The 2024 presidential race has officially begun. While several heavy hitters like Nikki Haley and Donald Trump kicked off their campaigns months ago, Gov. Ron DeSantis’s ‘failure-to-launch’ themed launch party on Twitter served as the ceremonial starting pistol for the race. These frontrunners were later joined by not one but two Black Republicans: Larry Elder from California and Senator Tim Scott of South Carolina. And to round out the crew for now, former Arkansas Gov. Asa Hutchinson and businessman Vivek Ramaswamy have announced what are perceived as long-shot bids for the presidency.

Who’s still to come? Three more Republican presidential hopefuls have scheduled press conferences this week. The forever meme-able Chris Christie is widely expected to announce his second attempt at the presidency on Tuesday, June 6. Then there may be a bit of a media battle on Wednesday, June 7 as both former Vice President Mike Pence and North Dakota Gov. Doug Burgum are scheduled to announce their candidacies on the same day.

First Debate Qualification Rules

Many of these candidates will meet face-to-face for the first time on August 23 at the Republican National Committee’s first presidential debate for the 2024 campaign. In order to qualify for the debate, candidates must meet ALL of the following criteria:

• Officially declared their candidacy

• Poll at least 1% in three national polls OR 1% in two national polls and 1% in one early state poll (Iowa, New Hampshire, Nevada, South Carolina) recognized by the RNC.

• Have a minimum of 40,000 unique donors to candidate’s campaign with at least 200 unique donors per state or territory in 20+ states and/or territories. 

• Have signed pledge agreeing to support the eventual party nominee. 

As of now, pundits deduce that at least five candidates have satisfied the above criteria given recent polling and fundraising data: DeSantis, Haley, Ramaswamy, Scott and Trump. The remaining candidates (and any who have yet to announce) have roughly 10 weeks to hit these targets as they must provide evidence of their compliance no later than 48 hours before the debate.

What does the Republican party of 2024 look like? Click the posts below to understand the party’s policy priorities and their vision for America’s future.

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