North Dakota Governor Doug Burgum said he has acquired the requisite donors and polling numbers to qualify for the first Republican presidential debate, the seventh candidate to meet that threshold.
(Bloomberg) — North Dakota Governor Doug Burgum said he has acquired the requisite donors and polling numbers to qualify for the first Republican presidential debate, the seventh candidate to meet that threshold.
The former software executive — who sold his company to Microsoft for more than $1 billion in 2001 — made the cut after promising to give away $20 gift cards to the first 50,000 donors who contributed at least $1 to his campaign. A Morning Consult poll released Tuesday showed him at 1% backing, marking the final poll he needed to qualify for the Aug. 23 event in Milwaukee.
It’s still unclear how many candidates will attend the first debate, with former President Donald Trump threatening to boycott the event to starve his challengers of the attention he would bring. “Why would you let somebody that’s at zero or at one or two or three be popping you with questions?” Trump told Fox News last week.
The Republican National Committee instituted the debate criteria to avoid a replay of the unwieldy 2016 debates, when so many candidates participated that the RNC added a second debate for lower-polling candidates popularly known as the “kid’s table.”
Others who have qualified this year include Florida Governor Ron DeSantis, former Ambassador to the United Nations Nikki Haley, businessman Vivek Ramaswamy, South Carolina Senator Tim Scott and former New Jersey Governor Chris Christie.
Former Vice President Mike Pence has the polling numbers but not the donor support.
To make the stage, candidates must get 1% support in at least three qualifying national polls or two national polls and two early state polls.
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