortion issue and blamed Trump for abortion restrictions in battleground Georgia that led to the deaths of two women.
Trump has frequently claimed during his campaign that his three Supreme Court justices have paved the way for eliminating a national right to abortion in 2022, leaving the issue to the states.
At least 20 states have enacted full or partial bans, with Georgia banning most abortions after six weeks of pregnancy.
The contest is a close one, as Trump enjoys support from conservative religious voters and others, many of whom are dissatisfied with the country’s political status quo.
Radical anti-immigrant rhetoric has become a key point of his election campaign.
The competition between Harris and Trump has continued despite a tense atmosphere that came to a head last weekend when a gunman tried to assassinate Trump in Florida, the second such threat in two months.
Every vote will matter in this race, a result that Trump has once again refused to say he will accept if he loses.
The former president faces criminal charges for allegedly attempting to overturn the 2020 election results after his supporters violently stormed the US Capitol on January 6, 2021.
The outcome is expected to depend on just seven crucial swing states, including Georgia.
Trump on Friday attempted to blame any potential loss on Jewish American voters, sparking outrage.
“If I don’t win this election … it will hurt the Jewish people, in my opinion,” Trump said at an anti-Semitic event on Thursday, repeating his complaint that Jewish voters have historically leaned toward Democrats.
He is scheduled to campaign in North Carolina on Saturday.
(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)
