The Harris-Walz campaign said Thursday that Vice President Kamala Harris is open to debating former President Donald Trump at a still-unscheduled event in October after their initial face-off on Sept. 10, rejecting Mr. Trump’s proposal for three debates in September.
Ms. Harris’ running mate, Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz, will debate GOP vice presidential nominee Sen. J.D. Vance on Oct. 1. But the Harris-Walz campaign is not accepting Mr. Vance’s proposal to hold an earlier debate with Mr. Walz on Sept. 18 on CNN.
“The debate about debates is over. Donald Trump’s campaign accepted our proposal for three debates — two presidential and a vice presidential debate,” Harris-Walz communications director Michael Tyler said in a statement.
Ms. Harris has agreed to duke it out on stage with Mr. Trump on Sept. 10 in a debate hosted by ABC News. But Mr. Trump had proposed a Sept. 4 debate on Fox News and another event on Sept. 25 with NBC News.
The statement by Ms. Harris’ campaign said she will only appear at the Sept. 10 debate and one more in October that has yet to be scheduled.
“Assuming Donald Trump actually shows up on Sept. 10 to debate Vice President Harris, then Gov. Walz will see J.D. Vance on October 1 and the American people will have another opportunity to see the vice president and Donald Trump on the debate stage in October,” Mr. Tyler said.
Mr. Tyler said “voters deserve to see the candidates for the highest office in the land share their competing visions for our future.”
“The more they play games, the more insecure and unserious Trump and Vance reveal themselves to be to the American people. Those games end now,” he said.
There has been much back-and-forth between the Republican and Democratic presidential candidates and their running mates regarding debates. The former president originally said he has a conflict of interest with ABC News because he is suing the network and host George Stephanopoulos.
Mr. Vance, Ohio Republican, agreed Thursday to the Oct.1 debate with Mr. Walz
“The American people deserve as many debates as possible, which is why President Trump has challenged Kamala to three of them already,” Mr. Vance wrote on X.
He had also suggested a second date in his post, Sept. 18 with CNN, but the Harris-Walz statement only mentioned one vice presidential debate.
• Mallory Wilson can be reached at mwilson@washingtontimes.com.
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