Asa Hutchinson, a former governor of Arkansas, will be participating in this week’s first Republican primary debate as a late addition, taking the stage in Milwaukee. “I will be on the stage,” he assured Kasie Hunt on CNN’s “State of the Union” when asked about the debate.
“I’m pleased to announce that we have met all the criteria that the RNC set to be on the debate stage. We met the polling criteria and now we’ve met the 40,000 individual donor criteria. We’ve submitted to the RNC, 42,000 individual donors.”
On Sunday, Hutchinson met the Republican National Committee’s fundraising quota, allowing him to advance to the next round of the nomination process. According to POLITICO’s numbers, Hutchinson had already reached the 1 percent threshold required by the party committee to run.
Hutchinson also tweeted about the debate: “Thank you to everyone that donated for believing that consistent, commonsense, conservative leadership is needed to bring out the best of America!”
The tweet below verifies the news:
Republican presidential candidate and former Arkansas Gov. Asa Hutchinson said he has qualified for the first GOP primary debate, which will take place Wednesday in Milwaukee.https://t.co/rL4GIt6P29
— CNN (@CNN) August 20, 2023
According to POLITICO’s tracking, the former governor of Arkansas is the tenth candidate to qualify for the debate, joining former President Donald Trump, Florida Governor Ron DeSantis, businessman Vivek Ramaswamy, former Vice President Mike Pence, former U.N.
Ambassador Nikki Haley, South Carolina Senator Tim Scott, New Jersey Governor Chris Christie, North Dakota Governor Doug Burgum, and self-described “quality guru” Perry Johnson.
However, it is currently unclear how many persons will be present on stage, as it has not been determined whether or not all the candidates who claim to have qualified have truly done so. The RNC has not yet announced the candidates who will be formally participating.
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It’s also quite improbable that Trump, the GOP frontrunner, will attend. Hutchinson assured Hunt he would sign the necessary loyalty pledge to support the Republican Party’s ultimate nominee. I’m voting for the party’s official nominee.
“I don’t think it will be Donald Trump,” he declared. Adding that, based on the 14th Amendment’s language, he had doubts about Trump’s eligibility to serve as president.
Hutchinson was referring to Section 3 of the 14th Amendment:
“No person shall be a Senator or Representative in Congress, or elector of President and Vice-President, or hold any office, civil or military, under the United States, or under any State, who, having previously taken an oath, as a member of Congress, or as an officer of the United States, or as a member of any State legislature, or as an executive or judicial officer of any State, to support the Constitution of the United States, shall have engaged in insurrection or rebellion against the same, or given aid or comfort to the enemies thereof. But Congress may by a vote of two-thirds of each House, remove such disability.”
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