The first Republican Party presidential debate will be held this August in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, according to a letter sent to party members by newly reelected Republican National Committee chairwoman Ronna McDaniel.
The RNC voted Thursday to hold the party’s first debate in the swing state. Milwaukee was also previously chosen to host the 2024 Republican National Convention. This follows a similar pattern for the party when in 2016 Cleveland, Ohio, hosted both the nominating convention and the first primary debate.
An exact date and location was not specified in the letter, although the the last Republican debate in Milwaukee was in 2015 at the Milwaukee Theatre.
Wisconsin GOP state chairman Brian Schimming tweeted about his excitement. “We’re looking forward to not only hosting the 2024 RNC, where we will show off our exceptional city & the future president of the United States, but excited MKE has been selected to host the first presidential debate,” he said.
We’re looking forward to not only hosting the 2024 RNC, where we will show off our exceptional city & the future president of the United States, but excited MKE has been selected to host the first presidential debate!
— Chairman Schimming (@WisGOPChairman) February 23, 2023
Wisconsin has featured prominently as a key battleground state in the last two presidential elections. In 2016, former President Donald Trump won the state by more than 22,000 votes. Then in 2020, he lost the state to President Joe Biden by a little more than 20,000 votes.
The 2024 GOP presidential race is expected to be crowded and is slowly starting to fill with declared candidates. Trump jumped in first in November, shortly after the 2022 midterm elections. Since then, Nikki Haley, a former United Nations ambassador and South Carolina governor, announced her run last week while entrepreneur Vivek Ramaswamy launched his campaign Tuesday.
A number of other potential Republican presidential candidates are expected to announce as well in the coming months. Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis is a crowd favorite who is neck and neck with Trump in the polls. Former Vice President Mike Pence, South Carolina Sen. Tim Scott, former Secretary of State Mike Pompeo, former Maryland Gov. Larry Hogan and New Hampshire Gov. Chris Sununu are all expected to join the race. Many of them have been seen traversing the early primary states Iowa and New Hampshire, holding town halls with GOP voters.
The first Republican debate for the 2016 race was so crowded with candidates it had to be split into two events. The RNC is expected to announce criteria for candidates to meet if they want to participate in the debates. In the letter, McDaniel suggested fundraising minimums to show broad grassroots support and a polling average of at least one or two percent.
“At this time, no other debates have been sanctioned, nor has the final criteria for the first debate been decided,” McDaniel said in her letter. “The committee will continue its work and will release updates as they become available.”