5 Republicans will take the stage for the third presidential debate. Here’s who missed the cut

COLUMBIA, S.C. (AP) — The field of candidates on stage for the third Republican presidential debate will be the smallest yet.

Five candidates will participate in Wednesday night’s debate at the Adrienne Arsht Center for the Performing Arts in Miami-Dade County, according to the Republican National Committee.

To qualify for the third debate, candidates need at least 4% support in two national polls or 4% support in one national poll plus two polls from four early voting states — Iowa, New Hampshire, Nevada and South Carolina. All polls used for qualification must be approved by the Republican National Committee (RNC).

White House hopefuls also need at least 70,000 unique donors, with at least 200 of them coming from 20 states or territories. In addition, they had to sign an RNC pledge promising to support the party’s eventual nominee.

Rising qualification marks are becoming increasingly difficult for candidates to meet. One candidate, former vice president mike pence, He suspended his campaign last month to avoid the ignominy of failing to qualify.

A look at the position of the candidates:

Who is in

Early on, the Florida governor was viewed as a front-runner to Donald Trump, finishing a distant second to the current GOP leader in local and national early-voting polls, but he has raised an enormous amount of money.

DeSantis recently moved some of his Florida-based staff to Iowa, underscoring his chances of emerging as an alternative to Trump’s replacement. directly on the lead case. This week, he received the much-needed endorsement from Gov. Kim Reynolds.

The South Carolina senator was hoping the debates would give his campaign a needed boost after struggling to stand out compared to his rivals. But there were some questions about whether he would qualify for the Miami stage, given the high ballot requirements.

In a pre-debate memo shared with The Associated Press on Monday, Scott’s campaign manager sought to contrast his candidate with DeSantis and Haley, saying Scott intended to question how either could “present a contrast to Donald Trump when they have both made their political careers.” “.

Haley, the only Republican woman on stage — and in the field — benefited from a surge in interest following each of the previous debates, as well as the campaign’s shift toward foreign policy after Hamas’ surprise Oct. 7 attack on Israel.

As she and DeSantis have ratcheted up their barbs on issues including the war between Israel and Hamas and China’s influence, Wednesday night’s debate offers them an opportunity to grapple with the issue personally.

The political newcomer and youngest of the GOP candidates has been the target on the debate stage of attacks on his lack of experience — jabs that have previously helped Boosting Ramaswamy’s campaign coffers His name is well known in the wide Republican sphere.

After the second debate in September, Ramaswamy asked the Republican National Committee to change its rules for the third debate, requesting that participation be limited to four candidates, with a unique donor requirement of 100,000. The party kept its rules as they were.

Since several of his GOP rivals have run in Iowa before the state’s primary, the former New Jersey governor often keeps New Hampshire for himself.

Christie has charted a path there as Trump’s most vocal critic in the race, portraying himself as the only Republican willing to confront him head-on and arguing that Trump would lose to President Joe Biden next November if he were the party’s nominee.

Without Trump in the debates, Christie was left without his intended target, but he raised him nonetheless. In September, Christie looked directly into the camera and declared that if Trump continued to skip debates, he deserved a new nickname: “Donald Duck.”

Who decided not to participate (again)

The incumbent GOP front-runner is skipping his third straight debate, this time opting to hold his own rival event a half-hour away in Hialeah, Florida.

Trump says he is ditching debates because he doesn’t want to raise the profile of his opponents with lower votes by being on stage with them.

Who qualifies for previous debates but not this one

Burgum, a former software entrepreneur who is now serving his second term as governor of North Dakota, will miss his first debate of the session after failing to meet ballot requirements.

The former two-term governor of Arkansas participated in the first debate but failed to qualify for the second debate. He said in a statement after his absence from the second debate that his goal is to increase his approval rating to 4% as early as before Thanksgiving.

“If this goal is achieved, I will remain competitive and in contention on caucus day or primary day,” he wrote in September.

___

Meg Kinnard can be reached at http://twitter.com/MegKinnardAP