In a stunning development in the heated 2024 presidential race, Democratic nominee and current Vice President Kamala Harris will hold a town hall with undecided voters on CNN Wednesday evening. The move comes after Republican candidate Donald Trump rejected an offer to participate in a second presidential debate against his rival.
According to inside sources, the Harris campaign had pushed hard to secure another debate with the former president after she was widely perceived to have won their first and only face-off in September. However, Trump rebuffed the invitation, opting instead to headline his own rally Wednesday night in the crucial battleground state of Georgia.
Battle for Swing States Heats Up
With less than two weeks to go until Election Day on November 5th, both campaigns are laser-focused on the handful of swing states that will ultimately decide the winner of the White House. Pennsylvania and Georgia, where Harris and Trump will be campaigning respectively on Wednesday, are among the seven most critical battlegrounds.
Surrogates for the two candidates are also fanning out across the country in these final days. Harris’ running mate, Minnesota Governor Tim Walz, is set to visit North Carolina and Pennsylvania, while Trump’s VP pick, Ohio Senator JD Vance, will hold an event in Reno, Nevada.
VP Ready for Top Job, Says Harris
In an interview with NBC News on Tuesday, Harris expressed confidence that the nation was prepared to elect a woman as president. “I’m clearly a woman. I don’t need to point that out to anyone,” she quipped. “The point that most people really care about is: can you do the job and, do you have a plan to actually focus on them?”
The vice president also made a play for Latino voters in a separate Telemundo interview, pledging to drive more funds to community banks to help Hispanic men secure small business loans. “Hispanic men often have more difficulty securing loans from banks because of their connections and the fact that things aren’t necessarily set up so that they will qualify,” Harris noted.
Trump Attacks “Lazy” Harris
For his part, Trump spent Wednesday morning courting Hispanic leaders at his Miami golf resort before unleashing a barrage of personal attacks on his opponent. The former president slammed Harris as “lazy as hell” and “low IQ” for not holding public events on Tuesday, even though she had taped the TV interviews.
Does she drink? Is she on drugs?
– Donald Trump on Kamala Harris
Trump continued his broadsides against Harris at an evening rally in Greensboro, North Carolina. Meanwhile, the Democrat’s VP nominee Tim Walz blasted Trump’s recent McDonald’s photo-op in Pennsylvania as a “stunt” during events with Barack Obama in Wisconsin.
Obama Paints Trump as Unfit
The former Democratic president also got in on the action, ridiculing Trump’s boasts about the economy and suggesting his rambling speeches were a sign of mental decline. “You’d be worried if Grandpa was acting like this,” Obama cracked. “But this is coming from someone who wants unchecked power.”
As the clock ticks down to November 5th, the Harris town hall and Trump rally on Wednesday will offer one of the last major opportunities for the two candidates to make their closing arguments to the American people. In a race that remains on a razor’s edge, every moment counts.
