Miami Mayor Francis Suarez admitted on Friday night that his campaign has not qualified for the first Republican presidential debate, despite claiming hours earlier that he had met “all” the requirements to get on the stage.
“I am excited to announce that I have met all of the criteria to qualify for the @GOP ’s first primary debate,” Suarez said early on Friday.
However, The New York Times noted that Suarez has not yet qualified for the debate because he does not meet the polling requirements. The RealClearPolitics average, which is not included in the RNC’s requirements, shows Suarez is only at .3% nationally.
Several hours after his post on X, formerly known as Twitter, Suarez admitted during a CNN interview that he had not qualified for the debate.
Suarez said that the RNC has not yet certified the number of donors that he says he has and he still has not met the polling requirements. He cited a poll from Kaplan Strategies that shows him at 2% nationally, although he noted that the RNC has not yet certified the poll.
CNN host Kaitlan Collins noted that Suarez still needs multiple additional polls showing him over the 1% threshold to get on the debate stage.
“So, but you haven’t actually gotten that number yet, to where the RNC says, ‘Yes, you’ve made it?'” Collins asked.
“Yes, they have not yet given me sort of that final certification,” he said.
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He said that he hopes that additional polls will come out over the weekend that will qualify him for the debate.
The Associated Press later reported that senior officials at the RNC said that Suarez has not qualified for the debate.
Suarez later said that he agreed with prior remarks that he made that any candidate who did not make the debate stage should drop out — including himself.
