Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis will take the center spot at the first Republican primary debate Wednesday evening in Milwaukee, Fox News announced Tuesday.
Among the candidates who will attend the event, DeSantis leads across most GOP primary polls.
Former President Trump, the front-runner for the nomination who is polling well ahead of DeSantis and the rest of the field, announced late Sunday he would not attend Wednesday’s debate.
Trump has instead agreed to sit for an interview with former Fox host Tucker Carlson that is expected to publish Wednesday as he looks to upstage the network and the rest of the GOP field.
Flanking DeSantis will be entrepreneur Vivek Ramaswamy and former Vice President Mike Pence, followed by former U.N. Ambassador Nikki Haley and former New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie.
Rounding out the debate stage will be Sen. Tim Scott (S.C.), former Arkansas Gov. Asa Hutchinson and North Daokta Gov. Doug Burgum.
Among the long-shot candidates who failed to make the stage are Miami Mayor Francis Suarez and former Texas Rep. Will Hurd.