By Felicia Udeji
Donald Trump has ruled out a second US presidential debate with Kamala Harris, despite Fox News offering to host one before election day on November 5.
The two candidates have only faced off once, in September, and it seems they won’t meet again before the vote. Trump took to his Truth Social media platform to announce his decision, stating “It is very late in the process, (early) voting has already begun — there will be no rematch!” He also claimed that Harris wouldn’t do anything different from Joe Biden, so there’s nothing to debate.
Interestingly, Harris had previously challenged Trump to a debate on CNN, but he declined. Trump also accused Harris of backing out of a previous Fox debate, although her campaign hadn’t publicly accepted the proposal.
The candidates did agree to debate on ABC News in September, and their vice presidential running mates, JD Vance and Tim Walz, squared off on October 1.
It’s worth noting that Trump had agreed to participate in debates on Fox and NBC News, but Harris didn’t. After their first debate, Harris expressed interest in a second debate, but plans never materialized.
Fox News made a last-ditch effort, sending letters to both campaigns offering one final debate on either October 24 or 27, allowing each candidate to make their closing arguments.