Vice President Kamala Harris floated the possibility of another debate ahead of the November election, but former president Donald Trump offered a new response over questions of whether he'd agree to such a thing.
It had been anticipated that Tuesday night’s debate might be the only meet-up for Harris and Trump, but the Democratic nominee said shortly after the event that she’s “ready” for another one.
In a statement put out immediately following the debate’s conclusion, Harris campaign chair Jen O’Malley Dillon said the Democrat “commanded” the stage and “is ready for a second debate.”
“Is Donald Trump?” O’Malley Dillon asked.
In the spin room shortly after the debate, Trump wouldn’t commit to the rematch the Harris campaign has already offered, saying, “I have to think about it” and that he might do it “if it was on a fair network.”
“The reason you do a second debate is if you lose, and they lost,” he told Fox News host Sean Hannity. “But I’ll think about it.”
The morning after the debate, he repeated some of that sentiment.
"In the World of Boxing or UFC, when a Fighter gets beaten or knocked out, they get up and scream, 'I DEMAND A REMATCH, I DEMAND A REMATCH!' Well, it’s no different with a Debate," Trump wrote on his social media platform Truth Social. "She was beaten badly last night. Every Poll has us WINNING, in one case, 92-8, so why would I do a Rematch?"
Trump initially balked at the arrangements surrounding the ABC News debate, saying he had made the agreement with Biden before the president ended his reelection bid.
On Tuesday, Trump told Hannity he “thought it was a great debate” and came to the spin room because “I just felt I wanted to.”
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“I was very happy with the result,” he said. “I just felt we had a great night and I’d come over here.”
In addition to the Harris-Trump debate on Sept. 10, vice presidential candidates Tim Walz and JD Vance also agreed to a debate, scheduled to be hosted by CBS News on Oct. 1.
Voters will officially head to the polls just over a month later on Nov. 5 for Election Day, though early voting starts significantly earlier in many states.
In Illinois, early voting will begin on Sept. 26 and will run through Nov. 4, with Election Day voting held at a designated polling place from 6 a.m. to 7 p.m. on Nov. 5.
