Republican Presidential Candidates Must Support Eventual Nominee To Debate, Will Donald Trump Sign?

Republican National Convention chair Ronna McDaniel said on Sunday that any Republican presidential candidate for 2024 will be expected to sign a pledge of support for the party's nominee should they expect to see the debate stage.

"We haven't put the criteria out, but I expect a pledge will be part of it," McDaniel said on CNN's "State of the Union."

"It was part of 2016. I think it's kind of a no-brainer, right? If you're going to be on the Republican National Committee debate stage asking voters to support you, you should say, 'I'm going to support the voters and who they choose as the nominee,'" she added.

The move appears to be intended to avoid potential problems in the general election. On a 10-person Republican debate stage in 2016, Donald Trump was the only candidate to raise his hand when asked by Fox News moderator Bret Baier if anyone would not vow to support the eventual nominee and "pledge to not run an independent campaign against that person."

Shortly after making this proclamation, McDaniel, who recently won a hotly contested race to lead the RNC that further divided the party, was presented with a clip of Trump's appearance on "The Hugh Hewitt Show" earlier this month, where he was asked if he would support the eventual GOP nominee, even if it wasn't him.

"It would have to depend on who the nominee was," said Trump.

The former president won the nomination and the general election in 2016 but lost the popular vote in both elections. In 2020, Trump lost the electoral college vote to President Joe Biden, 306-232.

McDaniel, in an effort to look ahead, responded that she still believes Trump will sign the pledge and attend the debates.

"I think they all want to be on the debate stage. I think President Trump would like to be on the debate stage. That's what he likes to do. And I expect they will all be there," McDaniel said.

Three Republicans have announced that they are seeking the nomination: Trump, former Ambassador to the U.N. Nikki Haley, and conservative entrepreneur Vivek Ramaswamy. Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis, former Vice President Mike Pence, and former Secretary of State Mike Pompeo are all rumored to be mulling runs, as well.

"We can't be attacking each other so much that we lose sight of: We have to beat the Democrats. We have to beat Joe Biden in 2024. And we may have divisive primaries and differences of opinions, but in the end we have to settle those to win the big picture, which is governing our country and doing right by the American people," McDaniel said Sunday, urging Republicans across the spectrum to ease on the infighting as a pivotal election season begins to spring anew.

"We saw big races lost this cycle, because of Republicans refusing to support other Republicans," McDaniel added.

The first Republican presidential debate is scheduled for August 2023 in Milwaukee, and the GOP's nominating process will kick off with Iowa, New Hampshire, and South Carolina.