Fox News released the names of Republican presidential candidates who will debate Thursday, Aug. 6, at 9 p.m. Donald Trump, Jeb Bush, Scott Walker, Mike Huckabee, Ben Carson, Ted Cruz, Marco Rubio, Rand Paul, Chris Christie, and John Kasich will all appear on the dais for the premiere event.
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Co-hosted by Facebook, it marks the beginning of an era of renewal for Republicans where each will have to define why they should represent the party, going toe-to-toe with party’s controversial yet popular front-runner, Trump. Texas Gov. Rick Perry and the six other major declared candidates–Rick Santorum, Bobby Jindal, Carly Fiorina, Lindsey Graham, George Pataki, and Jim Gilmore–will appear together during a lower-tier debate earlier Thursday evening.
The debate in Cleveland marks the beginning of a new stage in the Republican nominating contest, where candidates will likely sharpen their first contrasts with one another and the field’s front-runner, Trump. The debates–which gave new life to presidential candidates like Newt Gingrich in 2012–are now only open to the heavily splintered party’s favorites.
According to reports, to split the group of GOP contenders, