Who are Bret Baier and Martha MacCallum, Fox News anchors wrangling first GOP debate?

It’s hard to tell where the modern presidential campaign begins or ends in America, but Wednesday will see a major milestone in the 2024 election: the first Republican primary debate.

Eight candidates – Florida Governor Ron DeSantis; entrepreneur Vivek Ramaswamy; former Vice President Mike Pence; former South Carolina governor Nikki Haley; former New Jersey Governor Chris Christie; South Carolina Senator Tim Scott; former Arkansas Governor Asa Hutchinson and North Dakota Governor Doug Burgum – will take the stage in Milwaukee, Wisconsin at 9pm ET, with the debate broadcast live on Fox News.

Overseeing the sparring on stage will be two seasoned Fox News anchors, Special Report host Bret Baier and The Story host Martha MacCallum.

“We are extremely proud to have Bret and Martha moderating the first debate of the 2024 presidential election season as Americans learn more about the candidates ahead of exercising their constitutional right to vote,” Fox News told Adweek ahead of the show.

Both reporters have hosted previous debates or forums related to the presidential election.

The main story of the night will likely be who isn’t on stage, however.

Donald Trump, who remains the Republican front-runner for 2024 despite a cloud of criminal indictments, is skipping the debate, opting instead to be interviewed by former Fox News anchor Tucker Carlson.

The former president has complained that Fox News is a “hostile” network.

In June, Mr Baier held a notable interview with Mr Trump, where he directly called out the former president for falsely claiming to have won the 2020 election, a rarity on the conservative news network where many of its opinion programming hosts and guests regularly affirm the former president’s election conspiracies.

“You lost the 2020 election,” Mr Baier told Mr Trump in the conversation.

“There were recounts in all of the swing states,” he continued as Mr Trump protested. “There was not significant widespread fraud... There were lawsuits, more than 50 of them, by your lawyers, some in front of judges you appointed, that came out with no evidence.”

Mr Trump, according to national polls, has more than twice the support of his nearest GOP rival, Mr DeSantis heading into the debate.