Donald Trump has ruled out participating in another presidential debate against Kamala Harris, just two days after a contentious face-off where the former president seemed unsettled by the vice-president.
On Thursday, Trump took to his Truth Social platform to declare there would be “NO THIRD DEBATE!” He claimed he “clearly won” the debate held on Tuesday in Philadelphia, despite the overwhelming consensus that Harris had the upper hand.
“When a prizefighter loses a fight, the first thing they say is, ‘I WANT A REMATCH,'” Trump wrote. He added a pointed message for Harris, urging her to focus on her tenure as vice-president: “KAMALA SHOULD FOCUS ON WHAT SHE SHOULD HAVE DONE DURING THE LAST ALMOST FOUR YEAR PERIOD.”
In response, Harris, speaking at a campaign rally in Charlotte, North Carolina, reiterated her desire to engage in another debate with Trump. She emphasized the significance of another debate for voters, given the importance of the upcoming election. “I believe we owe it to the voters to have another debate because this election and what is at stake could not be more important,” Harris remarked during her first public appearance since the Tuesday debate.
With only a few weeks left before the election, Trump’s firm stance suggests that the possibility of another debate between the two candidates has been ruled out.
Tuesday’s debate was widely viewed as a victory for Harris, with over 67 million Americans tuning in to watch, according to Nielsen ratings. The event was the first time Harris and Trump met on a debate stage, and it quickly became a heated exchange on issues ranging from foreign policy to domestic concerns such as abortion.
Throughout the 90-minute debate, Harris appeared to put Trump on the defensive, especially when she questioned the size of his campaign rally crowds. Trump responded by reviving an unfounded internet theory involving migrants and pet theft, which sparked controversy.
A poll conducted by a private news outlet following the debate showed that 63 percent of the 605 viewers surveyed believed Harris won the debate, compared to 37 percent who favored Trump. Before the debate, voters were evenly split on which candidate would perform better.
Trump’s team quickly dismissed these poll results, downplaying Harris’s perceived victory. In a memo released by Trump pollsters Tony Fabrizio and Travis Tunis, the campaign insisted that public opinion had not shifted in Harris’s favor despite media portrayals. “Voters did not see it this way as support for her remained flat,” they stated.
Meanwhile, Harris’s appearance in North Carolina highlighted her campaign’s growing focus on the battleground state. According to a private news outlet’s poll tracker, Trump’s lead in the state had narrowed to less than a percentage point since Harris joined the Democratic ticket.
Trump, for his part, was scheduled to hold a rally in Tucson, Arizona, another pivotal swing state, on Thursday. Recent polling shows Trump leading Harris by just over 1 percentage point in the state.
Harris’s campaign capitalized on the momentum from the debate, announcing that it had raised $47 million in the 24 hours following the event, a significant boost compared to the $36 million raised when Harris revealed her running mate Tim Walz. Harris’s campaign holds a financial advantage with $404 million in cash reserves as of the end of August, while Trump’s campaign reported having $295 million.
During her rally in North Carolina, Harris criticized Trump’s performance during the debate. She highlighted key issues she raised that affect American families, contrasting them with Trump’s responses. “I talked about issues that I know matter to families across America… but that’s not what we heard from Donald Trump,” Harris said, referring specifically to Trump’s vague response on his plans to replace the Affordable Care Act. She mocked his statement, repeating his claim that he had “concepts of a plan” to replace Obamacare.
The race between Harris and Trump remains a close one, with national polls and key swing state surveys showing both candidates neck-and-neck as the election approaches.
