- The first Republican presidential debate is scheduled for August 23, 2023, in Milwaukee, Wisconsin.
- Trump, who currently holds a sizable lead over the rest of the GOP field, said he will not be in attendance.
It wasn't a huge surprise when former President Donald Trump announced on Sunday that he would not participate in the first GOP presidential debate in the lead-up to the 2024 primaries and caucuses.
Trump, in spite of myriad criminal indictments in multiple jurisdictions, has in recent weeks fortified his national lead among likely Republican voters and retains a major edge over Gov. Ron DeSantis of Florida, who was long seen as the ex-president's biggest impediment to the nomination but has so far been unable to change the dynamics of the race.
Even though Trump — who said in a Sunday Truth Social post that the electorate already "knows who I am" — won't be onstage to tussle with his fellow candidates, his enduring influence within the party will still be present.
Here's a look at how the debate is coming together, as the GOP candidates had to meet a set of criteria to even appear onstage. With Trump so far ahead, the candidates will be fighting to make their best impressions in front of voters who — at the moment — largely want the former president back in the White House.
When is the debate, and how can I watch it?
Wednesday, August 23 at 9 p.m. ET. It will be aired on all Fox News-affiliated channels and streaming on Fox Nation.
How do the candidates qualify?
In order to appear onstage at the first debate in Milwaukee, candidates have to secure at least 40,000 individual contributors, with an added stipulation of at least 200 donors each from 20 states.
The contenders must also have been able to meet a 1% polling threshold in at least three qualifying national polls, or in two polls from two of the early-voting states — which includes Iowa, New Hampshire, Nevada, and South Carolina.
And each of the contenders must all take a loyalty pledge and commit to backing the Republican presidential nominee even if they aren't the respective nominee. Trump previously said he'd refuse to sign such a loyalty pledge as he said there were several candidates he simply couldn't support.
Who has qualified for the debate?
So far, DeSantis and Ramaswamy have qualified for the event, along with former Vice President Mike Pence, Sen. Tim Scott of South Carolina, Gov. Doug Burgum of North Dakota, and former Govs. Chris Christie of New Jersey and Nikki Haley of South Carolina.
Miami Mayor Francis Suarez late last week said that he had also qualified for the debate, but the Republican National Committee has yet to verify that he has met the benchmarks.
And on Sunday, former Gov. Asa Hutchinson of Arkansas announced that he had too qualified for the debate.
In the FiveThirtyEight average of national GOP presidential polls, Trump currently sits at 54.4%, well ahead of the second- and third-place contenders, DeSantis (averaging 14.9% support) and entrepreneur Vivek Ramaswamy (averaging 7.9% support). No other candidate averages more than 6% support among likely voters.
How are the candidates looking to dethrone Trump?
DeSantis and his campaign have gone through several shakeups over the past few months, laying off dozens of staffers in an attempt to recover lost ground after a series of self-inflicted missteps including when its "war room" Twitter account shared a clearly anti-LGBT video or when a campaign staffer shared a video in support of the campaign that included a pro-Nazi symbol.
According to a debate strategy memo released by a firm close to a pro-DeSantis super PAC, DeSantis has been advised to "take a sledgehammer" to Ramaswamy and defend Trump whenever attacked by Christie.
Ramaswamy, who's slowly gained a following by trying to fight back against "woke" culture, plans to do little preparation for the debate, according to The Daily Beast, other than foreign policy briefings as he doesn't want to come off as "too overly prepared and polished."
Pence, after staying relatively quiet about Trump in the few years after exiting the White House, has taken a more direct stand against him in recent months after he declared for the presidential election, going as far as saying that Trump "should never be president of the United States again."
Bringing in an average of 4.9% support in national polls, Pence also has extensive debate training under his belt already stemming from the 2016 and 2020 vice presidential debates.
Burgum, a longshot candidate who's spent millions of his own dollars on his own campaign, previously made headlines for his ploy to get enough donations from individual contributors by sending $20 gift cards to anybody who donated $1. And while other candidates mocked him for it, the plan worked.
In an interview with Politico, Burgum said that he lacks the name recognition that most other candidates in the race possess. He said that on the debate stage Wednesday, he wants people to learn who he is: A "small town guy" who started a billion-dollar business that now employs 2,000 team members from across North Dakota.
Haley, who has sought to use her experience as an executive and as the UN ambassador to show voters her bona fides in taking bold positions both in the Palmetto State and on the world stage. As the only woman in the race, she has highlighted obstacles that she has faced in the past while also remarking that gender would not be a focal point of her candidacy.
When she entered the primary, many expected her rise in the polls, as she had a lot of room to grow among GOP primary voters. But so far, she has not had a lot of traction, having seen Scott, a fellow South Carolinian, garner more attention in recent months. In recent weeks, Haley has also gone after Ramaswamy, having recently accused him of turning his back on Israel after he questioned the level of US financial support given to the country.
Scott has become a frequent presence in Iowa and New Hampshire, and he has been warmly received by many Republicans who like his profile, even if they are inclined to once again back Trump. The senator has projected a sunny conservative message at his campaign stops, as he asks voters to consider his candidacy as one grounded in hope and opportunity.
But Scott has so far largely remained above the political fray, except for his criticism of DeSantis over the Florida governor's support of new standards regarding the teaching of slavery in schools.
Hutchinson has also sought to offer a positive message and has urged the party to move on from Trump.
Christie, once a close ally of Trump, has consistently been the fiercest critic of the former president in the GOP race. The former New Jersey governor has promoted his candidacy of that of stability and integrity, having railed against Trump's conduct on everything from the January 6, 2021, Capitol riot and his handling of classified documents to his foreign policy views and his indictments.
Christie is sure to continue hammering Trump, even though the former president won't physically be in the room.
Suarez, should he make it onstage, will likely just focus on boosting his profile to GOP voters beyond South Florida.