The eight Republican candidates have qualified for the first GOP presidential debate scheduled for Aug. 23. This will be their first opportunity to speak to constituents and build election support.
The Republican National Convention announced the debate will take place in Milwaukee, WI, and will be available to audiences on the Fox News Channel, starting at 8 p.m. It’s planned to be two hours long, with time after for individual media questioning.
The moderators for the debate are two Fox News Anchors, Martha MacCallum and Bret Baier. MacCallum has her own show, “The Story with Martha MacCallum,” and has worked at the Fox News Channel since 2004. She also co-hosted a debate between Ohio Senate candidates J.D. Vance and Tim Ryan. Baier also has a show on the network, “Special Report with Bret Baier,” as well as a podcast, “The Bret Baier Podcast.” He has worked at Fox since 1996 and is the chief political anchor.
Candidates have until Aug. 21 to qualify for the debate. The Associated Press reports, by then, candidates must have at least 40,000 individual contributors in 20 states or territories. The candidates must also poll at 1% in three national polls, or a mix of national and early nominating states, like Iowa, New Hampshire and South Carolina.
Here are all the candidates who have qualified for the debate so far: Donald Trump, Ron DeSantis, Tim Scott, Nikki Haley, Vivek Ramaswamy, Chris Christie, Doug Burgum and Mike Pence.
Trump has been the frontrunner of the GOP, despite the four indictments he’s facing. When it comes to winning debates, Trump has not often excelled in the audience's eyes. The former president has not confirmed his attendance at the debate, and it seems unlikely that he will appear. DeSantis has been a popular choice in the Republican party, and Trump’s absence may mean he becomes common enemy number one in the upcoming debate.
There are some other candidates who didn't qualify yet, but they still have some time left: Asa Hutchinson, Francis Suarez, Larry Elder, Perry Johnson and Will Hurd.
This will not be the only Republican debate, as a second one has already been planned. Fox Business will host the second debate on Sept. 27 at the Ronald Reagan Presidential Library in Simi Valley, California.
Qualifications for the second debate will only get more competitive. According to Politico, each candidate needs to have at least 50,000 individual contributors, coming from at least 20 different states or territories. Additionally, candidates will need to hit 3% in two national polls, or one national pool with two more polls in early nominating states. That must happen 48 hours before the debate.
With so many GOP campaigns, this feels similar to what we saw in 2020 with a ton of Democrats running for president. It will be interesting to compare those debates to see how time is spent and shared between candidates.
I’m also watching to see which candidates pick up in the polls and election contributions after the programming. While election debates don’t typically determine how viewers will vote, the Pew Research Center found that audiences often believe they are helpful and for undecided voters, even more so.
I encourage everyone to watch the debate as it could tell us a lot about how this presidential election will look as candidates explain their political standings and a Republican candidate is eventually chosen.
Claire Schiopota is a senior studying journalism. Please note that the opinions expressed in this column do not reflect those of The Post. Want Claire to cover a certain topic or talk about her column? Email her at cs123719@ohio.edu or tweet her @CSchiopota.
