3 months ago
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After Vice President Kamala Harris publicly challenged Trump to a second debate, hosted by CNN, on 23 October, speculations are arising whether Donald Trump wants his running mate,
JD Vance
, to have the final debate of this election, or if he wants that opportunity for himself.
Donald Trump’s running mate, JD Vance, and Kamala Harris’s vice presidential pick,
Tim Walz
, are set to debate on October 1, hosted by CBS.
This will be the only
vice presidential debate
of the campaign season and is expected to showcase the contrasting views and approaches of Vance, a Republican senator from Ohio, and Walz, the Democratic governor of Minnesota, as reported by CNN.
As VP debates are typically held between presidential debates, not as the final event, ending with the Vance-Walz debate would feel anticlimactic without a final debate between Trump and Harris.
Harris campaign
chair Jen O’Malley Dillon said in a statement that “Trump should have no problem agreeing” since “it is the same format and setup as the CNN debate he attended and said he won in June, when he praised CNN’s moderators, rules, and ratings.”
Given Trump’s keen interest in TV ratings, there’s still hope for another debate before Election Day, which CNN argues would help voters make a final, informed decision.
However, Trump’s campaign quickly rejected the offer. Citing his recent social media post, “THERE WILL BE NO THIRD DEBATE,” Trump argued that a late-October debate was unnecessary because early voting would already be underway. He claimed that October 23 was "just too late."
Several networks are vying to host another presidential debate. CNN and NBC, in particular, have expressed interest.
Some political analysts, like Larry Sabato, the director of the Center for Politics at the University of Virginia, observed on X, believe that a late debate could still influence undecided voters.
This year’s election cycle has already been unusual. An early general election debate between President Joe Biden and Trump, combined with Harris's delayed nomination, has made for a unique campaign season.
The first two debates this year attracted tens of millions of viewers, and a final debate would benefit Americans still weighing their options ahead of Election Day.
