Four candidates are set to participate in the upcoming fourth GOP presidential primary debate scheduled for Wednesday night in Alabama, according to the joint announcement by the Republican National Committee and debate broadcaster NewsNation on Monday.
The qualified candidates for the debate in Tuscaloosa include Florida Governor Ron DeSantis, former South Carolina Governor Nikki Haley, entrepreneur Vivek Ramaswamy, and former New Jersey Governor Chris Christie. Notably, this debate will feature the smallest lineup of candidates on the stage so far this year. Notably absent will be former President Donald Trump, the current front-runner for the GOP nomination, who has opted to skip the event. Instead, he plans to attend a fundraiser in Florida in support of a super PAC backing his candidacy, maintaining his trend of abstaining from previous debates.
This announcement comes at a pivotal moment, with only six weeks remaining until the Iowa caucuses mark the opening of the 2024 GOP nomination calendar. Against this backdrop, a fierce competition unfolds between DeSantis and Haley, each vying to establish themselves as the leading primary contender against Trump.
To make the Tuscaloosa stage, candidates had to meet higher donor and polling criteria set by the Republican National Committee. They had to have at least 80,000 unique donors, with at least 200 in 20 states or territories. They also had to register at least 6% in two qualifying national polls or in one national poll and two polls from separate early-voting states: Iowa, New Hampshire, South Carolina or Nevada. Similar to conditions for past debates, the RNC also required candidates to sign a pledge committing to support the eventual GOP nominee. the upcoming fourth
Earlier in the day, North Dakota Gov. Doug Burgum pushed back at the RNC’s tightening of the debate qualification thresholds while announcing that he was ending his campaign for the GOP nomination.
“The debate requirements set by the RNC are centralizing the primary process on a national scale, thereby diminishing the influence of engaged and thoughtful citizens in Iowa and New Hampshire,” expressed Burgum. While he qualified for the initial two debates, he did not meet the criteria for participation in the third debate held in Miami last month.