2024 election updates: Trump, Harris hit more battlegrounds

Trump is again ruling out another debate against Harris, arguing it would be "a very bad thing" for the country.

"Well, I've already done two debates, and they, you know, we're good, but to do a third one, everybody's voting now, and it's very late to be doing a third debate," Trump told Fox News correspondent Bill Melugin in a phone conversation that aired Monday morning.

Harris said over the weekend she accepted an offer from CNN for a debate on Oct. 23.

Her team has also noted that there have been presidential debates in years past in the final weeks before Election Day.

“The final 2020 debate was October 22," the Harris campaign wrote on X. "The proposed CNN debate is October 23."

Trump also debated Hillary Clinton for a third time around the same timeframe: Oct. 19, 2016.

A set of New York Times/Siena College polls found Trump slightly leads Harris in Arizona and they are about evenly matched in North Carolina.

Among likely voters in Arizona, Trump leads Harris 50% to 45% in a head-to-head matchup. In a six-way matchup with other candidates, Trump still leads Harris 48% to 43%.

In North Carolina, Trump also leads Harris among likely voters 49% to 47%. He also leads by 2 percentage points in a six-way matchup. The lead, however, is within the poll's margin of error.

Arizona and North Carolina are considered crucial battlegrounds this election, along with Georgia. According to 538’s polling average, Trump is ahead slightly in each of the three Sun Belt states.