Longshot 2024 candidate Doug Burgum met the requirements this week to participate in the first Republican presidential primary debate next month.
Burgum, a former software executive, set up a fundraising scheme to help launch him to the debate stage. Donors who gave just $1 were provided with a $20 gift card in exchange.
The North Dakota Governor is calling the voucher the ‘Biden Economic Relief Card.’
With Burgum, there are now seven candidates who meet the fundraising and polling qualifications set by the Republican National Committee (RNC) to appear on the debate stage in Milwaukee, Wisconsin on August 23.
There are still questions over whether all seven will participate – especially as former President Donald Trump continues to brush-off questions about debating his 2024 rivals who are all far behind him in national and state-wide polling.
Longshot 2024 hopeful and North Dakota Gov. Doug Burgum met the polling threshold needed to participate in the first Republican primary debate in Milwaukee, Wisconsin on August 23
One strategy Burgum used to reach the polling threshold was offering a $20 gift card to the first 50,000 donors that gave $1 to the campaign and called it the ‘Biden Economic Relief Card.’ In order to debate, candidates need 40,000 unique donors with 200 from 20 different states or territories
Burgum, who sold his company to Microsoft for $1.1 billion in 2001, has poured millions of his own money into his campaign.
But the strategy that helped him get to the debate stage was giving the first 50,000 people who donated at least $1 to his campaign a $20 gift card. The RNC requires candidates to have 40,000 unique donors with at least 200 in 20 different states or U.S. territories.
The scheme Burgum’s campaign set up worked.
His website prompting donors to receive the gift card notes that the $20 is to help with ‘the burden on American families caused by the Democrats.’
‘Joe Biden is doing nothing to fix it,’ it continued. ‘We want to help, so we’re offering YOU a $20 gift card, and all YOU have to do is contribute $1 to claim it.’
He then crossed the polling threshold needed to debate on Tuesday when he earned 1 percent support from voters in a new national survey by Morning Consult. The RNC requires candidates to poll above 1 percent in three national polls – or in two national polls and two separate early primary state polls.
Previously, Burgum reached the 1 percent threshold in a national survey from Louisiana-based JMC Analytics and Polling. He also got 6 percent in a University of New Hampshire Granite State poll and 3 percent in a Fox Business poll in the first-in-the-nation caucus state of Iowa.
The RNC has not yet said whether it has taken the Morning Consult poll into account and if Burgum now qualifies for the debate stage.
So far, seven candidates have met the polling and donor qualifications to reach the first debate stage in Milwaukee, Wisconsin on August 23
Burgum spokesperson Lance Trover is taking the latest as a win, and said in a statement: ‘Governor Burgum is looking forward to sharing his focus on the economy, energy and national security at the August debate.’
‘In less than 7 weeks, Governor Burgum has exceeded all the requirements for the debate,’ Trover added.
Candidates are also required to sign a pledge saying that they will support whoever becomes the GOP nominee – and vowing not to participate in any other debates not run by the RNC.
Some longshot candidates, like former New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie and former Arkansas Gov. Asa Hutchinson, claims that the pledge to support the eventual nominee is catering to Trump.
The RNC set some pretty stringent requirements for the debates this year – including needing to sign a pledge to support whoever becomes the 2024 nominee in order to participate in the debates
Meanwhile, Trump has repeatedly shed doubt on whether he will even participate in the debate. Some close aids say the former president feels it is beneath him to debate with candidates so far behind him in the polls.
Candidates who qualified to debate so far are Trump, Burgum, Christie, Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis, former Ambassador to the UN Nikki Haley, biotech millionaire Vivek Ramaswamy and South Carolina Sen. Tim Scott.
Roughly half of the crowded field of 15 GOP candidates has made the debate stage so far.
Notably, former Vice President Mike Pence has not yet qualified, but assured on Sunday that he ‘will get there.’
Both Pence and Hutchinson have hit the polling threshold, but neither has hit 40,000 donors requirement.
There are 15 candidates vying for the GOP nomination in 2024 – with Trump and DeSantis far leading the pack. So far, seven have reached the requirements to debate