Follow along for live updates on the second 2024 Republican presidential debate, which begins at 9 p.m. Wednesday ET in California. The field’s early front-runner, Donald Trump, is skipping the event, just as he did the first. He’ll be 2,000 miles away meeting with union workers in Michigan amid a labor strike.
The candidates on stage will be Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis, former Vice President Mike Pence, entrepreneur Vivek Ramaswamy, Sen. Tim Scott of South Carolina, former United Nations Ambassador Nikki Haley, former New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie and North Dakota Gov. Doug Burgum.
What to know
— Who’s running for president? See a rundown of the 2024 candidates — 7 candidates qualified for the second debate. Here’s who missed the cut — Biden will join the autoworkers’ picket line a day before Trump visits Michigan — Trump says he’s always had autoworkers’ backs. His record shows otherwise
Hutchinson misses debate stage but vows to stay in race
Former Arkansas Gov. Asa Hutchinson will miss Wednesday’s debate after failing to meet the criteria to participate. But he says he’s not going anywhere.
In a statement after the candidate field was released Monday night, Hutchinson said he measures his success by the voter response he gets in early voting states like Iowa and New Hampshire. He says his goal is to boost his polling numbers to 4% in one of those states before Thanksgiving.
“If that goal is met, then I remain competitive and in contention,” he wrote.
In lieu of the second debate, he is going to be in Detroit — the same city Trump is traveling to. He plans to hold a press conference to highlight what he says are the former president’s “false promises to blue collar and union workers in Michigan and across America.”
Source: post
