Former President Donald Trump has said he will not debate Vice President Kamala Harris again.
“She was a no-show at the Fox debate, and refused to do NBC and CBS. KAMALA SHOULD FOCUS ON WHAT SHE SHOULD HAVE DONE DURING THE LAST ALMOST FOUR YEAR PERIOD,” Trump wrote in a post on his Truth Social platform. “THERE WILL BE NO THIRD DEBATE!”
Trump’s first presidential debate of this election cycle was held between himself and President Joe Biden in June and was moderated by CNN. Shortly after that debate, Biden dropped his bid for reelection.
Trump also said that polls show he clearly won Tuesday night’s ABC debate. He also once again compared Harris to a prize fighter, and suggested that she only called for a rematch because she lost.
Harris on Thursday continued to push for another debate.
“Two nights ago, Donald Trump and I had our first debate. We owe it to the voters to have another debate,” Harris wrote in a post on X.
Meanwhile, Harris and Trump are heading to battleground states for their first campaign events after their debate.
Harris held a rally in Charlotte, North Carolina, where she told supporters that Trump “refused” to acknowledge during the debate that he would veto a national abortion ban if reelected.
Harris will hold another campaign rally in Greensboro, North Carolina. Trump won the battleground state in 2020.
A new Quinnipiac poll released this week shows Harris and Trump in a close race in North Carolina, with Harris leading Trump 49 percent to 46 percent, according to the survey.
“With 32 electoral votes to offer between them, North Carolina and Georgia loom large among the potential pathways to the presidency and neither state offers a clear-cut favorite,” said Quinnipiac University polling analyst Tim Malloy.
“She knows that we are in play,” said North Carolina Gov. Roy Cooper, a Democrat, in a recent interview about the importance of the state in the 2024 election. Cooper also said that the vice president has visited North Carolina 17 times. Republican candidates have won the battleground since the 2012 election.
“If she wins North Carolina, she is the next president of the United States, because Trump has no other pathway,” he said.
North Carolina holds 16 votes in the electoral college and would be a substantial boost to either candidate in reaching the 270 electors needed to win the presidential election.
Trump on Thursday rallied supporters in Tucson, Arizona, a swing state that could also be pivotal for the election. Trump during the campaign rally claimed a “monumental victory” over Harris in the presidential debate and said there is no need for another one.
“So because we have done two debates and because they were successful, there will be no third debate,” Trump said. “It’s too late anyway, the voting has already begun.”
Election Day is less than eight weeks away.
On a national basis, Harris and Trump are neck and neck in the 2024 race, with Trump leading Harris 48 percent to 47 percent, according to a New York Times/Siena poll conducted in early September.