Here’s Who Qualified For This Week’s GOP Primary Debate

The Republican National Committee announced the participants for Wednesday’s GOP primary debate in Milwaukee, Wisconsin.

The RNC said Monday the following candidates will take the debate stage:

• Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis
• Former pharmaceutical CEO Vivek Ramaswamy
• Former South Carolina Gov. Nikki Haley
• Former New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie
• South Carolina Senator. Tim Scott
• Former Vice President Mike Pence
• Former Arkansas Gov. Asa Hutchinson
• North Dakota Gov. Doug Burgum

First GOP primary debate participants: pic.twitter.com/H6hPah4Nro

— Morning Joe (@Morning_Joe) August 22, 2023

“The RNC is excited to showcase our diverse candidate field and the conservative vision to beat Joe Biden on the debate stage Wednesday night,” RNC Chairwoman Ronna McDaniel said.

“I’d like to thank the RNC’s debate committee Chairman Dave Bossie and Co-Chair Anne Hathaway and our debate partners, Fox News, Young America’s Foundation, and Rumble for their work to kick off the primary process that will put our Party and eventual nominee in the best position to take back the White House next fall.”

The New York Post reports:

Fox News on Monday barred Trump and other candidates who are not participating in the debate from allowing surrogates or aides access to the post-debate “spin room” at the Fiserv Forum unless they are guests of media organizations, a network spokesman confirmed to The Post.

Failed Arizona GOP gubernatorial candidate Kari Lake and Reps. Byron Donalds (R-Fla.) and Matt Gaetz (R-Fla.) had also planned to attend on Trump’s behalf, CNN reported.

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The debate will be co-moderated by the channel’s chief political anchor Bret Baier and “The Story” host Martha MacCallum.

To qualify for the debate, candidates had to certify that they had support from 40,000 unique donors, including at least 200 in 20 or more states or territories.

They also had to reach 1% support in three qualifying national polls or two national polls and one poll taken in two of four early voting states — Iowa, New Hampshire, Nevada, and South Carolina.

Trump, 77, has a more than 40-percentage point lead ahead of his next closest competitor with 55.9% support, according to the RealClearPolitics polling average.

He is followed by DeSantis (14.6%), Ramaswamy (7.1%), Pence (4.3%), Haley (3.3%), Christie (3.1%), Scott (3%), Hutchinson (0.9%) and Burgum (0.5%).

As WLTReport noted, Donald Trump will interview with Tucker Carlson during the debate.

Trump Plans To Skip Debate To Do Something Even BIGGER

Trump’s interview with Tucker Carlson reportedly will stream on X without ads during Wednesday’s GOP primary debate.

NEWS: Tucker Carlson’s taped interview with Donald Trump will stream on X without ads. It will also be a branding ex­er­cise for Carlson’s new com­pany. https://t.co/wGT68OaiEh

— Ben Pershing (@benpershing) August 22, 2023