CNN is set to host two Republican presidential primary debates next month in Iowa and New Hampshire—the first two GOP contests in 2024.
The Republican National Committee (RNC) debate pledge prohibits the candidates from participating in debates not sanctioned by the RNC.
However, the RNC “is expected to announce this week it will release candidates from its requirement that prevents them from participating in non-RNC-sanctioned debates,” according to CNN.
Officials at the RNC and CNN didn’t respond by press time to a request by The Epoch Times for comment.
To qualify for the first CNN debate, which will be at Drake University in Des Moines, Iowa, candidates must, among numerous criteria, be at 10 percent in three separate Hawkeye State or national polls of GOP voters.
For the second debate, which will be at St. Anselm College in Goffstown, New Hampshire, candidates must poll at 10 percent in three separate Granite State or national polls of GOP voters, in addition to meeting other requirements.
Given the requirements, only former South Carolina governor and U.N. Ambassador Nikki Haley and Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis would qualify for these debates, while the other candidates still in the race—entrepreneur Vivek Ramaswamy, former New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie, and former Arkansas Gov. Asa Hutchinson—would not.
Mr. DeSantis announced on X, formerly Twitter, that he will at least be in the debate in the Hawkeye State.
Haley’s campaign didn’t respond by press time to a request by The Epoch Times about whether she would be on the debate stages.
In addition to the polling criteria, other requirements include being a U.S. citizen, filing with the Federal Election Commission a statement of candidacy, and consent to the debate rules.
It’s unlikely that former President Donald Trump will participate in the CNN debates, given that he has opted out of all debates thus far. In addition, he’s also openly disdainful of the network, which he has called “fake news,” though he participated in June in a testy town hall hosted by the network and moderated by anchor Kaitlan Collins.
The announcement that CNN will host the next GOP debates has already elicited right-wing criticism.
Tim Graham—executive editor for NewsBusters, the blog at the Media Research Center, which monitors and documents left-wing media bias—slammed the development.
“The qualifying candidates can go on their own to be harassed by CNN journalists if they so choose,” he told The Epoch Times in a statement. “But this amounts to the GOP anointing CNN as a responsible news organization, when in recent history, they’ve been a hair-on-fire Republican-trashing network.”
Mr. Graham compared CNN’s hosting the upcoming debates to the Democratic National Committee’s “agreeing to a Fox News or Newsmax debate” and said that “there are plenty of serious conservative media outlets who could host a debate in Iowa or New Hampshire.”
Emily Jashinsky, director of the conservative National Journalism Center and the culture editor of the right-wing outlet The Federalist, said the candidates should skip the CNN debates.
“It benefits CNN much more than any of their campaigns, their voters, and their causes,” she told The Epoch Times. ”It helps CNN build its access and credibility.”
Nonetheless, the debates “will provide Republican voters an opportunity to hear the governing philosophies of the leading candidates seeking to challenge the likely Democratic presidential nominee, President Joe Biden, in November,” CNN stated.
In comparison, the annual Country Music Awards, which aired on ABC, got 1.71 million more viewers, or 6.63 million total viewers, with 800,000 of them in the 18–49 age category, according to Nielsen.
According to Nielsen, more than 12.8 million people tuned in to the first primary debate—hosted by Fox News on Aug. 23—with more than 2.8 million of them between the ages of 25 and 54, while the second one, on Sept. 27 on Fox Business Network, garnered 9.5 million viewers, 2 million of whom were in the 25–54 age range.
The ratings for the NewsNation debate haven’t yet been released.
