The Republican National Committee said 2024 GOP presidential candidates who participate in the Family Leader's Thanksgiving forum will be barred from future Republican primary debates.
According to the Iowa Capital Dispatch, the Family Leader plans to move forward with the event in Des Moines, Iowa, on Nov. 17. Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis, Sen. Tim Scott, R-S.C., and tech entrepreneur Vivek Ramaswamy said they will participate.
The event is billed as an opportunity for presidential candidates to "gather around the table to have a moderated, friendly and open discussion about the issues that are most important to evangelical Americans today."
While it's not a debate, the Family Leader reportedly set polling thresholds that candidates must meet in order to participate, including a RealClearPolitics polling average of 4% or more in national or Iowa polls by Nov. 1.
Family Leader Director of Communications Drew Zahn told the Dispatch that, along with the candidates who plan to attend, former South Carolina Gov. Nikki Haley and former President Donald Trump are eligible to participate and were invited.
Zahn said Haley is expected to attend, but said, "Trump's reluctance to participate in other events leads us to believe he will not accept the invitation."
Trump has opted out of many standard Iowa campaign stops, such as the Family Leadership Summit, often holding his own campaign rallies instead of appearing at events with his competitors. He has also declined to attend any of the RNC primary debates, holding a rally, most recently, on Wednesday night in Hialeah, Florida, instead of attending an RNC debate in Miami.
Just over 6 million viewers tuned in to watch the third Republican debate, marking a 45% drop in viewership from the first debate and the lowest turnout of the current campaign season.
In October, RealClearPolitics reported that the RNC's legal counsel sent a letter to GOP presidential candidates stating that the Family Leader's planned roundtable candidates' forum was, "in other words, a debate."
"Please be advised that any Republican presidential candidate who participates in this or other similar events will be deemed to have violated this pledge and will be disqualified from taking part in any future RNC-sanctioned presidential primary debates," the letter read.
The fourth RNC debate is scheduled for Dec. 6 in Tuscaloosa, Alabama.
Zahn said that the RNC's characterization of the Family Leader event as an unsanctioned debate is not accurate.
"In fact, we have held this same event twice before – in 2011 and 2015 – so we know from experience our event can be a win-win addition to the election process without in any way competing with the RNC's debates," Zahn told the Dispatch. "It's just a completely different format and kind of event."
Nicole Weatherholtz ✉
Nicole Weatherholtz, a Newsmax general assignment reporter covers news, politics, and culture. She is a National Newspaper Association award-winning journalist.
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