Former New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie said Wednesday he has reached the number of individual donors that the Republican National Committee is requiring candidates to have in order to make the GOP debate stage in August.
“I am glad to be able to tell people tonight, Anderson, that last night we went past 40,000 unique donors in just 35 days,” Christie told CNN’s Anderson Cooper on “AC360.”
Under the RNC’s requirements, candidates need a minimum of 40,000 individual donors to their principal campaign committee – with at least 200 donors per state or territory in 20 or more states and/or territories.
Former President Donald Trump, Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis, former United Nations ambassador Nikki Haley, South Carolina Sen. Tim Scott, and entrepreneur Vivek Ramaswamy have said they’ve reached 40,000 individual donors. So far, it’s unclear whether other candidates – including former Vice President Mike Pence and former Arkansas Gov. Asa Hutchinson – have met the donor threshold.
Candidates also need to hit 1% in three recognized national polls or a combination of two national qualifying polls and polls from two separate early voting states.
Another requirement that has drawn some criticism from the candidates is the so-called loyalty pledge in which a candidate must agree to support the eventual GOP nominee.
Christie, a former Trump ally who launched his presidential bid in June, has been sharply attacking Trump and on Wednesday reiterated that he thinks the pledge is a “dumb idea” and will “take it every bit as seriously as Donald Trump took it in 2016.”
The first Republican primary debate is scheduled for August 23 in Milwaukee.
CNN’s Fredreka Schouten contributed to this report.
Source: www.cnn.com