Aug. 8 (UPI) — Mike Pence, former U.S. vice president and current presidential candidate, has qualified to participate in the first Republican presidential primary debate, his campaign said Monday night.
“Tonight, @Mike_Pence proved a lot of people wrong, and that’s going to a theme of this campaign,” Team Pence 2024 said in a statement announcing the former vice president’s qualification on X.
His campaign told Fox News, which was the first to report the development, that they earlier Monday had surpassed the 40,000-donor limit to appear on the GOP’s first presidential primary debate stage, which is scheduled to be held in Milwaukee on Aug. 23.
In June, the Republican National Committee had announced the requirements to participate in the debate, which stipulated that candidates must have a minimum of 40,000 unique donors and poll a minimum of 1% in three national polls or a combination of early state and national polls, which Pence had previously achieved.
Seven candidates had already qualified for the debate, including Pence’s ex boss, former President Donald Trump, who was criminally indicted for a third time earlier this month, as well as Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis, North Dakota Gov. Doug Burgum, entrepreneur Vivek Ramaswamy, former ambassador Nikki Haley and South Carolina Sen. Tim Scott.
Earlier Monday, Pence’s campaign had called on supporters to donate $1, stating “We’re so close to reaching 40,000!”
After the indictment charging Trump with crimes of attempting to overturn the 2020 general election, Pence was signaled as a key witness in the case as the former president is accused of trying to coerce his subordinate to aid him in the effort.
In the indictment, Trump is accused of calling Pence “too honest” over his refusal to say he had authority he didn’t as vice president to reject or return votes to the states under the constitution.
Pence’s campaign has turned Trump’s comment into something of a campaign slogan, selling shirts and hats embroidered with the phrase “Too Honest.”
According to his campaign website, Pence is running on a platform to attack inflation by targeting the spending of the Biden administration.
