Who is in the Republican debate tonight?

Eight Republican presidential candidates have met the Republican National Committee’s (RNC) new criteria to participate in the first GOP debate on 23 August.

Florida governor Ron DeSantis, former New Jersey governor Chris Christie, former South Carolina governor Nikki Haley, entrepreneur Vivek Ramaswamy, South Carolina senator Tim Scott, North Dakota governor Doug Burgum, former vice president Mike Pence and former Arkansas governor Asa Hutchinson have all qualified.

All eight candidates have had at least 40,000 unique donors from 20+ states and/or territories contribute to their campaigns and maintained at least one per cent in two national polls and two early state polls.

This past year, the RNC added a list of criteria that candidates must meet to qualify for the first debate, as the pool of GOP hopefuls grows larger each passing month.

In addition to the 40,000 unique donors and one per cent polling, candidates also must commit to supporting the RNC’s eventual nominee and not participate in any non-RNC sanctioned debates for the remainder of the election cycle.

Former president Donald Trump would have also qualified but did not because he refused to sign the RNC’s pledge. In lieu of the official debate, Mr Trump said he would opt for an interview with Tucker Carlson that is set to air at the same time as the debate.

The first debate is set to occur live at 9pm ET on Fox News. It is being hosted in Milwaukee, Wisconsin.

The RNC’s new rules this year were met with mixed reactions from candidates – particularly those who had trouble meeting the criteria.

Mr Ramaswamy, who has seen a boom in his polling, called the criteria “stringent but fair.”

“I am a first-time candidate who started with very low name ID, no political donors and no pre-existing fundraising lists,” Mr Ramaswamy said in a statement. “If an outsider can clear the bar, politically experienced candidates should be able to as well.”

The more well-established candidates like Mr DeSantis, Mr Pence, Ms Haley, Mr Scott and Mr Christie all met polling criteria weeks before the debate.

But where some fell short was the 40,000 donor requirement.

Mr Pence was one of the last candidates to qualify for the debate after finally receiving enough donors to make himself eligible, thanks to his campaign pushing supporters to donate at the very least $1. Though the ex-vice president had been polling in national and state polls shortly after he announced.

Mr Burgum took a unique route to meet the requirement by offering donors the chance to win $20 gift cards if they donated $1 to his campaign – luckily he managed to qualify for the debate.

Mr Hutchinson qualified shortly before the debate after pleading with supporters to donate to his campaign.

But other candidates who attempted to qualify by 21 August were not so lucky.

Though Mr Suarez offered donors who contributed $1 a chance to win tickets to a soccer game to watch Lionel Messi play for Inter Miami, the RNC confirmed he did not meet qualifications due to polling.

The Miami Mayor, who notoriously said those who don’t qualify for the debate should drop out, acknowledged that he did not meet criteria on Twitter.

Perry Johnson, who offered to give away his book in exchange for donors also did not qualify.

Will Hurd, Larry Elder and Ryan Binkley will join Mr Johnson and Mr Suarez in watching the debate from afar.