The second GOP presidential debate is set to feature seven candidates — and like the first debate, it will go on without the prohibitive favorite in the race, former President Donald Trump.
Gov. Ron DeSantis of Florida, former U.S. Ambassador to the U.N. Nikki Haley, Sen. Tim Scott of South Carolina, businessman Vivek Ramaswamy, former Vice President Mike Pence, former New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie and Gov. Doug Burgum of North Dakota all crossed the polling and fundraising thresholds the Republican National Committee set to qualify for the debate.
Former Arkansas Gov. Asa Hutchinson, who participated in the first debate last month in Milwaukee, missed the cut, adding to the sea of doubts about his longshot bid.
Hosted by Fox Business Network and Univision, the second debate is scheduled to kick off Wednesday at 9 p.m. EDT and take place at the Ronald Regan Presidential Library in Simi Valley, California.
The event will provide the contenders with another opportunity to score points with millions of viewers and jockey for position in a race that Mr. Trump has dominated for months. More than 13 million people watched the first debate.
The backdrop of the Reagan Library will offer the candidates a chance to make the argument the GOP‘s embrace of Mr. Trump‘s populist ways pulled the party too far away from the Reagan brand of conservatism.
With less than four months to go before the nomination contests kick off with the Jan. 15 Iowa caucuses, there is a boiling sense Mr. Trump‘s rivals are running out of time to catch the former president.
Mr. DeSantis remains Mr. Trump‘s closest rival in Iowa.
Ms. Haley is running third in Iowa, and Mr. Ramaswamy is running fourth. Ms. Haley is gaining ground in New Hampshire, as Mr. DeSantis has seen his support fade. She sits in second place, followed by Mr. Christie and Mr. Ramaswamy.
Since the first debate, Mr. Trump has more than doubled his lead in Iowa over Mr. DeSantis to 34 percentage points in the Real Clear Politics average of recent polls.
Mr. Trump‘s lead in New Hampshire has been stable, and now hovers just under 30 percentage points ahead of Ms. Haley.
“I am leading all the Republicans in numbers like no one has actually seen before,” Mr. Trump told supporters at a campaign stop Monday in South Carolina. “We are the only ones going up.”
“They are wasting a lot of time with these ridiculous debates no one is watching,” Mr. Trump said.
He skipped the first debate, choosing instead to appear in an interview with former Fox News personality Tucker Carlson on the X social media platform.
Mr. Trump plans to pull another debate no-show on Wednesday and travel instead to Michigan to deliver a speech to current and former members of the United Automobile Workers, who on Sept. 15 walked off the job simultaneously at several Big Three automakers plants.
The speech comes a day after President Biden traveled to Michigan to join the striking autoworkers on the picket line.
Debate participants needed 50,000 donors and to register at 3% in at least two national polls or one national poll and two polls from early voting states.
Former Rep. Will Hurd of Texas, conservative commentator Larry Elder, pastor Ryan Binkley and businessman Perry Johnson failed to qualify for a second straight time.
Despite the setback for Mr. Hutchinson, he vowed to continue fighting for the nomination.
“I entered this race because it is critically important for a leader within the Republican Party to stand up to Donald Trump and call him out on misleading his supporters and the American people,” Mr. Hutchinson said on social media.
Mr. Hutchinson said he will hold a press conference Wednesday in Detroit to counter Mr. Trump and “highlight his false promises to blue-collar and union workers in Michigan and across America.”
