Could the first Republican primary debate shape up as a total dud?
Rules for the August Fox News event in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, could ensure only a few candidates even have stage access, according to Politico.
Low polling support and inability to attract campaign donors could prevent more than half of the announced candidates from making it.
The Republican National Committee is requiring that candidates receive contributions from 40,000 unique donors to make the debate, with at least 200 in 20 respective states, according to Politico.
Only former President Donald Trump, Ron DeSantis, Nikki Haley, Tim Scott and Vivek Ramaswamy have met the donor criteria.
The standards could bar candidates like Mike Pence — himself a former Republican vice president.
Candidates also must earn more than one percent support in three recognized polls after July 1.
Contenders for the nomination must also pledge their loyalty to the party’s eventual nominee — a prospect that some candidates have handily rejected.
Former New Jersey Governor Chris Christie harshly criticized the loyalty pledge in a June interview, according to NBC News. The former political ally of Trump has staked out his candidacy on aggressively criticizing the former president.
Christie subsequently said he would sign the pledge — while all but admitting he didn’t intend to honor it if Trump won the nomination, according to The New York Times.
“I will do what I need to do to be up on that stage,” Christie said.
“I’m going to take the pledge just as seriously as Donald Trump took it in 2016.”
There’s no solid indication that the Republican elephant in the room will even show up for the event.
Trump — who leads polling in the primary contest significantly — has repeatedly questioned why he would even attend the debate.
The frontrunner cited his whopping polling lead as justification for potentially skipping the event, according to the New York Post.
“I’m leading by 40 points. A lot of people say, ‘Why would you do a debate when you have people at two and three and fifteen and fourteen [percent]?'” Trump said on a New York radio show.
NEW: The GOP primary debate stage could turn out to be quite small
-Trump threatening to skip
-DeSantis allies saying he won’t debate if Trump won’t
-Polling/$ criteria that could keep out cands
-A loyalty pledge some cands won’t signw/@natalie_allison https://t.co/gGU7VJ4CqG
— Alex Isenstadt (@politicoalex) July 2, 2023
Trump hasn’t ruled out participating in the debate either, though there are rumors he may host his own event at the same time.
This article appeared originally on The Western Journal.