First GOP debate next month faces threats of boycott as lower-polling candidates scramble to qualify

By JILL COLVIN
Associated Press

NEW YORK (AP) — Seven weeks before the premiere debate of the 2024 GOP primary, anxiety is building that the event could prove messy and divisive for the party. Some candidates, like former Arkansas Gov. Asa Hutchinson, are struggling to meet fundraising and polling requirements to make it onstage. He and others are pushing back on a loyalty pledge the Republican Party is insisting candidates sign to participate. And the race’s frontrunner, former President Donald Trump, is flirting with boycotting and holding his own competing event instead. That’s turning what is typically the highly anticipated opener of the election season into a source of uncertainty.