On Thursday, August 8th, US Republican presidential candidate and former President Trump expressed his willingness to participate in three debates in September with his Democratic opponent, Vice President Harris, on different television networks.
Trump stated during a press conference at his Mar-a-Lago estate that he proposed debates to be held on September 4th on Fox News, September 10th on ABC, and September 25th on NBC.
Previously, Harris had already agreed to participate in the ABC presidential debate on September 10th.
Following this, Rick Klein, the Washington DC bureau chief of ABC, tweeted on social media platform X, “The ABC presidential debate will take place on September 10th, and both Trump and Harris have now agreed to it.”
Harris and her new running mate, Governor Tim Walz of Minnesota, held rallies in battleground states Michigan and Wisconsin on Wednesday, attracting tens of thousands of attendees. This stood in stark contrast to the scale of campaign events during President Biden’s candidacy.
After Biden’s decision to withdraw from the campaign at the end of July, Harris quickly rose as a prominent candidate.
Trump’s press conference on Thursday lasted for 65 minutes, during which he answered various questions from reporters. He reiterated his policy stances, including border security, abortion rights, gun control, and addressed challenging issues such as the January 6 Capitol riot and the 2020 election results.
Trump mentioned that despite the Democratic Party changing their candidate, his campaign strategy won’t change because it is not about Harris but about the policies of the Biden-Harris administration. He believes that policies will determine the outcome of this election.
Harris and Walz will meet with auto workers in Detroit on Thursday, as the United Auto Workers (UAW) union across the nation has endorsed their candidacy, which is crucial for mobilizing blue-collar workers’ votes in battleground states.
Due to the tropical storm “Debby,” their campaign team had to cancel events in North Carolina on Thursday and Georgia on Friday. The Democratic Party will travel to Arizona and Nevada later this week to visit two more swing states that could play a crucial role in the election on November 5th.
Trump’s running mate, JD Vance, a federal senator from Ohio, also canceled campaign events in North Carolina on Thursday. Over the past few days, he has been engaging in verbal sparring with Harris and Walz from the same state across various locations throughout the country.
Trump’s campaign team criticized Harris for not taking any questions from reporters since the start of her campaign 15 days ago.