As Deadline for Another Debate Passes, Trump Again Rejects a Rematch

The deadline CNN set for former President Donald J. Trump and Vice President Kamala Harris to agree to a second debate passed Thursday with no deal — making it all but certain that the candidates’ first debate in September would be their last.

Ms. Harris had accepted CNN’s offer to debate on Oct. 23 but Mr. Trump repeatedly said he was not interested, including on Wednesday night. Fox News also extended an offer on Wednesday for a debate this month, which neither candidate has specifically addressed, but Mr. Trump’s rejection was phrased broadly.

Mr. Trump insisted on his social media site that Ms. Harris wanted a “rematch” because she lost their first meeting, despite polls that suggested otherwise, finding that most respondents thought Ms. Harris had performed better. He also repeated his suggestion that it was too late to debate again because voting had already begun, though debates in past presidential elections have often been held in mid- to late October.

Mr. Trump also claimed that he was “leading in all swing states,” even though polling averages show him leading in some and Ms. Harris leading in others, with the race very close in all of them.

CNN confirmed in a statement that Mr. Trump’s campaign had declined its invitation and that there would be no debate on Oct. 23. It said it had invited the candidates to participate in separate town-hall events that day instead.

Jennifer O’Malley Dillon, Ms. Harris’s campaign chair, accepted CNN’s invitation to sit for a town hall event Oct. 23 in Pennsylvania.

Mr. Trump had expressed reluctance to debate Ms. Harris in the first place, and said shortly after that meeting that he wasn’t inclined to do it again. He turned down the CNN debate last month, and indicated that even the