Five candidates' debates took place during the campaign for the Republican Party's nomination for president of the United States in 2024. In addition, several candidate forums were held.
Schedule + Debates among candidates for the 2024 Republican Party U.S. presidential nomination No. Date and time Place Host ParticipantsBurgumChristieDeSantisElderHaleyHurdHutchinsonJohnsonPenceRamaswamyScottSuarezTrump 1 August 23, 20238 pm CDTFiserv ForumMilwaukee, WIFox NewsRumble 2September 27, 20236 pm PDTReagan LibrarySimi Valley, CAFox BusinessRumbleUnivision 3November 8, 20238 pm ESTArsht CenterMiami, FLNBC NewsSalem Radio NetworkRJCRumble 4December 6, 20237 pm CSTUniversity of AlabamaTuscaloosa, ALNewsNationThe Megyn Kelly ShowThe Washington Free BeaconRumbleThe CW 5January 10, 20249 pm ESTDrake UniversityDes Moines, IACNN
First debate {| class="wikitable sortable collapsible" style="text-align:center;font-size:95%;line-height:16px;" | colspan="8" style="color:black; vertical-align:top; text-align:center; background-color:#B0E2FF;" class="table-no"| Qualified candidates for the first debate |- ! rowspan=2|Candidate ! rowspan=2|Met donor criterion ! colspan=2|Met polling criteria (per Politico) ! rowspan=2|Signed loyalty pledge ! rowspan=2|Met all three criteria/invited ! rowspan=2 class="unsortable"| Additionalref(s) |- ! National polls ! State polls |- | Burgum
| Christie
| DeSantis
| Haley
| Hutchinson
| Pence
| Ramaswamy
| Scott
| Trump
| Suarez
| Johnson
| Hurd
| Elder
The first Republican primary debate was aired by Fox News and held from 8p.m. to 10p.m. Central Time Zone on August 23, 2023, at Fiserv Forum in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. It was moderated by Bret Baier and Martha MacCallum.
Criteria On June 2, 2023, the RNC announced criteria to qualify for the first debate, and it issued a clarification on July 18. Participants had to meet the following criteria: Be constitutionally eligible and appropriately filed with the Federal Election Commission. Sign the "Beat Biden Pledge" by August 21 indicating that they will not participate in any non-RNC debate and that they will support the eventual nominee. Prove to the RNC by August 21 that they have polled above one percent since July in three national polls – or in two national polls and one poll from each of two different early primary states (Iowa, New Hampshire, Nevada, and South Carolina). The polls must meet RNC stated standards. Prove to the RNC by August 21 they have attracted donations from at least 40,000 individuals, with at least 200 from each of 20 states or territories.
On April 25, Donald Trump raised uncertainty about his participation in the debates on Truth Social, saying he had not been consulted about them, did not want to be "libeled" and it was unnecessary given his large polling lead. He was open to participating in the debates in an interview conducted with Bret Baier on Fox News two months later. Weeks later, Chris Christie denounced the pledge requirement, but indicated he had signed the pledge to make it onstage and would not make himself abide by it.
The rules have been noted as relatively strict, compared to the 2016 Republican presidential debates, which had multiple debate nights to accommodate the numerous qualified candidates, as well as an initial debate night with 17 candidates spread over two debates. Asa Hutchinson has stated they will keep some campaigns from the debate while Larry Elder described the rules as "onerous". Perry Johnson called them "ridiculous" and began selling one dollar "I stand with Tucker" and "I identify as Non-Bidenary" T-shirts on Facebook, counting each sale as a campaign donation. Similarly, Ramaswamy's campaign ran Facebook ads asking people for one dollar to "secure a prime spot" at the debate.
The Ron DeSantis campaign reportedly pushed for a higher threshold, likely to consolidate non-Trump votes towards his campaign.
On July 7, the DeSantis campaign said that DeSantis would attend the debate, regardless of Trump's participation.
Nikki Haley and Vivek Ramaswamy have claimed more than 60,000 donations each. Trump, DeSantis and Tim Scott have also purportedly exceeded the 40,000 donor threshold. Christie announced he reached 40,000 donors on July 12. Doug Burgum claimed he met the donor threshold on July 19 in part due to offering $20 gift cards for $1 donations.
On July 23, Politico reported that six candidates had unofficially qualified for the debate following the publication of two state polls from Fox News: Christie, DeSantis, Haley, Ramaswamy, Scott, and Trump. Two days later, Burgum unofficially qualified as well.
One of Pence's advisors announced that the campaign had received "more than 7,400 donations" since Trump's third indictment, which took place on August 1. On August 7, Pence announced he had made it to 40,000 donors, qualifying for the debates. Suarez also announced that he had met the donor threshold.
Trump stated in an interview on Newsmax on August 9 that he would not pledge to support the eventual Republican nominee, one of the requirements to qualify for the debate. On August 14, the Super PAC supporting Suarez claimed that he unofficially qualified for the debate by attaining four national polls, with one percent in each one, though his campaign stated that there was "no announcement at this time".
On August 18, Trump announced he would skip the first debate, instead opting for an interview with Tucker Carlson. Johnson unofficially qualified for the debate on August 18. Suarez claimed to have qualified the same day, based on the polling criteria, though RNC officials stated that he had not met the criteria. On August 19, a pro-Suarez PAC claimed he unofficially qualified for the debate, but neither the campaign nor any major media outlet confirmed the claims.
Hutchinson unofficially qualified on August 20 after exceeding the donor threshold. Trump confirmed via a post on his Truth Social account that he would not attend any of the debates.
