Republicans to adopt loyalty pledge for debate participants
Republican presidential candidates will be blocked from the debate stage this summer if they do not sign a pledge to support the GOP’S ultimate presidential nominee, according to draft language set to be adopted when the Republican National Committee meets this week.
The proposal sets up a potential clash with former President Donald Trump, who has raised the possibility of leaving the Republican Party and launching an independent candidacy if he does not win the GOP nomination outright.
Although RNC officials and Trump aides downplay that possibility, such a move could destroy the GOP’S White House aspirations in 2024 and raise existential questions about the party’s future.
“After the primary, it is imperative to the health and growth of our Republican Party, as well as the country, that we all come together and unite behind our nominee to defeat Joe Biden and the Democrats,” RNC chief Ronna Mcdaniel said in a statement when asked about the loyalty pledge.
As many as a dozen Republicans are expected to enter the 2024 presidential contest as the GOP braces for an all- out civil war in the months ahead.
Much of the party is eager to move past Trump and his divisive politics, but in reality, Republican leaders have few, if any, tools to control the former president, given his popularity with the GOP’S most passionate voters. RNC leaders are hopeful that a loyalty pledge, while ultimately unenforceable, would generate some shared commitment to unity, albeit a fragile one, as the presidential primary season takes off.
A senior Trump aide could not say whether the former president would sign the pledge to support the eventual nominee but suggested privately that he plans to participate in the debates. Campaign spokesman Steven Cheung declined to answer the question directly as well.
Facing similar concerns in 2016, Trump signed a similar loyalty pledge that was not tied to debates, but he later reneged as the primary campaign became more contentious. At the very first Republican primary debate that year, Trump was the only candidate on stage who refused to commit to supporting the party’s eventual nominee unless it was him.
And in December, Trump shared an article on social media encouraging him to seek a third- party bid to punish the GOP should Republican primary voters select another presidential nominee in 2024.
Meanwhile, there is no such threat on the Democratic side.
Virtually every Democrat thought to have presidential aspirations has promised to unite behind President Joe Biden, assuming the 78- year- old Democrat follows through on his plan to seek a second term. Biden may face token resistance from a lowerprofile intra- party rival, but the Democratic president would face little pressure to appear on the debate stage before fall 2024 for the general election debates, should they occur.
The Republican loyalty pledge is among several provisions likely to be adopted as the RNC’S Temporary Standing Committee on Presidential Debates meets to determine the rules governing which candidates may participate in the GOP’S upcoming debate season — and which media networks will host the events.
The committee is considering 10 to 12 debates to begin in late July at the Reagan Library in California or at the RNC’S summer meeting in Milwaukee, the host of the GOP’S next national convention.
Committee officials are sorting through proposals from as many as 18 media companies eager to host a debate. They include major television networks such as CNN, MSNBC and Fox and lower- profile conservative favorites such as Newsmax, according to people directly involved in the process.
Although the likes of CNN and NBC hosted Republican primary debates in 2016, Republican officials suggest it would be a mistake to assume they will be selected this time around, given widespread disdain for the networks among the party’s base.
Meanwhile, the criteria for debate participants almost certainly will include a new donor threshold to demonstrate broad support among the party’s grassroots in addition to a polling threshold of either 1% or 2%.
Participants also will be asked to sign a pledge to avoid any general election debates hosted by the Commission for President Debates; the commission has hosted every general election presidential debate since 1988, but Republicans increasingly believe the nonpartisan group is biased against them.