Hurd ‘pretty confident’ he will qualify for debate

2024 Republican presidential candidate and former Rep. Will Hurd (R-Texas) said he thinks he will be able to get on next week’s Republican presidential debate stage.

During a Wednesday interview with Jake Tapper on CNN, Hurd said despite not yet meeting the Republican National Committee’s donor and polling thresholds to qualify for the debate he thinks he will be able to do so before the deadline, set for 48 hours prior to the debate.

“I’m pretty confident we’re going to be able to hit those requirements before the deadline on Aug. 21st,” Hurd said.

Hurd is currently polling at an average of 0.2 percent, according to FiveThirtyEight, far behind GOP front-runner former President Trump, who sits at 53.7 percent.

Hurd has been a vocal critic of Trump, calling him out on his lies about winning the 2020 election and saying he is running to “stay out of prison.” He has also said he will not take a Republican National Committee pledge to support whoever wins the nomination, even if that means not making it to the debate stage.

“I’m not going to support Donald Trump. I recognize the impact that has on my ability to get access to the debate stage, but I can’t lie. It would be easy to say, ‘I will do it,’ and then, when it comes down, change your mind. But I just — I can’t do that,” Hurd said on CNN’s “State of the Union” last month.

Trump is also refusing to sign the committee’s loyalty pledge and has not yet announced if he will be present at the debate.