Why the GOP debate is being held in Milwaukee

Eight qualifying Republican candidates will take the stage together in Milwaukee Wednesday night for the party’s first presidential primary debate, gathering in the key swing state for the kickoff event of the race for the GOP nomination. 

The Republican National Committee (RNC) voted in February to hold the first debate of the 2024 cycle in Wisconsin’s biggest city, the same place it plans to hold the Republican National Convention next July. 

“Milwaukee is a world-class city, and we are eager to see it shine in the spotlight come 2024,” RNC Chairwoman Ronna McDaniel said in 2022, after after picking the city for the convention over runner-up Nashville. 

Former President Trump, GOP frontrunner, won Wisconsin by a slim margin in 2016 — but lost the battleground state to President Biden by a similarly tight margin when he ran for reelection in 2020. 

The Badger State reelected Democratic Gov. Tony Evers in the 2022 midterms, beating a Trump-backed opponent by just a few points. Since assuming the governorship in 2019, Evers has counterbalanced the GOP-controlled Wisconsin state Legislature.

But despite Evers’s win in the gubernatorial race, Republican Sen. Ron Johnson (Wis.), who was viewed during the midterms as the Democrats’ best chance of ousting an incumbent Republican in the upper chamber, was also reelected to his Senate seat last year. 

Milwaukee was also among the several cities that hosted a Republican primary debate during the 2016 cycle, when Trump ran for his first term in office.

In 2020, Milwaukee hosted the Democratic National Convention, though the event was moved largely online due to the pandemic. With next year’s Republican convention, the city is the first to host back-to-back national conventions since New York City hosted the 1976 and 1980 Democratic conventions.

Current Milwaukee Mayor Cavalier Johnson (D) was elected the city’s first Black mayor in April 2022. After welcoming Biden to the city earlier this month, he has also celebrated the Republican debate and convention plans.

The presidential candidates who met the RNC’s slate of debate criteria — including polling and donor requirements, plus a candidate pledge — will get behind podiums at Fiserv Forum in Milwaukee for the event to be aired on Fox News at 9 p.m. EDT. 

Trump will be notably absent from the debate stage. He announced over the weekend that he won’t be participating despite calls from McDaniel and some of his fellow candidates to take part. 

Five minutes before the debate kicks off, a sit-down interview between Trump and former Fox News host Tucker Carlson is set to be released online.