(CNN) — The US Republican National Committee announced Monday that 8 people will participate, Wednesday evening local time, in the party’s first debate for the 2024 presidential primaries.
Former President Donald Trump, the front-runner according to opinion polls, said he would not participate in the debate and called on his rivals to withdraw.
These are the qualified candidates for the debate:
Ron DeSantis: Florida governor, who is leading after Trump in opinion polls, who could win the debate due to the absence of Donald Trump.
DeSantis has reshaped his campaign in recent weeks after failing to unseat Trump in the early months of the primaries, and the debate could become a turning point for him to either push him forward or unseat him as the best alternative to Trump.
Vivek Ramaswamy: The tech entrepreneur has been featured in liberal media and is not favored by many Republican contenders.
Mike Pence: Donald Trump’s vice president has struggled fundraising more than some of his rivals and criticized Trump’s decision not to participate in the debate. On Sunday, Pence told ABC that every candidate “should be on the stage ready to confront and answer those tough questions.”
Nikki Haley: The former South Carolina governor and US ambassador to the United Nations under Trump offered a glimpse of how Republicans in the debate could focus more on slashing support for their lower-polling rivals than on confronting Trump directly. On Monday, she blasted Ramaswamy, saying His “foreign policies are making America less safe.”
Tim Scott: The South Carolina senator is seeking to run against Trump and DeSantis.
Chris Christie: The former New Jersey governor may be the biggest winner in the debate because he was a presidential contender in 2016, and Christie presents himself as a fierce critic of Trump, but he will not engage in direct confrontation with him due to his absence from the debate.
Doug Burgum: The North Dakota governor described himself as the debate’s lesser-known contender, telling NBC Sunday that he would win the debate “if we had the chance to explain who we are, what we’re up for, and why we’re running.”
Asa Hutchinson: The former Arkansas governor also presents himself as a critic of Trump.
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2023-08-23 23:41:04
