2024 Republican Party presidential debates and forums
Debates and forums took place among candidates in the campaign for the Republican Party's nomination for president of the United States in the 2024 United States presidential election. The Republican National Committee (RNC) has scheduled official RNC-sanctioned primary debates, while ABC News and CNN have also announced sanctioned debates.
Canceled debates[edit]
January 18, 2024 – Goffstown, New Hampshire[edit]
ABC had scheduled a sixth debate to take place in Goffstown, New Hampshire at St. Anselm College on January 18, 2024, to be hosted by ABC and local New Hampshire ABC affiliate WMUR-TV[198] and moderated by David Muir and Linsey Davis.[199] Chris Ager, the chair of the New Hampshire Republican State Committee, confirmed that the debate was sanctioned by the state party.[200]
Candidates qualified by having two national or two New Hampshire polls at 10% from a list of approved pollsters or by finishing in the top three in the Iowa caucus. Trump, DeSantis, Haley, and Christie qualified for the debate, according to ABC.[201] However, Christie dropped out of the race on January 10[202] and both Trump and Haley refused to participate, leading ABC to cancel the debate on January 16.[11]
January 21, 2024 – Henniker, New Hampshire[edit]
CNN had scheduled a seventh debate to take place in Henniker, New Hampshire, at New England College on January 21, 2024. The debate location was initially announced as Saint Anselm College.[12] The debate was not coordinated with the New Hampshire Republican State Committee.[200]
Candidates qualified by having four national or New Hampshire polls at 10% or higher from a list of approved pollsters, with a minimum of one coming from New Hampshire. Candidates could also qualify by finishing in the top three of the Iowa caucus.[33] Trump, DeSantis, Haley, and Christie qualified for the debate, according to ABC News.[203] However, Christie dropped out of the race on January 10[202] and Haley and Trump refused to attend, leading CNN to cancel the debate on January 17.[13]
Controversies[edit]
Questioning of purpose of debates without Trump[edit]
The core purpose of the Republican debates has been questioned as they were conducted without the presence of Donald Trump who held and holds a clear lead before and during the debates.[204][205] Some anonymous RNC officials have described the debates as "embarrassing" for not having Trump.[206][207]
First debate qualification controversy[edit]
The first scheduled debate participants were listed in an RNC press release on August 21, 2023.[208] Eight candidates qualified according to RNC Chairwoman Ronna McDaniel although three other candidates also claimed they had qualified (Elder,[56] Johnson[209] and Suarez).[210]
No initial explanation was given as to why Johnson, who had qualified according to Politico’s analysis, or Suarez, who claimed he qualified, had been excluded,[66] though it was later indicated that one of the polls from Victory Insights, which Johnson had used to count towards his total, was discarded as it "only surveyed voters in 38 states".[211] Elder and Johnson announced on August 22 that they would sue the RNC as a result of being excluded.[212] Hurd, who also failed to make the debate stage, strongly criticized the RNC.[213]
After the RNC press release was publicized, Suarez acknowledged that he did not qualify for the debate.[214] Johnson[215] and Elder[216] disputed the RNC debate participant list and contended that they had qualified.
Politico launched its own tracker for debate qualification in March.[217] The methodology and requirements for polling were considered to be unclear by many and created areas of discrepancy. Politico argued that campaigns and pollsters found the polling requirements to be vague and could be used to eliminate seemingly qualified candidates; the RNC did not respond to questions from Politico regarding the polling requirements.[80] According to their tracker and analysis of the polling data, Johnson qualified for the first debate;[66] he issued a press release detailing the timeline, sequence of events, and correspondence with the RNC and his campaign.[218]
Johnson stated on August 21 that he will still go to Milwaukee to attend the debate.[219] Ultimately, neither Elder or Johnson were invited or attended the debate. NBC correspondent Dasha Burns posted a picture on social media that was on the security desk that detailed who was not allowed at the debate venue. This included Elder and his campaign, three Trump staffers (Jason Miller, Justin Caparole and Danny Tiso) and Vivek Ramaswamy campaign credentials. Fox News clarified that it was not involved with the "production of the document" and "did not sanction" the wording.[220]
McDaniel defended the criteria, stating that "they were applied ... equally to every candidate",[221] as did Keith Schipper, an RNC spokesman.[222]
New Hampshire scheduling controversy[edit]
The RNC has warned the New Hampshire state party that if it proceeds with moving the 2024 New Hampshire Republican presidential primary ahead of the 2024 Iowa Republican presidential caucuses, a presidential debate will not be held there.[223] The New Hampshire primary was not subsequently moved.
Tim Scott third debate qualification controversy[edit]
Up until the final deadline for qualifying, neither the New York Times nor Politico confirmed a qualifying national poll where Senator Tim Scott had attained four percent support. However, Scott's campaign insisted that a "little-noticed" poll conducted in September by YouGov for progressive outlet The Liberal Patriot had him at four percent support.[224] FiveThirtyEight believed that the poll would not qualify as the screening question used for determining likely primary voters "resulted in the survey including a large number of Democrats in the sample".[225] However, the RNC ultimately decided to count the poll.
Family Leader Foundation forum controversy[edit]
The RNC, on November 11, initially threatened to disqualify candidates from participating in future debates if they participated in the Thanksgiving Family Forum that was hosted by the Family Leader Foundation on November 17, which the RNC initially considered to be a debate. The president of the foundation, Bob Vander Plaats, indicated the same day that the RNC would allow the forum to go forward, with no repercussions for candidates who attend.[226] DeSantis, Haley and Ramaswamy attended.[227]
Chris Christie fourth debate qualification controversy[edit]
Christie's campaign announced he met the fundraising threshold on November 13.[228] On November 15, Chris Christie claimed to have met all debate criteria while on The Hugh Hewitt Show.[229] On November 30, prior to the announcement of invitees, Politico reported skepticism of Christie's claims and disputed his polling claims.[230] As of December 5, Politico's polling tracker indicated Christie qualified with two national polls.[159]
Christie claimed on Face the Nation that he was confident that he would qualify and stated on a Fox News Digital interview that he was “100% confident” he would be on stage.[231] Chris Christie likened his situation to Tim Scott's in his third debate qualification bid. While Scott did qualify for the third debate, he dropped out later that week.[232] Ahead of the first debate, Christie stated that anybody not on the debate stage should drop out.[233]
Former White House Chief of Staff Mick Mulvaney told Sky News Australia on December 3 that he was skeptical Christie qualified.[234] On December 4, Axios reported an exclusive look into the fourth debate with pictures of four lecterns on the stage, which was indeed the case during the debates as four candidates appeared.[235] Between November 30 and December 2, a national poll was conducted by the Trafalgar Group where Christie received 6.3%.[236] It is noted on Politico's qualification tracker.[159] On December 4, the RNC invited Christie to the fourth debate.[168]