Harris urges Trump to debate her in September: 'Say it to my face'

Vice President Kamala Harris at a Georgia rally on Tuesday called for former President Donald Trump to debate her this September after he waffled on whether he would participate in the pre-planned debate, claiming that if he had "something to say, say it to my face." 

Trump initially said that he would debate the vice president last week, and would even be open to debating her more than once. But his campaign has since said that he would not agree to schedule the debate until after she becomes the nominee, claiming there was too much "chaos" in the Democratic party at the time. The former president was previously scheduled to debate President Joe Biden on September 10 in a debate hosted by ABC, but he withdrew his bid.

Harris urged the former president to still debate her in September, stating that the "momentum in the race" is shifting in her direction and that Trump should attack her on her policies face-to-face, according to CNN.

“Here’s the funny thing about that: He won’t debate, but he and his running mate sure seem to have a lot to say about me," Harris told the crowd at the Atlanta rally. “Well, Donald, I do hope you’ll reconsider to meet me on the debate stage. Because as the saying goes, if you got something to say, say it to my face.”

Harris also attacked her likely opponent on the Heritage Foundation's Project 2025, and claimed he wanted to cut Medicare and Social Security benefits, and end the Affordable Care Act. She also claimed that her record on the border was better than his, because he reportedly urged his allies in Congress to kill a border security package "because he thought it would help him win an election.”

“In this campaign, I will proudly put my record against his any day,” she said, before citing her record as the California state Attorney General, where she prosecuted transnational gangs, drug cartels and human traffickers. “I prosecuted them in case after case and I won. ... Donald Trump does not care about border security, he only cares about himself."

The comment comes after Harris released a new ad that painted Trump as unserious about the border. The 50-second ad will be posted on social media, and comes after Trump attacked her as the Biden administration's "border czar."

“Kamala Harris supports increasing the number of Border Patrol agents. Donald Trump blocked a bill to increase the number of Border Patrol agents,” a voiceover said, per CNN. “Kamala Harris prosecuted transnational gang members and got them sentenced to prison. Trump is trying to avoid being sentenced to prison. There’s two choices in this election: The one who will fix our broken immigration system, and the one who is trying to stop her.”

Harris became the presumptive Democratic nominee last week, after Biden dropped his bid for reelection and endorsed her. She is expected to become the party's official nominee after the Democratic National Committee concludes a virtual roll call that begins on Thursday.

Misty Severi is an evening news reporter for Just The News. You can follow her on X for more coverage.