Fox News to host first debate of 2024 Republican presidential primary

Fox News will host the first Republican presidential primary debate in Milwaukee later this year, Republican National Committee (RNC) Chair Ronna McDaniel announced on Wednesday.

“We are going to host the very first debate with Fox News. It’ll be a Fox News Republican primary debate,” McDaniel said during an appearance on “Fox & Friends.” 

She also said the RNC would livestream the debate on Rumble, a video platform popular with the political right.

“We’re also going to partner with some pretty exciting partners,” McDaniel said. “For the first time ever, we’re going to live stream on Rumble. We’re getting away from Big Tech, YouTube’s owned by Google. We’re going to have an RNC channel on Rumble. And then the Young Americas Foundation, which is run by Scott Walker, to really reach out to young voters. They’re based in Wisconsin, so they’re going to be a partner as well.”

The decision to give Fox News the first primary debate isn’t entirely surprising. The conservative-leaning network hosted the first GOP presidential primary debate in 2015 out of Cleveland. That debate had to be split into two separate groupings of candidates because of the large number of Republicans seeking the nomination that year.

So far, only a handful of candidates have jumped into the 2024 Republican presidential contest, including former President Trump, former U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations Nikki Haley, entrepreneur Vivek Ramaswamy and former Arkansas Gov. Asa Hutchinson. 

Sen. Tim Scott (R-S.C.) launched an exploratory committee for a 2024 bid on Wednesday.

Others are expected to enter the race in the coming months, including Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis.

The debate won’t be the last time the RNC shows up in Milwaukee. Republicans are set to hold their 2024 nominating convention there next year.