DES MOINES, Iowa — Republican presidential candidates take the debate stage in California in less than two weeks.
To qualify for the second RNC debate, candidates must have 50,000 donors – including 200 unique donors from 20 different states or U.S. territories. Candidates also need at least 3% support from Republican voters in two national polls. Lastly, they have to sign a pledge to agree that they would eventually endorse the republican nominee.
Six candidates have qualified for the debate so far: Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis, entrepreneur Vivek Ramaswamy, former South Carolina Gov. Nikki Haley, former Vice President Mike Pence, former New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie and South Carolina Sen. Tim Scott.
These presidential candidates qualified for the debate stage in different ways.
Some kept the money their donors sent them, while others like Ramaswamy and North Dakota Gov. Doug Burgum paid some their donors back out of their own pockets.
Anyone who donates to Ramaswamy’s campaign gets a link to share with others. If a referral also donates to Ramaswamy's campaign, that original donor will receive 10% commission.
When Local 5 News asked him about his fundraising strategy at the Iowa State Fair, Ramaswamy said:
"That is exactly how everybody raises money. The joke in politics is ‘It’s only a small group of people who get to do it.' The big money people in Palm Beach or New York or San Francisco or Silicon Valley that put together fundraisers and they get to keep ten percent of what they raise as bundlers."
Burgum offered $20 gift cards for a minimum $1 donation for the first 50,000 donors in order to qualify for the RNC's first debate. As of Tuesday, Sept. 12, Burgum has enough donors for the second debate, but has not yet met the polling requirement.
So why did Burgum give his donors gift cards loaded with money out of his own pocket? Maybe it's because he has lots of money, or that "this was sort of a blip because the pressure put on by making the debate stage," according to Iowa State political science professor Karen Kedrowski.
Although these candidates have fundraised differently, Kedrowski believes we could start to see more traditional door-knocking tactics as we get closer to the Iowa caucus.
Businessman Perry Johnson has also tried to fundraise differently to meet the requirements to attend the RNC debate.
Johnson announced that he would throw a concert and allow anyone who donated to attend for free.
This tactic may have gotten Johnson the necessary donor requirements to qualify for the first debate, but he still didn't meet the national polling number requirement.
Republican presidential candidates have until Monday, Sept. 25 to meet the RNC's debate qualifications in order to take the stage two days later.