Just months after Joe Biden's success in the debate, Donald Trump is facing the consequences of his own.

WASHINGTON (AP) — Donald Trump emerged from a rocky debate with Kamala Harris on Wednesday and is now trying to regain his footing 55 days before Election Day. The first ballots are already being distributed in Alabama and other states where early voting is scheduled.

Less than three months ago, Trump walked off the debate stage in Atlanta after witnessing President Joe Biden's incoherent, whisper-like speech that led the 81-year-old Democrat to abandon his reelection campaign and endorse Harris, his running mate. By the end of Tuesday night's debate, Trump, 78, was on the defensive after Harris, 59, controlled much of the debate and repeatedly provoked the former Republican president into agitated answers full of exaggerations and falsehoods.

That performance has raised eyebrows among many Republicans, who have begun to dissect Harris' performance, saying Trump still has time to refocus on the economy, immigration and other issues that could sway a much-divided electorate.

“I think the contrast with what her policies have achieved over the last three and a half years could have been made clearer,” said Republican Senator Shelley Moore Capito of West Virginia, criticizing the former president's approach. “That's what I would have focused on.”

Harris' campaign immediately floated the idea of ​​a second debate. Fox News has suggested a vote in October, but with moderators Trump says he does not prefer. And on Wednesday, he said on his Truth Social account that there was no need for a second round.

“In the world of boxing or the UFC, when a fighter gets beat or knocked out, he stands up and screams, 'I DEMAND A REMATCH, I DEMAND A REMATCH!' Well, a debate is no different,” Trump wrote as he claimed victory. “She got beaten badly last night… so why would I want a rematch?”

Trump and Harris met briefly in New York on Wednesday, where she joined President Biden and other dignitaries in marking the 23rd anniversary of the Sept. 11 attacks on the World Trade Center. They shook hands for the second time in 12 hours. The first came when Harris approached Trump on the debate stage to introduce herself – an early sign of the aggressive approach she would take during the event.

The former president, who broke convention with a surprise post-debate Spin Room appearance late Tuesday night, insisted he won the night even as he criticized ABC's moderators as unfair. It was a tacit admission that he had not gotten what he wanted against Harris. Trump and some of his allies speculated in online posts about punishing ABC by revoking its broadcast license – the network does not need a license to operate, but individual stations do – or denying access to its reporters.

“We had a great night. We won the debate. We had a terrible, terrible network,” Trump said on Fox News on Wednesday. “They should be ashamed of themselves. I mean, they kept correcting me and what I said was mostly correct, or I hope it was correct.”

Harris cheered late Tuesday night, telling attendees at the nighttime rally in Philadelphia that it was a “great night,” even as she reiterated that she sees Democrats as “underdogs” against Trump.

She won the endorsement of music and culture star Taylor Swift, while a number of political commentators and strategists from both sides of the political spectrum expressed widespread agreement that she had defeated Trump. Still, there was no sign that the debate had prompted an immediate broad turn to Harris among viewers, and the Trump campaign pointed to news reports that included voices from undecided voters who could not be won over to her.

His campaign is not considering any strategy or personnel changes, said an official who was not authorized to speak publicly by name. Trump made the points he needed to make, the official said, and the debate felt unbalanced because Harris was not pushed by the moderators, particularly to back away from her previous, more liberal positions on some issues.

Harris' senior campaign aides were pleased with her performance but still see a 50-50 race. From their perspective, the debate was an optimal opportunity: Harris communicated her priorities and held Trump accountable in front of a national audience, including voters who were interested in the campaign for the first time. Their job over the next eight weeks, they say, is to capitalize on the performance by reaching out and organizing their target coalition.

According to a CNN snap poll, about 6 in 10 debate viewers said Harris did better than Trump, while about 4 in 10 said Trump did better. Before the debate, those same voters were split in their opinion about whether Trump or Harris would win.

The vast majority of debate observers surveyed – who do not represent the opinion of the electorate as a whole – also said the event would not affect their voting decision. Perceptions of the two candidates remained largely unchanged.

“He says a lot. And he's said so many things over the years. And if you want to internalize that in a way that you think is different than in the past – I mean, it doesn't make much difference,” insisted Senator Mike Braun (R-Indiana).

Yet, with battles looming for control of the House and Senate, Republicans on Capitol Hill have had to answer for Trump's most absurd statements, particularly his claim that Haitian immigrants in Ohio eat domestic cats and dogs.

When asked about the appropriateness of Trump's comments, Florida Senator Rick Scott referred questions to Hung Cao, the Republican Senate candidate for Virginia. “President Trump is President Trump, and you have to admire him for that,” Cao said.

New Hampshire Republican Governor Chris Sununu acknowledged that Harris won the election by traditional debate standards, but failed to convince swing voters who focused on her economic situation.

“The majority of these swing voters are still results-oriented,” Sununu said on CNN, adding that Trump still has opportunities to influence voters if he focuses on the economy, immigration and especially foreign policy.

But even when it came to policy, Trump's answers on health care reform gave Democrats a hard time. After running for president twice on a promise to repeal and replace the Affordable Care Act, commonly called “Obamacare,” Trump falsely claimed he had saved the 2010 law. At the same time, Trump stuck to his longstanding promises to replace the law with something better, but when asked, he acknowledged that he still didn't have a concrete proposal.

“I have concepts for a plan,” Trump said in a remark that quickly became the fodder for online memes and merchandise.

Braun promised those voters to hear more about Republicans' successes and proposals, but acknowledged that it may not be Trump who leads those efforts: “Whether he does it or the rest of us have to do it, the decision will be made between now and November 5th.”

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Barrow reported from Atlanta. Gomez Licon reported from New York. AP Polling Editor Amelia Thomson-DeVeaux and AP Congressional Correspondent Lisa Mascaro in Washington contributed to this report.

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