GOP Candidates Advised by RNC to Proceed with Caution at Family Leader Forum

The Republican National Committee said that 2024 GOP presidential candidates participating in the Family Leader’s Thanksgiving event will be barred from future Republican primary debates.

According to the Iowa Capital Dispatch, the event is set to proceed in Des Moines, Iowa on Nov. 17 with the participation of Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis, Sen. Tim Scott, R-S.C., and tech entrepreneur Vivek Ramaswamy.

The event is being billed as an opportunity for presidential candidates to “gather around the table to have a moderated, friendly and open discussion about the issues that are most important to evangelical Americans today.” Although it is not a debate, the Family Leader reportedly set polling thresholds that candidates must meet in order to participate.

Family Leader Director of Communications Drew Zahn told the Dispatch that candidates who plan to attend and former South Carolina Gov. Nikki Haley and former President Donald Trump are eligible to participate and were invited.

Zahn said Haley is expected to attend, but “Trump’s reluctance to participate in other events leads us to believe he will not accept the invitation.”\

The fourth RNC debate is scheduled for Dec. 6 in Tuscaloosa, Alabama.

Zahn said that the RNC’s characterization of the Family Leader event as an unsanctioned debate is not accurate.

Nicole Wells, a Newsmax general assignment reporter covers news, politics, and culture. She is a National Newspaper Association award-winning journalist.