Democrats are launching an ad campaign pressing Republican presidential nominee and former President Donald Trump to debate Vice President Kamala Harris, the likely Democratic nominee. In this photo, the White House is seen on June 24, 2023 in Washington, D.C. (Photo by Samuel Corum/Getty Images)
The Democratic National Committee will unveil a confrontational digital ad campaign in battleground states, starting Friday in Atlanta, to press Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump to debate Vice President Kamala Harris, the likely Democratic nominee, States Newsroom has learned.
Trump has not committed to debating Harris, who has said she is eager to keep a Sept. 10 debate date that was negotiated before she entered the race.
The ads, which will blanket major newspaper websites in battleground states where Trump is campaigning, starting with the Atlanta Journal-Constitution, call the former president “afraid to debate” Harris, according to a news release from the DNC.
The DNC plans to replicate the ads running in Atlanta on the websites of other major newspapers in swing states on days Trump will be stumping in those states. The ads will generally run the day of a Trump campaign event, but the first ads in Atlanta will run for two days, Friday and Saturday, ahead of a Trump appearance there Saturday, a DNC spokesperson said.
The unusual ad buy highlights parts of Trump’s record that Democrats have been hammering throughout the campaign, including a conservative policy blueprint known as Project 2025 that calls for a nationwide abortion ban and the 34 New York state felony charges Trump was convicted of in May.
“Trump is a convicted felon whose Project 2025 would ban abortion nationwide,” one banner ad shared with States Newsroom before its launch reads. “No wonder he’s afraid to debate.”
Trump and his campaign have worked to distance the candidate from Project 2025, which was created by the conservative think tank the Heritage Foundation, but have not produced a comprehensive policy document to replace it.
Trump agreed in May to two debates with President Joe Biden, then the presumptive Democratic nominee. But weeks after Biden’s poor performance in the first, on June 27, the incumbent dropped out of the race and endorsed Harris to replace him on the top of the Democratic ticket.
Trump campaign communications director Steven Cheung said in a July 25 statement that Trump’s agreement to debate on Sept. 10 did not necessarily hold after Biden’s withdrawal, saying the Democratic nomination was still unsettled.
Harris is the only candidate for the Democratic nomination, which will be finalized during a virtual roll call of Democratic delegates that started Thursday. She is scheduled to accept the Democratic nomination at the party’s convention this month in Chicago.
The ads represent an escalation in Democrats’ pressure campaign to get Trump on a debate stage with Harris.
At her own Atlanta rally on Wednesday, hours after Trump made an unfounded comment about Harris’ racial identity, Harris challenged the former president to debate her.
“Donald, I do hope you’ll reconsider to meet me on the debate stage,” she said. “Because as the saying goes, if you got something to say, say it to my face.”
The Sept. 10 debate was set to air on ABC with moderators David Muir and Linsey Davis of ABC News. Further details, including location, were set to be announced closer to that date.
Democrats have said Harris will still participate in the debate whether Trump shows or not.
“No matter where Trump is on September 10, voters know where he stands,” DNC communications director Rosemary Boeglin said in a written statement. “Meanwhile, Vice President Harris will be on the debate stage to offer America the path forward – giving voters the choice to reject Trump’s MAGA extremism once and for all.”
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