Dems troll Trump with 'chicken' billboards over debate refusal

WASHINGTON — Vice President Kamala Harris is chiding GOP nominee Donald Trump for not agreeing to another presidential debate before voting ends Nov. 5, though he doesn’t appear inclined to change his mind.

“Let’s have another debate,” Harris, the Democratic candidate, said Sunday. “There’s more to talk about and the voters of America deserve to hear the conversations that I think we should be having on substance, on issues, on policies.”

Harris and Trump debated for the first time on Sept. 10, but so far the two campaigns haven’t reached agreement with another news organization to set up a second debate. Two days after their only debate so far, Trump declared he wouldn’t agree to another.

Harris-Walz Campaign Chair Jen O’Malley Dillon released a written statement this weekend announcing that Harris agreed to a CNN debate on Oct. 23 and pressing Trump to do so as well.

“Donald Trump should have no problem agreeing to this debate,” Dillon wrote. “It is the same format and setup as the CNN debate he attended and said he won in June, when he praised CNN’s moderators, rules, and ratings.”

Trump brushed that aside during a rally on Saturday in North Carolina, saying that “it’s just too late” since early and mail-in voting has already begun in some states.

During the 2020 presidential campaign, Trump and then-Democratic nominee Joe Biden held their final debate on Oct. 22.

Four years before that, when Trump and Hillary Clinton were vying for the Oval Office, they debated on Sept. 26, Oct. 9 and Oct. 19.

In an attempt to nudge Trump toward debating, the Democratic National Committee has paid for mobile billboards calling him a “chicken” and showing him dressed up in a yellow chicken costume. Those billboards, as well as a second one trying to link him to Project 2025, will be in Pennsylvania on Monday evening ahead of a campaign stop.

DNC Deputy Communications Director Abhi Rahman wrote in a statement about the chicken billboards that Trump had previously said he’d debate anytime, anyplace.

“The American people deserve another opportunity to hear Vice President Harris and Donald Trump lay out their starkly different visions for our country side-by-side before Election Day,” Rahman wrote. “Instead, Trump is busy hiding from the American people because he knows they’ll reject his Project 2025 agenda to hike taxes on the middle class, ban abortion nationwide, and use the federal government to assert virtually unchecked power over our daily lives.”

Harris and Trump, however, are both in talks with the CBS show “60 minutes” for detailed interviews that would air back-to-back on Oct. 7.

The vice presidential candidates are scheduled to debate on Oct. 1 in New York City, hosted by CBS. That will be the last debate of this cycle unless Trump changes his mind.

Trump, Harris, running mates in swing states

Campaign travel will continue to be a central focus for both Republicans and Democrats this week, with just over six weeks until voting wraps up.

Harris is expected to rally supporters in Pennsylvania on Wednesday, Arizona on Friday and Nevada on Sunday.

Trump will be in Savannah, Georgia on Tuesday to talk about his tax plans before heading to Mint Hill, North Carolina on Wednesday. He then has two stops scheduled in Michigan on Friday; the first in Walker and the second in Warren.

Democratic vice presidential nominee Tim Walz is expected to hold a campaign reception Tuesday in St. Paul, Minnesota.

Ohio Sen. J.D. Vance, the Republican vice presidential candidate, won’t be on Capitol Hill for the final in-session week before the election, but will be out on the campaign trail.

Vance is scheduled to be in Traverse City, Michigan on Wednesday before holding two stops in Georgia on Thursday and heading to Newton, Pennsylvania on Saturday.

North Dakota Monitor is part of States Newsroom, a nonprofit news network supported by grants and a coalition of donors as a 501c(3) public charity. North Dakota Monitor maintains editorial independence. Contact Editor Amy Dalrymple for questions: info@northdakotamonitor.com. Follow North Dakota Monitor on Facebook and X.