7 candidates to square off in 2nd GOP presidential primary debate

Sept. 27 (UPI) -- Seven presidential candidates are set to take the stage in Simi Valley, Calif., Wednesday night for the second Republican primary debate. Again, former President Donald Trump will not be one of them.

The debate begins at 9 p.m. EDT at the Ronald Reagan Presidential Library. It will be simulcast on FOX Business, FOX News and Univision. FOX hosts Stuart Varney and Dana Perino will moderate.

Scheduled to appear on the debate stage are Vice President Mike Pence, Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis, former South Carolina Gov. Nikki Haley, Sen. Tim Scott of South Carolina, former New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie, North Dakota Gov. Doug Burgum and entrepreneur Vivek Ramaswamy.

The candidates will be given 1 minute to respond to questions and 30 seconds for follow-ups at the discretion of the moderators. There will be no opening statements and unlike the first debate in Milwaukee, there will be no closing statements.

Former Arkansas Gov. Asa Hutchinson is the only candidate who appeared at the first debate who did not qualify for Wednesday's debate. In a post on X, formerly Twitter, he said he will continue to campaign in early voting states.

"Despite falling short of the RNC's polling requirement for inclusion in the second presidential primary debate, I will continue our campaign to bring out the best of America with events scheduled in Iowa, New Hampshire and across the country in the next several weeks," Hutchinson said in a statement.

Trump, who did qualify for the debate, is instead slated to speak to auto workers Wednesday at Drake Enterprises, an automotive supplier in Detroit. Trump is widely considered the frontrunner for the Republican nomination.

Candidates needed to record at least 50,000 unique donors, including 200 unique donors each in 20 states or territories. They also needed to poll at 3% in at least one national poll and 3% in two polls from different early voting states. Early voting states are Iowa, New Hampshire, South Carolina and Nevada.

Hutchinson said his goal is to poll at 4% in an early voting state by Thanksgiving.

Miami will host the third Republican primary debate on Nov. 8. Candidates will need to poll at 4% in two national polls or one national poll and two early state polls to qualify. They will also need 70,000 unique donors as the Republican National Committee seeks to whittle down the field of candidates.