Former Fox News host Tucker Carlson will host the first multi-candidate forum of the 2024 Republican primary season. Despite the big names planning to attend the July 14 function, former President Donald Trump will not be among them.
The event at the Family Leadership Summit in Des Moines, Iowa this Friday is not officially being termed a ‘debate.’ However, the popular anchor will be hosting Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis (R), former South Carolina Gov. Nikki Haley (R), Vivek Ramaswamy, Sen. Tim Scott (R-SC) and former Vice President Mike Pence.
The event is being co-hosted by Blaze Media.
The event comes more than a month prior to the first official debate of the Republican primary season, set for Aug. 23.
One major question mark both for Carlson’s event and the first primary debate is the status of the frontrunner. The former president said earlier this year that he saw no particular reason behind participating in such a debate.
“People don’t debate when they have these massive leads,” he said.
DeSantis said that he would be at the August debate regardless of who was attending. The Republican National Committee is sponsoring the event.
Tucker Carlson to host first presidential forum of the 2024 GOP primary season, for which Blaze Media and the FAMiLY Leader are teaming up https://t.co/Dahy9sfd2M
— TheBlaze (@theblaze) July 11, 2023
The Republican Party is asking candidates who take part in the primary debates to take a pledge to support the eventual Republican nominee.
RNC chairwoman Ronna McDaniel said that a candidate “who wants to seek the nomination of our party should pledge to support the voters.”
Trump said that he would support the Republican candidate for president depending “on who the nominee was.”
The candidate forum will likely be a significant moment not only for the individual GOP candidates but also for Carlson himself. The former Fox News personality has received considerable public support following his high-profile departure from the network earlier this year.
Since leaving Fox, Carlson has since created a new program on social media, “Tucker on Twitter.”
The program received considerable attention, though the former host has pledged not to take a side in the GOP nomination fight, while also praising Trump.
