U.S. Vice President Kamala Harris, Democratic presidential candidate, speaks at the Cobb Energy Center for the Performing Arts in Atlanta on September 20, 2024. Harris spoke about abortion and reproductive rights in Georgia as she continues her campaign against Republican presidential candidate, former U.S. President Donald Trump.
Joe Rydell | Getty Images News | Getty Images
US Vice President Kamala Harris said Saturday she would be open to debating former President Donald Trump for a second time in October, ahead of the US presidential election in November.
Harris has accepted CNN's invitation to debate Oct. 23, Jen O'Malley Dillon, campaign chairwoman for Harris and vice presidential nominee Tim Walz, said in a statement. That would be less than two weeks before the election.
“I will gladly accept a second presidential debate on October 23rd,” Harris wrote in a post on Twitter. “I hope @realDonaldTrump will join me.”
This isn’t the first time the Harris camp has suggested another matchup. Shortly after the ABC News debate between Harris and Trump earlier this month, O’Malley Dillon said Harris was ready for a runoff against him. But with Harris raising millions of dollars after the campaign, Trump has declined to face her again.
In a post on Trump Media and Technology Group Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump said on Truth Social that “there will be no third debate.”
On Saturday, a Trump campaign spokesperson referred CNBC to Trump's Truth Social post about the lack of a third debate.
“I’ve had one debate. I’ve had two debates. It’s too late to have another debate. I wish I had, in many ways, but it’s too late. The vote has been cast,” Trump said at a rally in Wilmington, North Carolina, on Saturday.
Trump’s first debate of 2024 was against incumbent President Joe Biden. CNN covered the event in June. But Biden struggled on the debate stage. Democratic donors expressed concerns about Biden’s prospects, and Democratic members of Congress called on Biden to end his campaign. In August, Harris accepted the Democratic presidential nomination at the Democratic National Convention.
“Donald Trump should have no problem agreeing to this debate,” O’Malley Dillon wrote in her statement. “It is the same format and setup as the debate he attended on CNN and said he won in June, when he praised CNN’s moderators, rules, and ratings.”
CNBC's Rebecca Picciotto contributed to this report.
WATCH: Harris won the debate but didn't move a finger on voters' decisions, says PIMCO's Libby Cantrell
