Pence qualifies for first GOP primary debate

Former Vice President Mike Pence has qualified to make the stage at the first Republican presidential primary debate, his campaign confirmed Monday night.

Pence’s campaign surpassed the 40,000 individual donors required by the Republican National Committee (RNC) to make the debate stage. The former vice president had previously met the polling requirement, which stipulated that candidates be polling at a minimum of 1 percent in a combination of national polls or early primary state polls.

The first debate will be hosted by Fox News on Aug. 23 in Milwaukee, Wis.

Pence joins several other candidates who have qualified for the event: Former President Trump, Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis, Sen. Tim Scott (S.C.), former New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie, former South Carolina Gov. Nikki Haley, Vivek Ramaswamy and North Dakota Gov. Doug Burgum.

Trump has indicated he may skip the debate, however, citing his large lead in the polls.

“Mike Pence made quick and easy work of the donor threshold and he’s looking forward to a substantive debate about the issues important to the American people,” Pence communications adviser Devin O’Malley said in a statement. “Hopefully, former President Trump has the courage to show up.”

The campaign said it had received 200 unique donors from 40 different states, surpassing the RNC’s requirement of 200 unique donors from at least 20 different states.

Pence declared his candidacy in early June and had lagged behind in terms of donors. Pence had been adamant that he would not resort to “gimmicks” to encourage donations, a reference to other campaigns offering kickbacks to contributors.

The former vice president saw a spike in contributions in recent days after he was a central figure in the indictment against Trump for his efforts to remain in power after the 2020 election.

The indictment laid out how Trump pressured Pence to reject the election results on Jan. 6, 2021, which the former vice president made plain he did not have the authority to do.

Pence has in recent days reiterated that he did not have the power under the Constitution to do what Trump had asked, and he has argued that Trump’s actions that day should disqualify him from returning to the White House.

Updated Aug. 8 at 8:56 a.m.