Former Vice President Mike Pence's presidential campaign expects to amass enough unique donors to qualify for the Republican National Committee's primary debate "by the end of next week" as Pence is facing scrutiny for accumulating donors more slowly than candidates who are polling below him.
In an exclusive meeting with Pence's top donors on Wednesday, the campaign provided an update on his efforts to reach 40,000 unique donors as required by the RNC for the Aug. 23 debate.
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According to the campaign, "We're confident by the end of next week we will be qualified for this debate." It further detailed to high-dollar contributors that Pence has amassed "well over 30,000 donors."
"We're continuing to make progress every day. And we are very confident that we're going to hit those numbers," it added.
The campaign dismissed what it called an obsession from the media with his donor accrual status. It pointed to the campaign's fundraising strength, which it said is direct mail.
His team further explained that Pence's organization, Advancing American Freedom, boasts more than 140,000 donors that it is working on reactivating.
It also noted that Pence "comes to this race, not with a super PAC or campaign-in-waiting like some of the others have. Not with major transfers." According to the campaign, it was aware that building up donor support was going to take time.
The campaign touted its first 2,000 individual donor day roughly a week ago, adding that Pence's effort is averaging over 1,000 new donors each day.
While the former vice president's team is utilizing digital media to fundraise as well, it doesn't expect this to eclipse its direct mail grassroots donor base.
Pence has already satisfied the RNC's debate criteria when it comes to polling stature.
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The next RNC debate, scheduled for Sept. 27 at the Ronald Reagan Presidential Library in Simi Valley, California, will require candidates to have 50,000 unique donors, according to a source familiar.
So far, former President Donald Trump, Gov. Doug Burgum (R-ND), Gov. Ron DeSantis (R-FL), former New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie, Vivek Ramaswamy, Sen. Tim Scott (R-SC), and former Ambassador to the United Nations Nikki Haley have qualified for the first debate.