TUSCALOOSA, Ala. – As Republicans collect Wednesday for the fourth GOP presidential nomination debate, solely 4 candidates might be on the stage.
It’s the smallest debate stage at this level within the Republican presidential primaries in over a technology, and it pales compared to the 9 GOP White House hopefuls who crowded on stage at a nomination debate in December 2015, over the last time the occasion skilled a fierce battle for the nomination.
And that is simply superb with Republican National Committee chair Ronna McDaniel.
“I think it’s good because you’re having more time to hear from these candidates on the debate stage,” McDaniel emphasised in a Fox News Digital interview.
McDaniel, interviewed on the eve of the fourth debate, mentioned we “are having a stage that allows the voters to hear from legitimate candidates for president, and we don’t have people auditioning for book deals and media contracts and cabinet positions.”
“They are running in Iowa and New Hampshire and Nevada and South Carolina and they’re going to have time to address the major issues that the voters care about,” McDaniel added as she pointed to the 4 early voting states within the GOP nominating calendar.
The RNC can take credit score for the shrinking stage, as its rising debate polling and donor qualifying thresholds contributed to the fast winnowing of a discipline that when numbered over a dozen contenders.
The standards have been closely criticized by the now-former candidates who had been excluded from the stage.
“The RNC’s clubhouse debate requirements are nationalizing the primary process and taking the power of democracy away from the engaged, thoughtful citizens of Iowa and New Hampshire,” North Dakota Gov. Doug Burgum charged as he dropped out of the race on Monday.
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Burgum, who made the stage at the first two debates but failed to qualify for the third, argued that “the RNC’s mission is to win elections. It shouldn’t be their mission to cut back competitors and limit contemporary concepts by ‘narrowing the field’ months earlier than the Iowa caucuses or the primary within the nation New Hampshire main.”
Asked about Burgum’s feedback, McDaniel instructed Fox News “everybody knew the rules before they got in. They loved them when they were on the stage. They don’t like them when they’re not on the stage.”
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But she added: “I have the greatest respect for Gov. Burgum. He would have been a much better president than Joe Biden. I feel that way about all the candidates, whether they make the stage or not. But we do have to have criteria….We don’t want 12 people on the stage like we had in 2016 going into Iowa where we still had two stages and the candidates were given very little time to actually address major issues.”
And defending the RNC’s standards, she emphasised: “The threshold is not crazy. It’s six percent. You’re probably not going to win the presidency if you’re not pulling in at least six percent right now.”
Former President Donald Trump, the commanding front-runner for the Republican nomination as he makes his third straight White House run, is skipping his fourth straight debate. Trump and his 2024 marketing campaign workforce have repeatedly referred to as on the RNC to cancel the remaining debates.
McDaniel, requested to reply to Trump’s feedback, pointed to the Democrats’ nominating course of, the place the nationwide and state events are rallying round President Biden as he seeks a second time period within the White House. The Democratic National Committee shouldn’t be sanctioning debates between Biden and his long-shot rivals – and Florida Democrats final week stored these rival candidates off their main poll.
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“We’re watching what the Democrats are doing. They’re not putting other candidates on the ballot. They’re not having debates. They’re not letting their primary process play out. And it’s making Democrat voters upset,” McDaniel argued.
“So we’re letting the process play out. It’s in the hands of the voters,” she added, in a remark which some Republicans would vehemently disagree.
Asked if she will be able to work with Trump if he wins the nomination, McDaniel mentioned: “Absolutely. I’m going to work with the nominee. I have a great relationship with President Trump. I have a great relationship with these candidates and anybody who we nominate to beat Joe Biden, I’m going to be 100% behind.”
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The fast query going through the RNC is whether or not they’ll proceed to host nominating debates, with the subsequent two anticipated to be held subsequent month in Iowa and New Hampshire forward of the caucuses and first. The RNC may doubtlessly resolve to permit state events to workforce up with media organizations to run any future debates.
Sources with information of the nationwide occasion committee’s considering say the RNC shouldn’t be anticipated to make any determination on upcoming debates till after Wednesday’s showdown on the University of Alabama.
Get the most recent updates from the 2024 marketing campaign path, unique interviews and extra at our Fox News Digital election hub.