Entrepreneur Vivek Ramaswamy Confident He Will Qualify for Republican Party’s First Debate Next Month

Entrepreneur and GOP presidential candidate Vivek Ramaswamy has met the Republican Party’s donor requirements and is confident he will poll high enough to qualify for the party’s first debate next month.

The Republican National Committee (RNC) requires candidates to register at least 1% support in three national polls, or 1% in two national polls and in two early-state polls from separate states, in order to qualify for the debate stage in Milwaukee on Aug. 23. Ramaswamy has consistently garnered mid single-digit to low double-digit support in recent surveys. The RNC also requires “a minimum of 40,000 unique donors to candidate’s principal presidential campaign.”

Meanwhile, Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis downplayed the Jan. 6, 2021, attack on the U.S. Capitol on Friday, saying that the deadly day was not an insurrection. In an interview on comedian Russell Brand’s streaming show “Stay Free with Russell Brand,” DeSantis said, “It devolved, and it devolved into a riot, but the idea that this was a plan to somehow overthrow the government of the United States is not true, and it’s something that the media had spun up just to try and basically get as much mileage out of it and use it for partisan and for political aims.”

It is not yet clear whether there have been enough polls recognized by the party for Ramaswamy to qualify for the debate stage. However, the entrepreneur remains confident that he will poll high enough to be on stage for the party’s first debate next month.

The RNC will announce the list of candidates who qualify for the debate stage on Aug. 17.