In a major shakeup, the field of candidates onstage for the third Republican presidential debate will be the smallest yet, with only five candidates meeting the new, much stricter requirements by the deadline.
The rule over who qualified got much steeper. Each candidate needed a minimum of 4% support in two national polls or 4% in one national poll as well as two polls from four of the early-voting states — Iowa, New Hampshire, Nevada, and South Carolina. All the polls used for qualification must have been approved by the RNC.
The White House hopefuls also needed at least 70,000 unique donors, with at least 200 of those coming from 20 states or territories. Additionally, they had to sign an RNC pledge promising to support the party’s eventual nominee.
For the fourth debate — set for Dec. 6 in Tuscaloosa, Alabama — the contestants will need to poll at 6%, and they’ll need 80,000 unique donors.
The RNC has increased the necessary markers with each debate, an effort intended to winnow the once sprawling field. After Monday’s deadline, the organization announced the list of qualifying candidates ahead of the debate on Wednesday.
The debate will air on NBC at 8 p.m. EST on Wednesday, Nov. 8. Plus. it be streamed on NBCNews.com and NBC News Now. Former President Donald Trump is not expected to attend.
A look at where the candidates stand:
WHO’S IN:
1. RON DESANTIS
Early on, the Florida governor was seen as the top rival for Donald Trump, finishing a distant second to the current GOP front-runner in both early-voting state and national polls but raising an impressive amount of money.
DeSantis has recently shifted some of his Florida-based staff to Iowa, pinning his chances of emerging as an alternative to Trump alternative squarely on the leadoff state. This week he picked up the sought-after endorsement of Iowa Gov. Kim Reynolds.
The Florida governor has criticized Trump for skipping the first two debates. In order to encourage Trump to come to the third debate, DeSantis also offered to prove onstage, once and for all, whether or not he wears lifts.
“If Donald Trump can summon the balls to show up to the debate, I’ll wear a boot on my head,” Trump said on Newsmax Thursday.
2. TIM SCOTT
The senator from South Carolina has been hoping that the debates could give his campaign a needed boost after his struggles to catch fire compared to his rivals. But there had even been some question of whether he would make the Miami stage, given its elevated polling 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 planned to ask how either could “present a contrast with Donald Trump when he made each of their political careers.”
So far, Scott’s optimistic messaging has distinguished him from Trump. Scott has rise to the U.S. Senate following an impoverished childhood in a single-parent family. In announcing his campaign, he put emphasis on “opportunity in America” and “the truth of my life.”
3. NIKKI HALEY
The former governor of South Carolina will be the only woman onstage (and in the GOP primary). Haley has benefited from a bounce in attention (and donations) following each of the previous debates.
Haley, a former ambassador to the United Nations, has been hammering her foreign policies after Hamas’ surprise Oct. 7 attack on Israel.
As she and DeSantis have escalated their barbs over issues including the Israel-Hamas war and China’s influence, Wednesday night’s debate offers a chance for them to duke it out in person.
4. VIVEK RAMASWAMY
The political newcomer and youngest GOP hopeful has been a debate-stage target of attacks on his lack of experience.
“You have no foreign policy experience, and it shows,” Haley told him in the first debate. She added later, “Every time I hear you, I feel a little bit dumber.”
After the second debate in September, Ramaswamy asked the RNC to change its rules for the third, requesting that participation be limited to four candidates, with a unique donor requirement of 100,000. The party kept its rules as is.
Ramaswamy has been courting Trump’s favor, despite running against him. Trump even told Glenn Beck that he was considering naming Ramaswamy to his Cabinet.
5. CHRIS CHRISTIE
As many of his GOP rivals have gone all in on Iowa ahead of the state’s leadoff caucuses, the former New Jersey governor often has New Hampshire all to himself.
Christie has charted a path there as the race’s most vocal critic of Trump, casting himself as the only Republican willing to directly take him on, and arguing that Trump will lose to President Joe Biden next November if he’s the party’s nominee.
Without Trump at the debates, Christie has been left without his intended target but has brought him up nonetheless. In September, Christie looked directly into the camera and declared that if Trump keeps ducking the debates, he would deserve a new nickname: “Donald Duck.”
WHO QUALIFIED FOR PREVIOUS DEBATES BUT NOT THIS ONE:
1. DOUG BURGUM
Burgum, a former software entrepreneur now in his second term as North Dakota’s governor, will miss his first debate of the cycle after coming up short on the polling requirements.
2. ASA HUTCHINSON
The former two-term Arkansas governor participated in the first debate but failed to qualify for the second. He said in a statement after missing out on the second debate that his goal was to increase his polling numbers to 4% in an early state before Thanksgiving.
“If that goal is met, then I remain competitive and in contention for either Caucus Day or Primary Day,” he wrote back in September.
WHO DROPPED OUT OVER THE NEW RULES:
1. MIKE PENCE
“It’s become clear to me: This is not my time,” Pence said last month at the Republican Jewish Coalition’s annual gathering in Las Vegas. “So after much prayer and deliberation, I have decided to suspend my campaign for president effective today.”
“We always knew this would be an uphill battle, but I have no regrets,” Pence went on.
WHO DECIDED NOT TO PARTICIPATE:
1. DONALD TRUMP
The current GOP front-runner is skipping his third straight debate, this time opting to hold a competing event of his own a half-hour away in Hialeah, Florida.
In Hialeah, Trump will speak at a campaign event with Arkansas Gov. Sarah Huckabee Sanders, who endorsed his campaign this week.
Trump says he is forgoing the debates because he does not want to elevate his lower-polling opponents by being on stage with them.
The Horn editorial team and the Associated Press contributed to this article.