At Least 8 Republicans Have Made The First Debate. Could 3 More Join Them? – By Geoffrey Skelley (FiveThirtyEight) / Aug 2, 2023
On Monday night, the Republican National Committee confirmed that eight candidates would appear in Wednesday’s debate: Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis, tech entrepreneur Vivek Ramaswamy, former Vice President Mike Pence, former U.N. Ambassador Nikki Haley, former New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie, South Carolina Sen. Tim Scott, North Dakota Gov. Doug Burgum and former Arkansas Gov. Asa Hutchinson.
It’s deadline day for Republican presidential candidates seeking to make the stage for the GOP’s first primary debate on Aug. 23. The Republican National Committee set a cutoff time of 48 hours before the debate, so to qualify, every contender must hit at least 1 percent in enough qualifying polls, provide evidence that they have enough donors and sign a pledge promising to back the eventual 2024 Republican nominee by 9 p.m. Eastern tonight.
At this point, eight candidates have met every requirement to make the stage. But depending on what polls the RNC is willing to count, as many as 11 candidates could qualify. After a flurry of last-minute polls and donations, the latest candidates claiming they’ve met the requirements are Michigan businessman Perry Johnson and Miami Mayor Francis Suarez. But they, along with former Texas Rep. Will Hurd, appear to be in a gray zone.
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