There were 26 polls that appeared to qualify for the first debate according to Politico’s analysis: 18 national, three each from Iowa and New Hampshire, and two from South Carolina. However, the RNC never confirmed this number and disqualified a Victory Insights Poll that Politico had originally included.
On August 21, the RNC invited eight candidates to the first debate: Burgum, Christie, DeSantis, Haley, Hutchinson, Pence, Ramaswamy, and Scott.
Summary The debate focused on issues relating to the crisis at the border with Mexico, the economy, abortion, and foreign policy. Donald Trump's absence and criminal charges also took up a portion of the debate with candidates taking different positions on whether it would be appropriate for the party to nominate someone who may be criminally convicted. Christie said that Trump was "morally unfit" to be president while he, Haley, Burgum, and Scott defended Pence's actions the day of January 6, refusing directives from Trump to reject certain states' electors. The candidates differed on the issue of abortion, with Scott and Pence supporting a national 15-week ban while Haley called the proposal politically impractical and that states should be left to decide the issue. Observers were largely surprised with Ramaswamy's performance and that he, not poll leader DeSantis, was the target of attacks by other candidates; attacks included his lack of political experience and his promise to grant a presidential pardon to Trump. Ramaswamy's declaration that the "climate change agenda" is a "hoax" also garnered media attention.
Various candidates were cited as the debate's winner. Ramaswamy was cited as the winner by several commentators and outlets, while others selected DeSantis. Others pointed to Pence as the debate's winner, pointing to his successful defense of his actions surrounding January 6 as well as appealing to traditional conservatives on the issues of foreign policy and abortion, while some cited Haley as the winner of the debate, arguing she possessed a relatively calm stance on issues and appealed to moderate voters.
Polls asking watchers who they thought won the debate were similarly split. A FiveThirtyEight/Ipsos/Washington Post survey of Republican voters found that a plurality of debate watchers thought DeSantis won the debate while polls from Emerson, Insider Polling, and Morning Consult found Ramaswamy as the winner. Christie was the most frequently cited as performing the worst in these polls. The FiveThirtyEight poll showed Haley with the largest increase in net favorability while Ramaswamy saw the largest decrease in net favorability, which FiveThirtyEight suggested was due to his combative style. Haley saw the largest increase in the proportion of voters considering, from 30% to 47%, followed by Burgum, DeSantis, and Ramaswamy with more modest increases.
In the RealClearPolitics polling average, Haley saw the largest increase in support during the two weeks following the debate, followed by Pence. Trump, who did not participate, saw the largest decrease in support, followed by Scott. No other candidate's support changed by more than 0.6%.
Candidate Pre-debate polls (8/23)Post-debate polls (9/6)±% Trump 55.4%53.6%-1.8% DeSantis 14.3% 14.9% +0.6% Ramaswamy 7.2%6.8% -0.4% Pence 4.0% 4.9% +0.9% Haley 3.2% 6.1% +2.9% Scott 3.1% 2.1% -1.0% Christie 3.0% 2.8% -0.2% Hutchinson 0.8% 0.5% -0.3% Burgum 0.6% 0.5% -0.1%
CandidatesSpeaking time CNN NYTPence12:2612:37Ramaswamy11:3811:47Christie11:3711:22DeSantis10:0110:22Haley8:208:41Scott7:578:15Burgum7:508:00Hutchinson7:247:33
Second debate {| class="wikitable sortable collapsible" style="text-align:center;font-size:95%;line-height:16px;" | colspan="8" style="color:black; vertical-align:top; text-align:center; background-color:#B0E2FF;" class="table-no"| Qualified candidates for the second debate |- ! rowspan=2|Candidate ! rowspan=2|Met donor criterion ! colspan=2|Met polling criteria (per Politico) ! rowspan=2|Signed loyalty pledge ! rowspan=2|Met all three criteria/invited ! rowspan=2 class="unsortable"| Additionalref(s) |- ! National polls ! State polls |- | Burgum
| Christie
| DeSantis
| Haley
| Pence
| Ramaswamy
| Scott
| Trump
| Hutchinson
| Elder
| Johnson
| Hurd
|- style="background:#f0e68c;" | Suarez
| colspan="8" class="table-no" style="text-align:left;" |
The second Republican primary debate was held on September 27, 2023, in Simi Valley, California, at the Ronald Reagan Presidential Library and hosted by Fox Business, Rumble and Univision. It was moderated by Stuart Varney, Dana Perino and Ilia Calderón.
Criteria On August 1, 2023, the RNC announced the criteria for the second debate. Sign a pledge to support the eventual nominee. Prove to the RNC that they have polled above three percent in August or September in at least two national polls. Otherwise, one national poll plus two state polls in two separate early primary states (Iowa, New Hampshire, Nevada, or South Carolina) also qualify. The polls must survey "at least 800 registered likely Republican voters", cannot be affiliated with a candidate and must be provided to the RNC by the September 25 deadline. Prove to the RNC that they have attracted donations from at least 50,000 individuals, with at least 200 from each of 20 states or territories.
Six candidates unofficially qualified for the debate on August 15, according to Politico: Trump, DeSantis, Ramaswamy, Haley, Scott, Christie. Pence unofficially qualified three days later.
Francis Suarez suspended his campaign between the first and second debates, on August 29.
On September 18, Trump announced he would not participate. Instead, as with the first debate, he aired his own simultaneous television event in competition with the debate.
On September 23, NBC News and Politico both reported that Burgum unofficially qualified for the second debate.