Pence appears to make debate stage, but others may struggle to join him

Now that former Vice President Mike Pence's campaign appears to have hit the Republican National Committee's thresholds to make this month's presidential primary debate, the stage may be largely set.

Candidates have until 48 hours before the debate on Aug. 23 to submit proof they've hit the RNC's polling and donor thresholds, as well as their signed pledges to support the eventual GOP nominee. Candidates who appear to have hit that criteria already (per an NBC News Political Unit analysis) include: Former President Donald Trump; Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis; businessman Vivek Ramaswamy; former Ambassador Nikki Haley; South Carolina Sen. Tim Scott; North Dakota Gov. Doug Burgum; former New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie; and Pence.

But that same analysis shows the rest of the GOP field may struggle to hit the polling or donor marks (or both) that they'll need to join those candidates on the debate stage.

Miami Mayor Francis Suarez and businessman Perry Johnson both say they've hit the RNC's minimum donor threshold of 40,000 contributors. But they need to improve their standing in the polls over the next 13 days to qualify.

Candidates need to hit the 1% mark in either three national polls or in two national polls and two polls of early primary states.

Suarez has hit the 1% mark in one state-level Fox Business poll (of Iowa) that appears to meet the RNC's criteria for sample size and methodology. So he's less than half-way to meeting that polling bar.

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Johnson does not appear to have registered in any poll meeting the RNC's criteria.

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Former Arkansas Gov. Asa Hutchinson is in the opposite position -- he appears to have hit the polling threshold, but remains short of the donors needed to qualify.

And former Texas Rep. Will Hurd hasn't hit the donor threshold and appears to be halfway there on the polling threshold. But Hurd, a vocal Trump critic, has said he wouldn't sign the party's pledge to support the eventual nominee that's required for any participant.

The rest of the GOP longshots appear to be even further away from qualifying.