Donald Trump Responds to Kamala Harris’ New Debate Challenge

Donald Trump has rejected Vice President Kamala Harris’ challenge to have another debate.
In a post to Truth Social on Thursday afternoon, the former president accused Harris of calling for a second debate because he “clearly” won their matchup Tuesday night, when the two candidates faced each other for the first time.
“When a prizefighter loses a fight, the first words out of his mouth are, ‘I WANT A REMATCH,'” reads the post in part. “Polls clearly show that I won the Debate against Comrade Kamala Harris, the Democrats’ Radical Left Candidate, on Tuesday night, and she immediately called for a Second Debate.”
Trump also bashed Harris for not agreeing to his challenge to debate on Fox News on September 4. He said that the “problems caused by Kamala” and President Joe Biden were “discussed in great detail during the First Debate with Joe, and the Second Debate with Comrade Harris.”
“KAMALA SHOULD FOCUS ON WHAT SHE SHOULD HAVE DONE DURING THE LAST ALMOST FOUR YEAR PERIOD. THERE WILL BE NO THIRD DEBATE!” Trump said, writing in all caps.
Many commentators have said that Harris won Tuesday’s debate in Philadelphia, and some conservative analysts have predicted that the former president’s poor performance could hurt him in November.
Early polling also found that the majority of viewers believe Harris outperformed her Republican opponent, and the vice president has kept her lead over Trump in national polling so far. In a Reuters/Ipsos survey released Thursday, which was conducted in the two days following the debate, Harris was found to be leading Trump by 47 percent to 42 percent among registered voters. In the same poll between August 21 and 28, Harris held a 4-point lead among registered voters.
Harris pushed back on Trump’s announcement during her rally in Charlotte, North Carolina, on Thursday, telling supporters early in the event, “I believe that we owe it to the voters to have another debate.”
Reached for comment, Harris’ campaign directed Newsweek to her statement at the rally.
Harris enjoyed explosive momentum when she entered the presidential race in late July and has consistently polled above Trump, on average, for several weeks, according to averages compiled by The New York Times and FiveThirtyEight. But some pollsters have warned against reading too much into preliminary data, pointing out that Trump has a history of under-polling.
As of Thursday afternoon, Harris was leading Trump by 3 percentage points, according to the Times’ average, and FiveThirtyEight’s latest update showed Harris leading by 2.8 points.
“This is going to be a tight race until the end, and we are the underdog, understand that,” Harris told the crowd in North Carolina on Thursday.
Update 9/12/24, 4:50 p.m. ET: This story has been updated with additional information and background.