On August 23, eight Republicans went to Milwaukee to participate in the first presidential debate. Ron DeSantis, Vivek Ramaswamy, Tim Scott, Nikki Haley, Mike Pence, Chris Christie, Doug Burgum and Asa Hutchinson took the stage, opening the GOP primaries. Left out were Perry Johnson, Ryan Binkley, Will Hurd, Francis Suarez and Larry Elder, who has no intention of missing the second event.
A 2021 California gubernatorial candidate and popular radio commentator, Larry Elder announced his candidacy on April 20 under the slogan: "We have a country to save." After being left out of the first debate organized by the Republican National Committee (RNC), Elder criticized the organization and invested a lot of money in ads with an eye on the second meet-up.
How badly did the RNC want to keep me off the debate stage? They officially BANNED anyone from my campaign team from entering the arena where last month’s debate was held. Ridiculous!@NEWSMAX pic.twitter.com/6uS5B3rerx
— Larry Elder (@larryelder) September 4, 2023
For starters, he filed a complaint with the Federal Election Commission, alleging that he was "arbitrarily" excluded from the August 23 event. In the 27 pages, he lists his motives and includes many polls that had him pulling ahead 2% nationally.
"Larry Elder v. The Establishment"
With the clear intention of reversing this situation by September 27, Elder's campaign invested $ 400,000 in ads to get more individual donors and increase his standings in the polls.
The main ad, titled "Larry Elder v. The Establishment" will broadcast primarily in the first states to vote, Iowa, New Hampshire, Nevada and South Carolina, as well as the rest of the country.
"The Republican National Committee banned me from the debate stage last month even though I exceeded their qualifications. The RNC is scared because they know I will talk about difficult issues: the epidemic of fatherlessness, my proposal to fire George Soros-backed DAs and the lie that America is systemically racist", the candidate said in the ad.
The requirements to qualify for the second Republican debate
The second debate will take place at the Ronald Reagan Presidential Library in Simi Valley (California) on September 27. In order to take the stage, candidates must meet the following requirements:
- 50,000 unique donors, including 200 donors in 20 states or more each.
- A minimum of 3% in two national polls and do the same in two polls conducted only in the states that will go to the polls first, Iowa, New Hampshire, South Carolina and Nevada.
- Pledge to support the eventual GOP nominee.
- Do not participate in debates outside those of the RNC.
"Once you get on the debate stage and you get in front of the American people, if you're not having momentum, if you're not showing growth in your campaign, then that's a problem," Ronna McDaniel, president of the RNC, said in an interview with Fox News.
"And we need to make sure that we are putting in front of the Republican primary voters, the candidate who is going to take on Joe Biden. And I say this all the time, you know, you don't go to the Olympics unless you pass the prelims, right? This is the Olympic stage of the Republican Party primary and there's going to be criteria that you have to meet to be on that stage," she closed.
