The first Republican debate is just weeks away, taking place on August 23rd, and so far only seven Republican presidential candidates have qualified for the debate.
In order to qualify the candidates must have 40,000 unique donors and “at least 1% in three high-quality national polls or a mix of national and early-state polls, between July 1 and Aug. 21.”
Below is a list of the candidates who’ve already qualified and the ones who are still working on it, via Newsmax:
Here’s what Newsmax says about how North Dakota Governor Doug Burgum qualified:
“He announced a program this month to give away $20 gift cards — “Biden Relief Cards,” as a critique of President Joe Biden’s handling of the economy — to as many as 50,000 people in exchange for $1 donations. Critics have questioned whether the offer violated campaign finance law. Within about a week of launching that effort, Burgum announced he had surpassed the donor threshold. Ad blitzes in the early-voting states also helped him meet the polling requirements.”
The candidates who are still trying to qualify for the debate stage:
MIKE PENCE: “Trump’s vice president has met the polling threshold but has yet to amass a sufficient number of donors, raising the possibility that he might not qualify for the party’s first debate.”
ASA HUTCHINSON: “According to his campaign, the former two-term Arkansas governor has met the polling requirements but is working on satisfying the donor threshold. As of Wednesday, Hutchinson marked more than 11,000 unique donors.”
FRANCIS SUAREZ: “Still shy of the donor threshold, he took a page from Burgum’s playbook by offering a $20 “Bidenomics Relief Card” in return for $1 donations. A super political action committee supporting Suarez launched a sweepstakes for a chance at up to $15,000 in tuition, in exchange for a $1 donation to Suarez’s campaign. Suarez’s campaign did not return a message seeking details on his number of donors or qualifying polls.”
Larry Elder, Perry Johnson and Will Hurd are the other three Republicans running for president and it seems unlikely they’ll be able to meet the donor and polling requirements.