Republicans Will Hold Their First Presidential Debate in Milwaukee
The Republican National Committee will hold its first presidential primary debate in Milwaukee in August, its debates committee decided in a vote on Thursday.
The committee is seeking to have all candidates sign a loyalty pledge vowing to support the eventual nominee in order to be part of the debates.
Milwaukee will also be the site of the Republican National Convention in 2024. Another location that had been under consideration for the first debate was the Ronald Reagan Presidential Library in California, according to people briefed on the matter.
“At this time, no other debates have been sanctioned, nor has the final criteria for the first debate been decided,” Ronna McDaniel, the R.N.C. chairwoman, said in an email to members on Thursday. “The committee will continue its work and will release updates as they become available.”
Only two major candidates — former President Donald J. Trump and the former South Carolina governor and United Nations ambassador Nikki Haley — have entered the race for the Republican nomination. (Lesser-known candidates include Vivek Ramaswamy, an entrepreneur and author, and Steve Laffey, a former mayor of Cranston, R.I.)
But several more are expected to announce campaigns in the coming months. The field could eventually include Gov. Ron DeSantis of Florida, former Vice President Mike Pence, former Secretary of State Mike Pompeo and Senator Tim Scott of South Carolina.
Among the other issues the debate committee has been discussing is having candidates sign a pledge vowing to support the eventual nominee.
Such a pledge came about during the 2016 campaign, after then-candidate Donald J. Trump, who had previously considered a third-party candidacy in 2000, declined during an early debate to join the other contenders in saying that they would back the nominee. Mr. Trump, already the front-runner in polls in the crowded field, claimed to be concerned about being treated “fairly” by the party.
It is unclear whether he would sign such a pledge this time — or whether he would abide by it even if he lost the nomination.
The R.N.C. is also interested in a donations requirement, meaning each candidate would need a specific number of individual donors in order to qualify for the debate stage.
