The third Republican primary debate will take place on 8 November, broadcast by NBC News at the Adrienne Arsht Center for the Performing Arts in Miami.
To qualify, candidates need to reach at least four per cent in two national polls, or four per cent in one national poll and four per cent in two early primary states.
They also need 70,000 individual donors, including 200 donors in 20 states, according to the requirements set by the Republican National Committee (RNC).
Five candidates have qualified for the showdown, so far – Florida Governor Ron DeSantis, biotech entrepreneur and woke-bashing author Vivek Ramaswamy, former UN Ambassador and South Carolina Governor Nikki Haley, and ex-New Jersey Governor Chris Christie.
Former President Donald Trump has also qualified but has said that, like the first two debates, he won’t attend. He will instead hold a rally in Hialeah, Florida, not far from Miami.
While former Vice President Mike Pence has reached the required polling results to participate in the debate, he still needs to acquire 70,000 individual donors.
South Carolina Senator Tim Scott has hit the required polling in two state polls but hasn’t reached the threshold in national polling or when it comes to donors, according to Politico, even as his campaign argues they have hit the required polling and is on track to get the number of donors needed.
The qualification period is 1 September to 6 November.
The debate will be moderated by NBC Nightly News anchor Lester Holt, recently-appointed Meet The Press moderator Kristen Welker, and conservative radio host Hugh Hewitt.
Here’s the latest campaign news for each candidate set to appear on stage in Miami:
Ron DeSantis
Republican presidential candidate Florida Gov Ron DeSantis speaks at the Heritage Foundation— (Getty Images)
The Florida governor is at odds with an Israeli diplomat in Miami regarding whether Mr DeSantis’s office had coordinated with the diplomat to send ammunition and weapons to Israel. On Thursday, a spokesperson for the governor said that his office had contracted cargo planes to send drones, armour, and helmets to Israel and was working to “get weapons and ammunition to Israel through private parties”.
“At the request of the Israeli Consul General in Miami, cargo planes contracted by Florida were used to transport healthcare and hospital supplies, drones, body armour, and helmets that first responders can use,” a spokesperson for the governor told Reuters. “We also worked with the Consul General to help get weapons and ammunition to Israel through private parties.”
But the Israeli General Consul in Miami, Maor Elbaz-Starinsky, told the news agency, “This is not how I would describe it”.
Meanwhile, Mr DeSantis declined to attack Mr Trump’s character during an appearance on CNN.
“I’m about results and I’m about outcomes. I mean, Donald Trump’s well-documented the different things in that regard. For me, it’s who’s going to be able to deliver the results. I’ll be able to do that, as the president,” he said on the network.
“He did some things I give him credit for, but he also promised things he didn’t deliver. So the question is moving forward, how do you actually get America on the right track? How do we reverse this decline?” he added. “And I think we need a new leader, someone who can serve eight years, two four-year terms, and someone who is going to be energetic, have vitality and vigour, and get the job done.”
Nikki Haley
Republican presidential candidate former U.N. Ambassador Nikki Haley speaks to potential voters during a campaign event at Central College in Pella, Iowa— (Getty Images)
The Democratic New York City Council president from 1986-1994, Andrew Stein, came out in support of former UN Ambassador Nikki Haley in the 2024 primary, writing in an op-ed in The Wall Street Journal that “I supported Donald Trump twice, but I now think the country would be best served with a different candidate in 2024—Nikki Haley”.
“I don’t take this view lightly. Mr. Trump did a good job as president, from improving the economy to securing the border and maintaining world peace. But a Trump re-election would be difficult, and half the country will never accept him as president. It would keep us divided while we face international situations that require this country to be unified,” he added.
Maggie Haberman of The New York Times said that Mr Stein is “one of Trump’s oldest friends (to the extent he has actual friends)”.
Vivek Ramaswamy
Republican presidential candidate Vivek Ramaswamy, right, talks foreign policy with Michael Doran, a Senior Fellow at the Hudson Institute in Washington— (AP)
Last Friday, Mr Ramaswamy confronted Iowa GOP Senator Joni Ernst at a fundraiser in her state following her criticism of his stance on Israel, according to NBC News.
As Ms Ernst was leaving a podcast studio at the Iowa GOP Rep Mariannette Miller-Meeks’s “Triple MMM Tailgate” fundraiser, Mr Ramaswamy was about to enter when they shook hands. The entrepreneur held onto her hand as he shared his grievances.
“You might want to understand my Israel policy before commenting,” he said.
Mr Ramaswamy was seemingly irate at Ms Ernst’s comments during a panel discussion in New Hampshire the previous week.
In an interview with Tucker Carlson on X, Mr Ramaswamy said: “The selective nature of ignoring certain other conflicts — while even more importantly ignoring the interests of the US right here at home — is what irritates the heck out of me, out of the politicians in both parties.
“It is shameful, and I think that there are, frankly, financial and corrupting influences that lead them exactly to speak the way they do. That’s just the hard truth,” he added.
On 13 October, GOP North Dakota Governor and 2024 candidate Doug Burgum slammed Mr Ramaswamy for insinuating that US backers of Israel are “bought and paid for”.
Sitting next to Mr Burgum, Ms Ernst made her approval clear.
“Having people running for high elected office here in the United States shifting the blame away and saying it’s all about fundraising, it’s abhorrent,” Ms Ernst said. “We need to stand with our friends, Israel.”
Chris Christie
Chris Christie tours the New Hampshire State House visitor centre in Concord— (EPA)
The ex-New Jersey governor is on what many have likened to a kamikaze mission to take down Mr Trump.
Mr Christie appeared on CNN this week after ABC News reported that Mr Trump’s former Chief of Staff Mark Meadows had acquired an immunity deal with the office of Special Counsel Jack Smith to testify before a grand jury in the federal election interference case.
The former governor said Mr Trump should be “desperately worried”.
“If the person you call the next James Baker is now testifying that you were lying to the American people about the election results from election night forward, which is reportedly what Mark Meadows is testifying, and that you knew all along that what you were saying was not backed up by the facts, Donald Trump is in very, very big trouble,” he told anchor Wolf Blitzer.
“Mark Meadows was, as you know well, Donald Trump’s shadow the entire time he was chief of staff,” he added. “He will know every conversation, every lie, every illegal action that was taken by Donald Trump. And, he’s gonna be able to testify to it.”
