The third Republican debate will take place in Miami on November 8 with a slimmer pool of candidates this time around. Only five people have cut due to more stringent rules.
The five are former New Jersey governor, Chris Christie, Florida Gov, Ron DeSantis, former UN ambassador Nikki Haley, Vivek Ramasamy and Senator Tim Scott.
The new rules by the Republican National Committee (RNC) say that candidates need at least 70,000 campaign donors and 4% support in at least two national polls, one national poll or two early state polls.
The other requirement is that candidates also need to have signed a loyalty pledge to support the eventual nominee. Donald Trump did not qualify for the debates despite being a front-runner for president because of this but the former president said he has no plans to do the debate and is instead focusing on a rally in south Florida.
“We are looking forward to our third debate in Miami, a welcome opportunity for our candidates to showcase our winning conservative agenda to the American people,” RNC Chairwoman Ronna McDaniel said in a press release.
The debate will be hosted by NBC news at the Adrienne Arsht Center for the Performing Arts of Miami-Date County from 8 to 10 pm on the network and streamed on NBC News Now.
Other sponsors of the event include the Salem Radio Network, the Republican Jewish Coalition and Rumble. NBC News’s Lester Holt and Kirsten Walker will moderate.
The last debate was in September when there were seven candidates, since then Vice President Mike Pence has dropped out and North Dakota Gov Doug Burgum has not qualified.
This time around the debate is particularly important for Ron DeSantis and Nikki Haley who are said the be the current favourites among the five.
Scott’s campaign manager Jennifer DeCasper predicted that the debate would involve Haley and DeSantis throwing shade at each other.
“She’ll attack him for the failing candidate that he is. He’ll attack her for being the moderate that she is,” DeCasper wrote in a memo.
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