United States: The United States Republican Party has announced that its first presidential debate will take place in the city of Milwaukee, Wisconsin.
The Republican National Committee (RNC) decided to begin its debates in August 2023 in the midwestern swing state, which voted in favour of Democrat Mr. Joe Biden in the last presidential election.
“At this time, no other debates have been sanctioned, nor have the final criteria for the first debate been decided. We have a long way to go, but I am confident we will be able to showcase our eventual nominee in a world-class fashion,” RNC Chair Ms. Ronna McDaniel wrote in a message to the party’s members.
The RNC will lay out criteria for participation in the debates as the contest for the Republican presidential nomination moves forward.
The committee will be organizing between 10 and 12 debates, to be held from August until the date of its national convention in 2024, when it will formally choose a nominee to represent the party in that year’s presidential election.
Two Republican candidates have already launched their campaigns, including former President Mr. Donald Trump.
Mr. Trump announced his candidature in November 2022, shortly after the US midterm elections. But the former president remains under scrutiny for his actions on January 6, 2021, when a mob of his supporters stormed the US Capitol in an attempt to overturn the 2020 elections.
Besides Mr. Trump, the only other candidate to announce their bid for the Republican nomination has been Ms. Nikki Haley, a former South Carolina governor. Ms. Haley had served in the Trump administration from 2017 to 2018 as US ambassador to the United Nations.