The Donald Trump Dilemma: 2024 Republican Presidential Nominee Could Be A Felon, But RNC Is Holding Firm On Loyalty Pledge

The Republican National Committee (RNC) is holding firm on its loyalty pledge requirement for debate participation, despite pushback from some GOP candidates in the wake of Donald Trump’s recent indictment.

What Happened: Asa Hutchinson, the former Arkansas governor who is polling at about 1%, requested a meeting to discuss amending the pledge, expressing discomfort over potentially supporting a nominee who could be found guilty of felonies, according to Politico.

The RNC rejected Hutchinson’s request, with senior advisor Richard Walters saying that GOP candidates were “being asked to respect the decision of Republican primary voters and support the eventual nominee.”

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The pledge, part of the qualifications for the upcoming August debate, asks candidates to support the eventual party nominee.

Why It Matters: Representatives for former Vice President Mike Pence and former New Jersey Governor Chris Christie both expressed openness to seeing Trump on the debate stage. Larry Elder, a California-based candidate, along with Michigan businessman Perry Johnson and Miami Mayor Francis Suarez see no need to change the RNC’s pledge, according to the Politico report.

However, several candidates, including Hutchinson, are struggling to meet the debate’s requirements which include polling at 1% in at least three polls, having 40,000 individual donors, and entering a data-sharing agreement with the RNC.

Hutchinson, whose donor numbers are currently undisclosed, said that the RNC’s donor requirements were significantly larger than those needed for his previous successful statewide races, according to the report.

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