The Republican presidential candidates’ debate next week in Salt Lake City was canceled after two of the three remaining contenders said they would not attend, GOP officials said.
Front-runner Donald Trump said he would not attend the debate scheduled for Monday because he planned to give a major speech that day and “we’ve had enough debates.”
Ohio Gov. John Kasich, who scored his first primary win Tuesday when he captured his home state, said he wouldn’t attend unless he could debate Mr. Trump.
That would have left only Sen. Ted Cruz of Texas to debate himself at the event sponsored by Fox News, which would have taken place the day before primaries in Utah and Arizona.
It would have been the first presidential debate held in Utah.
Fox News Executive Vice President for News Michael Clemente released this statement:
“On Feb. 20, the Republican National Committee announced that a GOP presidential primary debate would be held on March 21 in Salt Lake City. They offered that debate to Fox News Channel to host, provided there were enough candidates actively campaigning. This morning, Donald Trump announced he would not be participating in the debate. Shortly afterward, John Kasich’s campaign announced that without Trump at the debate, Kasich would not participate. Ted Cruz has expressed a willingness to debate Trump or Kasich — or both. But obviously, there needs to be more than one participant. So the Salt Lake City debate is cancelled.”
• S.A. Miller can be reached at smiller@washingtontimes.com.
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