In three weeks, GOP presidential candidates will take the stage for the second primary debate in the 2024 cycle.
The Sept. 27 debate, hosted by Fox Business at the Ronald Reagan Presidential Library in Simi Valley, California, has stricter requirements than the first debate. The debate will be moderated by Fox News anchor Dana Perino and Fox Business anchor Stuart Varney.
To qualify for the second debate, candidates must have a minimum of 50,000 unique donors—including 200 donors from 20 states or territories. To qualify for the first debate, candidates needed at least 40,000 unique donors to their principal presidential campaign committee, with at least 200 unique donors per state or territory in more than 20 states and/or territories.
Additionally, to get onto the debate stage in California, candidates must poll, at a minimum, 3 percent in two national polls or 3 percent in one nationwide poll and two polls from different early voting states including Iowa, New Hampshire, South Carolina, and Nevada. All polls must be recognized by the RNC.
The RNC’s requirements for getting onto the first debate stage included polling at least 1 percent in three national polls, or polling 1 percent in two national polls plus 1 percent in a poll recognized by the RNC in two of the early states.
Finally, a notable requirement included signing a pledge to support the eventual party nominee.
In the pledge, the candidates consent “to appear in only primary and general election debates that have been sanctioned by the Republican National Committee, pursuant to Rule 10(a)(11) of The Rules of the Republican Party. I acknowledge and accept that if I fail to sign this pledge or if I participate in any debate that has not been sanctioned by the Republican National Committee, I will not be eligible to participate in any further Republican National Committee sanctioned debates.”
The pledge goes on to state: “Additionally, I affirm that if I do not win the 2024 Republican nomination for President of the United States, I will honor the will of the primary voters and support the 2024 Republican presidential nominee in order to save our country and beat Joe Biden.
“I further pledge that I will not seek to run as an independent or write-in candidate nor will I seek or accept the nomination for president of any other party.”
Participants
As of press time, former President Donald Trump, who has been dominating the polls, has presumably qualified. Former U.S. Ambassador to the U.N. and South Carolina Gov. Nikki Haley, Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis, entrepreneur Vivek Ramaswamy, and former Vice President Mike Pence have all qualified for the second debate, according to their campaigns.The campaign of conservative pundit and former EpochTV host Larry Elder told The Epoch Times it believes it has met the donor requirement and the candidate is seeking clarification “from the RNC for ‘which polls will be accepted’ and ‘which polls will not be accepted.’”
The Epoch Times has reached out to Mr. Johnson’s campaign to ask if he has qualified for the second debate.
The Epoch Times has also reached out to the campaigns of former Arkansas Gov. Asa Hutchinson and former New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie, who were on the first debate stage, to ask if they qualified for the second debate.
