Republican National Committee increases requirements for GOP candidates to hit third debate stage

The Republican National Committee is raising its requirements for candidates who want to participate in the third GOP presidential debate in Miami in early November.

Fox News Digital first reported that to participate, each candidate must have at least 70,000 unique donors to their campaign or exploratory committee, including 200 donors in 20 or more states.

The RNC’s debate committee announced the changes on a conference call Thursday. Candidates also need to reach 4% in two national polls or 4% in one national poll and 4% in two statewide polls. The statewide polls must be conducted in Iowa, New Hampshire, Nevada or South Carolina. Those are the states that lead off the primary schedule in early 2024.

Similar to the first debate last month, candidates who want to make it on the stage must sign a pledge saying they will support the nominee. And they can’t participate in any non-RNC sanctioned debates for the rest of this election cycle.

The qualifications for each debate have risen. For the first debate, in Milwaukee on Aug. 23, candidates had to hit 1% in polling and have 40,000 donors. Eight qualified.

For debate No. 2, Wednesday at the Ronald Reagan Presidential Library in Simi Valley, California, candidates need 3% in the polls and 50,000 donors. Six out of the eight hopefuls have reached those thresholds, including former New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie, Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis, former South Carolina Gov. Nikki Haley, former Vice President Mike Pence, businessman Vivek Ramaswamy and South Carolina Sen. Tim Scott.

Former President Donald Trump hit the threshold for both debates but isn’t signing the required pledge. He didn’t appear in the first showdown and plans to skip the second.

Candidates have until Monday to qualify and decide whether they will participate in the second debate.