Republicans urge debate do-over against Harris despite Trump hesitation

PHILADELPHIA – Republicans want former President Donald Trump to give debating Vice President Kamala Harris a second shot after his uneven performance on Tuesday.

Speaking to reporters in the spin room after the debate, Trump was noncommittal on whether he would again take the stage with Harris. He cast further doubt the following morning, telling Fox News, "I don't know that I want to do another debate."

Trump’s stated reason was he won “big” against Harris, despite pundits widely assessing that he lost. Across 90 minutes, Harris successfully goaded Trump into talking about himself and not her record as vice president .

However, Trump’s surrogates quickly found themselves at odds with Trump. He had previously committed to three debates against Harris, and they urged him to stick with that plan.

“Any time we get a chance to put President Trump in front of voters to talk about his vision, we think that improves his prospect of success," Rep. Matt Gaetz (R-FL) said in the spin room on Tuesday night.

"I hope we do see more debates. More debates are good for the country," added Vivek Ramaswamy, his former primary rival.

Michael Whatley, the chairman of the Republican National Committee , was slightly more circumspect.

"I think any opportunity for Donald Trump to be able to talk directly to the American voters and lay out his vision is something we'd be very interested in conversation about," he said.

Predictably, the assessment from Trump allies was that he performed well on Tuesday. Rep. Byron Donalds (R-FL) said Harris failed to get under Trump’s skin despite his repeated detours from policy.

At one point, Trump took the bait on Harris’s claim that supporters leave his rallies bored and exhausted.

“Donald Trump looked at it; he defended himself like any human being would, and then he got back to the issues at hand,” Donalds told reporters in Philadelphia.

Still, Republicans widely acknowledged the attention was disproportionately on Trump, not Harris.

Their first inclination was to blame the ABC News moderators, who live fact-checked Trump throughout the debate. But some Republicans complained that Trump lacked the discipline he showed in his June debate against President Joe Biden.

Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-SC) called Trump’s performance on Tuesday a “ disaster ” and said his prep team should be fired.

The outcome was welcomed by Democrats, who weeks earlier convinced Biden to exit the presidential race after he struggled to complete sentences onstage.

“I hope we're back out here in October. Let's do it. Donald Trump said, ‘Anytime, anywhere.’ I'm looking forward to debate No. 2," Gov. Gavin Newsom (D-CA) said from the spin room.

Shortly after the debate, the Harris campaign challenged Trump to meet again next month.

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But Trump seems skeptical of appearing on even friendly networks. Fox News has proposed three dates, but Trump vented on Wednesday morning that he would not agree unless the moderators were partisan.

“Let's give — let's give other people a shot,” he said of the chosen moderators, Bret Baier and Martha McCallum.