Trump agrees to ABC News debate, proposes 2 more as campaign tries to adjust to Harris's candidacy

Seeking to recapture the momentum in a presidential race that he seemed likely to win just weeks ago, former President Donald Trump held a news conference Thursday at which he said he had agreed to hold three debates with Vice President Kamala Harris, including an appearance in one on Sept. 10 that he initially had canceled.

“I think it’s very important to have debates, and we’ve agreed with Fox on a date of Sept. 4. We’ve agreed with NBC — a fairly full agreement subject to them — on September 10, and we’ve agreed with ABC on September 25,” Trump told reporters gathered at his Mar-a-Lago home and country club, though he mixed up the latter two dates.

Harris confirmed that she would face Trump on Sept. 10, but seemed to keep her options open regarding the proposed debates on Sept. 4 and Sept. 25.

"I hear that Donald Trump has finally committed to debating me on September 10," she wrote in a message posted to X. "I look forward to it."

Back on

Earlier this month, Trump cited President Biden’s exit from the race when he abruptly “terminated” a presidential debate scheduled on Sept. 10 that was to be hosted by ABC News and demanded that Harris debate him on Fox News on Sept. 4 instead.

Harris quickly rejected that idea.

"It's interesting how 'any time, any place' becomes 'one specific time, one specific safe space,'" she wrote in a post on X. "I'll be there on September 10th, like he agreed to. I hope to see him there."

But with Harris surging in polls, raising more money than Trump in July and drawing large crowds at rallies, Trump hastily called a press conference on Thursday to announce his change of heart on attending the Sept. 10 debate. ABC News confirmed during the press conference that it would host the first of the three debates and that Harris had also agreed to participate.

Trump said that some details, including whether the debates would happen before a live audience, had yet to be confirmed.

Momentum shift

Since a poor debate performance against Trump eventually led Biden to announce that he was dropping out of the 2024 campaign on July 21, the dynamics of a race that Trump seemed all but certain to win have been upended.

With Harris having secured enough delegates to be named Biden’s replacement at the top of the Democratic ticket, her standing in swing state and national polls has risen significantly.

While Harris and her running mate embarked on a campaign swing through battleground states this week, with rallies in Pennsylvania, Wisconsin, Michigan, North Carolina, Georgia, Arizona and Nevada, Trump had only one scheduled in reliably red Montana.

Asked by a reporter about the disparity in the number of rallies the two campaigns had scheduled this week, Trump said he was giving those events a rest and letting "their [the Democrats’] convention go through.” The Democratic National Convention is scheduled to begin on Aug. 19 in Chicago.

Thursday’s press conference, Trump asserted, was an equally valid use of his time. "Excuse me, what are we doing right now?" he said, adding that he believed Harris was “not smart enough to do a news conference.”

High stakes

After Trump initially dropped out of the ABC News debate, Harris went on the attack, mentioning that fact in her stump speeches.

“Well Donald, I do hope you'll reconsider to meet me on the debate stage,” Harris told her audience at a campaign rally in Atlanta last month. “Because, as the saying goes, if you’ve got something to say, say it to my face.”

With three debates now proposed in a span of 21 days, those face-to-face encounters will offer Trump more opportunities to wrest back control of the race.

“I look forward to the debates because I think we have to set the record straight,” Trump said Thursday.

In Michigan on Thursday, Harris took some questions from reporters, and left open the possibility that she would attend more than one debate before the November election.

"I am happy to have that conversation about an additional debate, or after September 10, for sure," she said.