Former New Jersey Governor Chris Christie and Senator Tim Scott have both met the Republican National Committee's (RNC) donor threshold for the upcoming GOP presidential debate in late August. Christie, whose polling numbers hovered around 1% in late June, recently announced surpassing 40,000 individual donors in a mere 35 days, a significant increase from his 5,000 donors during the same timeframe eight years prior. He emphasized the breadth of his support, highlighting donors from every state and over 200 contributors in 36 states. Scott's campaign also confirmed exceeding the donor requirement, boasting over 145,000 contributions from more than 53,000 unique donors across all 50 states. Scott's campaign reported raising $6.1 million in the second quarter, while his supporting super PAC, TIM PAC, disclosed raising $19.28 million and retaining over $15 million in cash reserves by the end of June. A late June Fox News poll placed Scott at 4%.
The RNC has confirmed Milwaukee as the venue for the first debate on August 23rd, which will also host the party's nominating convention next year. Debate qualification necessitates at least 40,000 unique donors, including a minimum of 200 from at least 20 states. Candidates must also achieve at least 1% support in three national polls, or 1% in two national polls and 1% in an early state poll from two designated states (Iowa, New Hampshire, Nevada, or South Carolina), and pledge support for the eventual Republican nominee. Florida Governor Ron DeSantis has publicly challenged former President Trump, the current GOP frontrunner polling at approximately 56%, to commit to the debate. DeSantis, currently polling around 22%, emphasized that earning the nomination requires participation in events like the debate. He argued that every candidate should be tested and called on Trump to participate.
Trump's campaign spokesman, Steven Cheung, countered that DeSantis should address his own campaign's challenges rather than criticize Trump's performance. DeSantis has firmly stated he will not consider being Trump's running mate if he loses the nomination.
