Six Republican presidential candidates appear to have qualified for the first primary debate, reaching the necessary polling and donor thresholds according to an NBC News analysis.
The candidates include former President Donald Trump, Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis, businessman Vivek Ramaswamy, former South Carolina Gov. Nikki Haley, South Carolina Sen. Tim Scott and former New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie.
While several candidates have committed to participating in next month's debate, Trump has suggested he might skip the event, and he could even hold a competing event.
The Republican National Committee announced earlier this summer that candidates would have to meet a series of requirements to participate in the first debate, including pledging to support the eventual nominee and gathering contributions from at least 40,000 individual donors.
Candidates also had to register at least 1% in two national polls and 1% in two early state polls, or at least 1% in three qualifying national polls, conducted after July 1.
The RNC did not respond to requests for comment about which polls released so far meet their criteria. Fox News is hosting the first GOP primary debate, which is set for Aug. 23 in Milwaukee, Wis. Because the party put out a list of criteria that polls would need to meet in order to count toward a candidate qualifying, it's not always immediately clear when a poll is released whether it qualifies.
While those six appear to have clinched their spot on the stage, pending the RNC's approval, recent polling has moved other candidates closer to a spot on the stage.
New polling from JMC Analytics and Polling released Sunday pegs both former Arkansas Gov. Asa Hutchinson and North Dakota Gov. Doug Burgum at 1%. (The RNC does not approve polling by a pollster affiliated with a candidate or committee. While JMC has done work for Republican candidates in the past, federal election records do not show JMC working with any presidential candidate or committee so far this cycle, and the poll appears to fit the RNC's stated criteria.)
That finish gives Hutchinson enough polls to meet the polling criteria (having registered in a national Morning Consult poll as well as Fox Business polls in Iowa and South Carolina). But Hutchinson has said he's far below the fundraising criteria, which he'll need to hit to secure a spot on the debate stage.
And the JMC poll is Burgum's first qualifying national poll -- since he hit 1% in both the Fox Business Iowa poll as well as an earlier University of New Hampshire poll of the state, he needs to register in just one more national poll to qualify (he announced last week he had eclipsed the fundraising threshold).
Former Vice President Mike Pence appears to have met the necessary polling requirement, but told CNN on Sunday his campaign is "literally working around the clock" to hit the donor requirement and "I'm confident that we will be there."
The rest of the field is further away from qualifying.
