On Aug. 23, the first presidential debate of the Republican primary will be held in Milwaukee. At this moment, up to 16 candidates are in the electoral race to represent the conservative party, but not all of them meet theRepublican National Committee’s requirements to be on the debate stage to defend their platform to the country.

In addition to meeting the criteria set forth by the party's leadership, the applicants must pledge to support whoever is chosen as the GOP nominee. Candidates must have at least 40,000 unique donors to their primary campaign committee at the federal level and 200 unique donors in 20 or more states. In addition, they need to at least get 1% support in three national polls or 1% support in two national polls and one poll in two different states conducted in Iowa, New Hampshire, Nevada and South Carolina.

Pence looking for donors

As of this Sunday, seven candidates meet the poll requirement. Former President Donald Trump, Florida Governor Ron DeSantis, businessman Vivek Ramaswamy, former Vice President Mike Pence, former South Carolina Governor Nikki Haley, South Carolina Senator Tim Scott and former New Jersey Governor Chris Christie all reached 1% or higher in at least two national qualified polls and two separate state polls.

As for fundraising, close sources said that some already met the fundraising threshold. This is the case for Trump, DeSantis, Scott, Haley, Christie and Ramaswamy. Former Vice President Pence is the only candidate who reached support in the polls but has failed to reach the fundraising threshold. "We’re making incredible progress towards our 40,000 donor goal," Pence stressed.

For those Republicans who have not met the voting criteria, former Arkansas Governor Asa Hutchinson is one national vote away from doing so. North Dakota Gov. Doug Burgum needs two national polls. Former Texas Representative Will Hurd and Miami Mayor Francis Suarez each need one state and two national polls to qualify.