ABC News has announced the candidates who have qualified for Saturday’s Republican presidential debate in New Hampshire–and despite pressuring the network to be included, Carly Fiorina did not make the cut.
The candidates who will appear on stage are (in order from left to right)
John Kasich, Jeb Bush, Marco Rubio, Donald Trump, Ted Cruz, Ben Carson, and Chris Christie. Trump retains his frontrunner’s position at center stage.
ABC made its announcement Thursday evening two hours later than promised, leading some to wonder if the network might reconsider its announced criteria that seemed likely to exclude Fiorina.
ABC and the RNC are trying to keep Carly out of the #GOPdebate. Sign the petition to help her fight: https://t.co/iAAUJb9ZP6 #LetCarlyDebate
— Carly Fiorina (@CarlyFiorina) February 4, 2016
The debate, moderated by David Muir and Martha Raddatz, will be the first of the Republican cycle not to feature an undercard. WMUR anchor Josh McElveen, and conservative journalist and Fox News contributor Mary Katharine Ham, will join Muir and Raddatz in questioning the candidates.