Democrats to run newspaper ads in Trump’s rally locations calling for debate commitment

(WASHINGTON) — When former President Donald Trump rallies across the country, voters in some of those states will read coverage of his events in their biggest papers — and new Democratic attack ads.

The Democratic National Committee on Friday is launching a new strategy to needle Trump over not committing to debating Vice President Kamala Harris.

The effort will start Friday in The Atlanta Journal-Constitution ahead of Trump’s rally with his running mate, Sen. JD Vance, R-Ohio, in Atlanta on Saturday.

The DNC will also take out ads in The Arizona Republic in Arizona, The Detroit News in Michigan, the Las Vegas Sun in Nevada, The News & Observer in North Carolina, The Philadelphia Inquirer in Pennsylvania, and the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel in Wisconsin ahead of any rallies Trump holds in those states, according to plans shared first with ABC News.

The ads will be featured on the online homepages of each paper and in their respective print copies.

The DNC has several versions of the ad, all accusing Trump of being frightened to debate Harris. One message reads, “The convicted felon is AFRAID to debate,” while another ties him to the disavowed Project 2025 under the Heritage Foundation, saying the plan would “BAN ABORTION NATIONWIDE. No wonder he’s AFRAID to debate.”

“Donald Trump boasted he’d debate ‘anytime, anywhere,’ but after 34 felony convictions and one campaign meltdown after another, he’s running scared and attempting to dodge his commitment to a September debate,” said DNC Communications Director Rosemary Boeglin in a statement to ABC News.

“Trump’s extreme plans for America are catching up to him, and Democrats won’t let him off the hook for his dangerous Project 2025 agenda. No matter where Trump is on September 10, voters know where he stands. 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,” her statement concluded.

The DNC’s push is the latest salvo in the will-he, won’t-he storyline of a debate between Harris and Trump.

Trump and President Joe Biden had originally scheduled a Sept. 10 debate on ABC News, but since then, Biden has dropped out of the race, and Harris is poised to take his place atop the Democrats’ ticket officially.

Harris has maintained that she’ll be on stage that day, and Trump has said he’d like to debate but has kept the door open to backing out.

“I want to do a debate. But I also can say this: Everybody knows who I am. And now people know who she is,” Trump said earlier this week on Fox News.

“The answer is yes, but I can also make a case for not doing it,” he ultimately said when asked if he’d debate.

Other comments from Trump included criticizing ABC News and opening the door to debating on other networks. Fox News later proposed that it host a Sept. 17 debate in Pennsylvania.

Harris’ campaign has seized on the hesitancy, accusing Trump of being scared.

“Why won’t Donald Trump give a straight answer on debating Vice President Harris? It’s clear from tonight’s question-dodging: he’s scared he’ll have to defend his running mate’s weird attacks on women, or his own calls to end elections in America in a debate against the vice president,” campaign spokesperson Ammar Moussa said Monday, referencing Vance’s recently resurfaced comments about childless women.

“Vice President Harris will be on the debate stage September 10th. Donald Trump can show up, or not,” she added.

Jason Miller, a senior advisor to the former president, told Axios Thursday that the Trump campaign is “non-committal” to the Sept. 10 debate, but he believes there should be multiple debates between Trump and Harris.

“Not only will there be another debate, but there should be multiple debates,” Miller said. “We do think there should be some diversification in the outlets for who hosts a debate, but I think the public would be sold short if we only did one debate against Kamala Harris in the general election.”

The Trump campaign did not respond to a request for further comment from ABC News.