DES MOINES, Iowa — With just days to go until the Iowa caucuses, candidates are kicking the Iowa leg of their campaigns into high gear.
Two prominent candidates — Nikki Haley and Ron DeSantis — are facing off in a debate Wednesday night in Des Moines.
Hosted by CNN, the debate will be held live at Drake University starting at 8 p.m. CNN anchors Jake Tapper and Dana Bash will moderate.
Trump also qualified for the debate, but opted out in favor of a Fox News town hall, which will be happening at the same time as the CNN debate.
According to CNN, for candidates to qualify for participation in this Iowa debate, they needed to receive at least 10% in three separate national and/or Iowa polls of republican caucus-goers or primary voters that meet CNN’s standards for reporting.
Last week, both Haley and DeSantis also participated in back-to-back town halls with CNN.
This debate will be the first so far in this election cycle to feature just two candidates going head-to-head.
One candidate who did not make the cut for the CNN debate is Vivek Ramaswamy.
However, he will still be campaigning Wednesday night, participating in a live podcast with podcast host and YouTuber Tim Pool.
An event description said they'll “dive deep into thought-provoking discussions.”
Following Monday’s caucus, CNN will host another debate in New Hampshire ahead of that state's primary.