Perry Johnson, a candidate for the GOP presidential nomination, said Friday on Newsmax that he expects his campaign will have the 40,000 individual donors and the polling results necessary to participate in next month's presidential debates.
"We were at 1.4% in one of the polls that came out a couple of weeks ago," Johnson, a Michigan businessman and owner of Perry Johnson Registrars Inc., an industrial standards certification firm, told Newsmax's "Wake Up America."
According to Republican National Committee rules, candidates must garner the support of at least 1% in three national polls recognized by the committee and have a minimum of 40,000 unique donors to their campaign, with at least 200 unique donors per state or territory in 20 states and territories.
"It has to be after July and right now, I believe they've only had one poll after July so nobody has qualified yet," Johnson insisted.
The donor rule is a "big factor" because in the past, people who self-fund their campaigns "don't really need people to contribute and therefore you really don't need to have fundraisers," said Johnson. "They decided they're going to have this rule in and it is an interesting rule, but they make the decisions."
Meanwhile, there have been some candidates who are paying donors to contribute, including Nebraska Gov. Doug Burgum, who is offering to send the first 50,000 individuals to donate $1 to his campaign a $20 Visa or Mastercard gift card.
"We haven't done that," said Johnson. "I suggested that about three months ago, and my team and attorneys said it's illegal. What we are doing is going out there and getting people to donate and we are doing a pretty good job."
He added that his campaign is now getting about 800 donors every day, and those donations will rise to about 1,200 a day.
Meanwhile, he is offering anyone who donates to his campaign tickets to see country stars Big & Rich on Aug. 12.
"We're going to have the Big & Rich concert and anybody that donates gets to go to that concert," said Johnson. "That will be in honor of all the people that have helped support me."
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Sandy Fitzgerald ✉
Sandy Fitzgerald has more than three decades in journalism and serves as a general assignment writer for Newsmax covering news, media, and politics.
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