Who will be at the 2nd GOP debate?

LIVE UPDATES: 2nd GOP debate in the 2024 presidential race

Seven GOP candidates will face off Wednesday for the second GOP primary debate. While the location is different from the first debate last month – this one is being held at the Ronald Reagan Presidential Library in Simi Valley, California– one thing remains the same: the glaring vacancy left by former President Donald Trump. Trump will not appear on the debate stage, skipping his second consecutive debate to speak at a rally in Michigan. The former president has not signed a pledge to back the eventual party nominee – something the Republican National Committee requires ahead of appearing on the debate stage.

In addition to signing the pledge, candidates must meet polling and fundraising thresholds set by the RNC.

The second GOP primary debate will take place on Wednesday, Sept. 27 starting at 9 p.m. ET and will last two hours. It’ll air on Fox News Channel and Fox Business, as well as their streaming platforms. A Spanish-language feed of the debate will air on Univision.

Who qualified for the second GOP primary debate?

Mike Pence

Trump’s former vice president and running mate will appear for his second GOP primary debate. Before serving as vice president, he was governor of Indiana and a longtime congressman, as well as a radio personality. Leading up to the congressional certification of votes on Jan. 6, 2021,Trump said that Pence had the ability to change the outcome of the election. Pence has consistently denied that the vice president is constitutionally allowed to interfere with the certification of votes and rebuffed any pressure to do so. The events of that day widened the rift between the former president and vice president and have become central to Pence’s 2024 campaign.

For more of the NewsHour’s coverage of Pence, click here.

Ron DeSantis

Desantis, the governor of Florida, will appear for his second primary debate. Before he was elected governor, he was a Florida congressman. Desantis has grabbed headlines in recent years because of his stances on COVID, his very public battle with Disney, and his push for anti-LGBTQ+ legislation and socially conservative ideals. Desantis benefited from an endorsement from Trump during his campaign to become governor of Florida, but is now Trump’s rival on the campaign trail.

For more of the NewsHour’s coverage of DeSantis, click here.

Nikki Haley

Haley, the former South Carolina governor, will appear for her second primary debate. She was appointed by Trump to be the U.S. ambassador to the United Nations. Haley made history in 2010 as the first woman and first person of color to be elected governor in South Carolina. She has centered foreign policy issues in her campaign, drawing on her time at the United Nations. And while she resigned from the Trump administration after Jan. 6, she has continued to have a congenial relationship with her former boss.

For more of the NewsHour’s coverage of Haley, click here.

Tim Scott

Scott, a U.S. senator from South Carolina, will appear for his second debate. He is a career politician who got started in local politics before becoming a congressman, and then a senator in 2013. Scott is the only Black Republican in the U.S. Senate, but he doesn’t center race in his campaign. He does, however, center his faith and uses Christian talking points on the campaign trail.

For more of the NewsHour’s coverage of Scott, click here.

Chris Christie

Christie, the former New Jersey governor, will appear for his second primary debate. He previously was U.S. attorney for New Jersey and a Trump ally. Now, he is outwardly critical of the former president, particularly about his role on Jan. 6. Christie also ran in 2016 against Trump in the primary race. After he dropped out of the race, and despite attacks from Trump, he went on to endorse Trump’s campaign ahead of his presidential win. Trump’s denial of the 2020 election outcome eventually pushed Christie away, he’s said. “I got off the train when he stood up in the West Wing of the White House, behind the seal of the president, and told us the election was stolen, when he didn’t have one fact to back it up,” Christie said of his relationship with Trump.

For more of the NewsHour’s coverage of Christie, click here.

Vivek Ramaswamy

Ramaswamy, an entrepreneur from Cincinnati, Ohio, will appear for his second primary debate. The Harvard University graduate has never held political office. As former CEO of a biomedical company, he’s used millions of his own money to launch and fund his presidential run. Ramaswamy, the son of Indian immigrants, has consistently attacked the left on cultural issues. At 37 years old, he’s hoping to be the youngest president in American history. Ramaswamy has said that Trump was a good president and has pledged to pardon him.

For more of the NewsHour’s coverage of Ramaswamy, click here.

Doug Burgum

Burgum, the governor of North Dakota, will appear for his second primary debate. He’s a lifelong North Dakotan and tech entrepreneur who sold his company to Microsoft in 2011 for more than $1 billion. He had never held political office before becoming governor in 2016. North Dakota is one of the country’s top oil-producing states, but Burgum has called for a diversification of energy sources and production.

For more of the NewsHour’s coverage of Burgum, click here.

Who will not be on the debate stage?

Donald Trump

Trump has met the donor and polling thresholds to get onto this debate stage, but said before the first RNC event in August that he would not participate in any debates. He said he will not sign the RNC pledge to back the Republican nominee, one of the requirements for appearing on the debate stage.

Trump has skipped debates in previous cycles, including the final primary debate in 2016 and his second 2020 debate with Biden, pulling out after organizers moved to make the event virtual when he tested positive for COVID-19. Ahead of the first GOP primary debate in August, Trump instead sat down for a taped interview with Tucker Carlson that aired the same night as the debate. On the night of the second debate, he will speak at a rally in Michigan.

As he eschews the debate stage, Trump is mired in legal troubles. He is the first former president to face criminal charges and the first to be indicted. The former president has been indicted four times this year: in two special counsel investigations, centered on efforts to overturn the 2020 election and the mishandling of classified documents after leaving office, as well as in a New York hush money case and an election interference casein Fulton County, Georgia.

A judge on Tuesday ruled that Trump had defrauded banks, insurers and others for years while building his real estate businesses in New York. The judge ruled in the case, brought before the judge in a civil lawsuit by New York’s attorney general, that some of Trump’s business licenses be rescinded as punishment.

Asa Hutchinson

Hutchinson appeared in the first GOP primary debate last month, but did not meet the higher polling thresholds set by the RNC for this second round. He has said that though he fell short of the requirements, he will stay in the race for the presidency. Hutchinson, the former Arkansas governor, also served in the George W. Bush administration. He has been vocal in his criticism of both Trump and President Joe Biden.

For more of the NewsHour’s coverage of Hutchinson, click here.

To learn more about the GOP candidates running for their party’s presidential nomination, watch PBS NewsHour’s coverage of each one here.

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