WASHINGTON: US Vice President Kamala Harris on Saturday challenged Republican candidate Donald Trump to another debate in the run-up to the US presidential election, with her campaign saying she had accepted an invitation from broadcaster CNN to host the event on October 23.
“Harris is ready for another chance to share the stage with Donald Trump,” her campaign manager, Jen O'Malley Dillon, said in a statement.
“The American people deserve another chance to watch Vice President Kamala Harris and Donald Trump debate before they cast their vote.”
Republican Trump has attended two debates so far, one against President Joe Biden and one against Harris, who has since replaced her boss at the head of the Democratic ticket.
Trump had previously rejected the idea of facing Harris again. His campaign did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
Most experts have Harris winning the last debate, which took place on September 10.
Biden's poor performance in the debate against Trump in June, where the president struggled to complete some of his sentences, catalyzed concerns about his age and increased pressure for the 81-year-old to drop out of the race.
The move has left Trump, 78, now the oldest presidential candidate facing a much younger Harris, 59.
Voting is already underway
Saturday's announcement came as three states — Virginia, Minnesota and South Dakota — have already begun early voting in what is a nerve-rackingly close race.
On the campaign trail on Friday, Harris called Trump and his party “hypocrites” on abortion, blaming Trump for an abortion ban in the battleground state of Georgia that she said had caused the deaths of two women.
Trump has frequently boasted on the campaign trail that his three Supreme Court picks paved the way for a 2022 repeal of the nation's right to abortion, handing the issue over to state governments.
Since then, at least 20 states have introduced full or partial restrictions; Georgia bans most abortions after six weeks of pregnancy.
The race remains very close, with Trump competing with support from a base of conservative religious voters and others, many of whom are dissatisfied with the country's political status quo.
