On Wednesday, eight candidates for the Republican Party’s nomination for president will be on stage at Fiserv Forum in Milwaukee for the first debate of the 2024 election season.
Late Monday, the Republican National Committee confirmed that eight candidates qualified under RNC rules to be on the Milwaukee debate stage.
Former President Donald Trump will not be among those on the stage. He confirmed Sunday that he would not be participating in the debate. Trump has a commanding lead in polling for the nomination, despite being indicted four times on 91 charges since March.
To be included in the debate, candidates had to meet benchmarks in polling and donor numbers, as well as sign a pledge to support the eventual Republican nominee.
In addition to signing the pledge, the RNC set a deadline of 9 p.m. Monday for candidates to accumulate at least 40,000 donors and hit 1% in a certain number of qualifying national and state polls.
Those expected to be on the stage are Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis, Sen. Tim Scott of South Carolina, former South Carolina Gov. Nikki Haley, entrepreneur Vivek Ramaswamy, former Vice President Mike Pence, ex-New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie, North Dakota Gov. Doug Burgum and former Arkansas Gov. Asa Hutchinson.
BREAKING NEWS: Lineup order revealed for first Republican debatehttps://t.co/8gDkXsB1iO
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The RNC announced on Tuesday where on the stage each candidate will stand. DeSantis will be in the middle of the stage with Ramaswamy to his left.
To the left of Ramasamy will be Haley, Scott and Burgum. To the right of DeSantis will be Pence, Christie and Hutchinson.