Fox News Channel on Tuesday announced the top 10 candidates who will participate in its Republican presidential primary in primetime on Thursday, and Donald Trump will be at center stage.
New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie and Ohio Gov. John Kasich secured the ninth and 10th spots, respectively, with former Texas Gov. Rick Perry coming in at 11th, forcing him into the earlier forum with the bottom seven candidates.
Fox used an average of the five "most recent, methodologically sound polling of national Republican primary voters" as of 5 p.m. Eastern Daylight Time Tuesday to make its determination. The top candidates – and the bottom ones – come as no surprise.
The top 10 who will participate in the 9-11 p.m. Thursday debate will be, in order:
- Real estate developer Donald Trump
- Former Florida Gov. Jeb Bush
- Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker
- Former Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee
- Retired pediatric neurosurgeon Ben Carson
- Texas Sen. Ted Cruz
- Florida Sen. Marco Rubio
- Kentucky Sen. Rand Paul
- New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie
- Ohio Gov. John Kasich
The seven other candidates who will have to settle for the one-hour forum at 5 p.m. Thursday, are:
- Former Texas Gov. Rick Perry
- Former Pennsylvania Sen. Rick Santorum
- Louisiana Gov. Bobby Jindal
- Former Hewlett-Packard CEO Carly Fiorina
- South Carolina Sen. Lindsey Graham
- Former New York Gov. George Pataki
- Former Virginia Gov. Jim Gilmore
The five polls used were
Fox News, CBS News, Bloomberg, Monmouth University and
Quinnipiac University.
Perry, who just missed the main debate, tweeted that he is looking forward to taking the earlier stage:
Kasich, meanwhile, welcomed the other candidates to his state:
A spokesman for Santorum called the selection process "incredibly flawed," Washington Post reporter Dave Weigel tweeted. The spokesman pointed out that Perry and Minnesota Rep. Michele Bachmann led early polls in 2012, but never won a delegate.
Fox News Channel host Bret Baier, who will moderate the main debate along with colleagues Chris Wallace and Megyn Kelly, told Fox News Channel's
"Your World with Neil Cavuto" the three are trying to craft questions that will get the candidates off their talking points.
Baier did admit the moderators and viewers might be "pleasantly surprised" if "everybody colors within the lines with the one-minute answers and the 30-second follow-ups."
"Our field is the biggest and most diverse of any party in history and I am glad to see that every one of those extremely qualified candidates will have the opportunity to participate on Thursday evening," Republican National Committee Chairman Reince Priebus said in a statement to the press. "Republicans across the country will be able to choose which candidate has earned their support after hearing them talk through the issues."
Priebus also used the announcement as an opportunity to take a shot at Democratic frontrunner Hillary Clinton, who, despite a commanding lead, has seen support falter in recent weeks.
"Democrats will have to take Hillary Clinton's word that she deserves to be their nominee," Priebus said. "While the RNC is moving forward with our sanctioned debate schedule, the DNC has yet to even announce when they will put her onstage."
With the largest field of contenders in modern memory, organizers say something had to give to ensure the debate in Cleveland didn't turn into a nationally televised circus.
"We never ever envisioned we'd have 17 major candidates," said Steve Duprey, New Hampshire's representative to the Republican National Committee who helped craft the debate plan. "There's no perfect solution."
Republican officials worked closely with TV executives, although the networks have the final say about which candidates will be allowed on stage for their prime-time events.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
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