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Fox News’ Bret Baier and Martha MacCallum have been selected to moderate the first 2024 Republican primary debate, according to a statement from the network.
“We are extremely proud to have Bret and Martha moderating the first debate of the 2024 presidential election season as Americans learn more about the candidates ahead of exercising their constitutional right to vote,” FOX News Media President Jay Wallace said in a statement on Tuesday.
Baier, who moderated GOP debates from the 2012 and 2016 election cycles, serves as the chief political anchor for Fox News, and hosts “Special Report,” while MacCallum serves as the executive editor of “The Story.”
In their coverage of the debate, Fox News has partnered with the RNC, Young America’s Foundation, and Rumble.
As previously reported by RSBN, the debate will be held at the Fiserv Forum in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, on Aug. 23, 2023.
A second debate could occur the following day “should enough candidates qualify to make it necessary” according to a June 2 press release from RNC Chairwoman Ronna McDaniel.
Although not officially announced, the second debate would occur on Aug. 24 at the Ronald Reagan Presidential Library in Simi Valley, California.
The RNC has implemented a slew of requirements necessary for qualifying debate candidates, including signing a pledge to support the party’s eventual nominee for president.
Qualifying candidates must also poll above one percent across three national polls, and receive more than 40,000 unique donors—including 200 across at least 20 states.
During the debate, candidates will be placed on stage according to their polling numbers, with the person polling highest being placed in the center.
However, President Donald Trump, whom most polling shows as the frontrunner, has hinted that he may skip the debates when it came to “hostile networks” hosting the forum.
“I see that everybody is talking about the Republican Debates, but nobody got my approval, or the approval of the Trump Campaign, before announcing them,” Trump wrote to his account on Truth Social in April.
He continued, “When you’re leading by seemingly insurmountable numbers, and you have hostile Networks with angry, TRUMP & MAGA hating anchors asking the ‘questions,’ why subject yourself to being libeled and abused?”
Despite his criticism of Fox News, however, Trump sat down for an exclusive interview with Bret Baier earlier this week, where he outlined his campaign approaches and promises should he return to the White House.
For the Democrats, the DNC will not host any debates, a move blocking any primary candidates from debating Joe Biden.
Biden faces a challenge from Robert F. Kennedy Jr., the nephew of President John F. Kennedy, and guru author Marianne Williamson.
The Harvard-Harris June Democrat primary poll showed Biden with 62 percent support, while Kennedy took 15 percent, and Williamson four percent.
