Asserting the current crowded GOP presidential primary debate stage is too cluttered, the campaign for Republican presidential candidate Vivek Ramaswamy is asking the Republican National Committee to trim the number of contestants for the next debate in November.
Ben Yoho, CEO of the Ohio businessman’s presidential campaign, proposed revised criteria for candidates to make next month’s debate stage in Miami.
“Time is running out. Early-state voting is rapidly approaching in January. Another unhelpful debate in November is not an option: voters deserve a real choice for who will best serve as our party’s nominee,” Yoho wrote in a letter to RNC Chairwoman Ronna McDaniel and Committee on Arrangements co-chairs Anne Hathaway and David Bossie.
The letter, from Ben Yoho, his campaign CEO, also cites upcoming donor gatherings and says RNC is better to cull the field.
"In absence of leadership from the RNC, a small group of large donors are already taking the process into their own hands"
An excerpt: pic.twitter.com/6NPb9CtYx4
— Shane Goldmacher (@ShaneGoldmacher) October 2, 2023
Ramaswamy’s campaign wants to limit the stage to the top five candidates in national polls. The campaign also asks the RNC to raise the donor threshold to 100,000 individual contributors.
Ramaswamy is running fourth, according to the latest RealClearPolitics average of national polls. The political outsider is polling at 5.2 percent, behind former United Nations Ambassador and South Carolina Governor Nikki Haley (6.7%), Florida Governor Ron DeSantis (13.6%) and former President Donald Trump (56.7%).
Trump, the front-runner by far, has skipped the first two debates and it appears he won’t attend the next.
The RNC, as it did for last week’s debate at the Ronald Reagan Presidential Library in Simi, Valley, CA, is raising the polling and fundraising requirements for the Nov. 8 debate in Miami.
To be eligible, candidates must generate 4 percent or better in two national polls, or garner 4 percent in one national poll and two different early nominating state polls.
The stiffer requirements for the second debate — 3 percent polling and 50,000 unique donors — winnowed the eligible contestants from eight to seven. It’s expected the higher thresholds will keep more candidates off the Miami debate stage.
Yoho also is asking the RNC to give candidates more time to respond to their opponents and to end the multi-moderator format in favor of one referee empowered to “enforce debate rules and avoid candidates indiscernibly shouting over each other.”
Last week’s debate was widely panned after the candidates shouted, repeatedly interrupted their rivals, and routinely ignored the debate clock. The three moderators for the debate, broadcast on Fox Business, were roundly criticized for failing to rein in the disorderly conduct.
Ramaswamy in particular was clobbered by Republican presidential rivals Haley, former Vice President Mike Pence, and U.S. Senator Tim Scott (R-SC). The Ohio entrepreneur frequently complained that he was not afforded enough time to respond to the rhetorical assaults.
“I was disappointed, frankly, because I think we do better as a Republican Party when we have an actual serious policy disagreement, as opposed to … personal mud-slinging that did not serve the voters of this country. And think it didn’t serve the voters in our own party,” Ramaswamy told The Iowa Star last week on the Simon Conway Show on NewsRadio 1040 WHO in Des Moines.
“So we need to see that field thinned down for the next debate. We need to see candidates who actually respect each other’s time to speak, and also have a legitimate debate about where we’re heading as a party.”
The 38-year-old Ramaswamy has sharply risen the polls since launching his “long-shot” campaign in February.
Yoho said voters are not well-served “when a cacophony of candidates with minimal chance of success talk over each other from the edge of the stage, while the overwhelming frontrunner is absent from the center of that same stage.”
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M.D. Kittle is the National Political Editor for The Star News Network.
Image “Vivek Ramaswamy” by Vivek Ramaswamy.
