WASHINGTON (Reuters) – U.S. Vice President Kamala Harris has accepted an invitation from CNN to take part in a debate on Oct. 23 and is hoping to pit her Republican rival Donald Trump against her again less than two weeks before the Nov. 5 presidential election, a campaign official said on Saturday.
“Vice President Harris is ready for another opportunity to share a stage with Donald Trump and has accepted CNN’s invitation to debate him on October 23. Donald Trump should have no problem accepting this debate,” Harris campaign chairwoman Jen O’Malley Dillon said in a statement.
Trump’s campaign did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
Harris and Trump first debated on September 10, and polls showed the Democratic candidate won.
Trump said last week he would not participate in another debate with Harris before the election.
“There will be no third debate!” the former president wrote on his social media site Truth Social last Thursday.
In June, Trump debated President Joe Biden before his showdown with Harris.
Biden’s volatile performance in the debate has worried Democrats and prompted strategists to ask whether their party should take the unprecedented step of replacing the 81-year-old president with its own candidate. Biden withdrew from the race for the White House in July.
