(PatriotWise.com) — Last Monday, former Vice President Mike Pence’s campaign confirmed that he has met the qualifications to appear in the RNC’s first Republican primary debate next Wednesday, Politico reported.
Pence, who had already cleared the polling requirement set by the RNC, surpassed the threshold of 40,000 unique donors, according to campaign spokesman Davin O’Malley.
Only 7 of the 2024 candidates have met both the polling and donor thresholds to qualify for the August 23 debate. In addition to Mike Pence, the other candidates are Donald Trump, Florida Governor Ron DeSantis, Vivek Ramaswamy, former South Carolina Governor Nikki Haley, Senator Tim Scott, and North Dakota Governor Doug Burgum.
However, CNN reported on Friday that only Burgrum, DeSantis, Haley, Scott, and Ramaswamy have signed the required RNC pledge to support the eventual nominee. However, Pence has said that he will sign the pledge, according to the Washington Examiner.
Neither Chris Christie nor Donald Trump has signed the pledge.
The deadline to qualify for next Wednesday’s debate has passed.
While the RNC has not independently verified which candidates have met the requirements, CBS News reported on Monday that based on information from each campaign, the candidates who will be qualified to be on the debate stage are Doug Burgrum, Ron DeSantis, Nikki Haley, Tim Scott, and Vivek Ramaswamy. Pence, Christie, and Trump are not included since they did not sign the pledge.
According to CBS News, former Texas Rep. Will Hurd, radio host Larry Elder, and former Arkansas Governor Asa Hutchinson have not qualified. Miami Mayor Francis Suarez previously said he met the requirements, however, a spokesperson for his campaign told CBS News on Monday that the campaign has “no announcement at this time.”
It is still unclear if Donald Trump would attend the debate even if he agreed to sign the pledge. For months, the former president has hinted that he would skip the primary debates believing that he does not need to appear at the debates since he is leading in the polls.
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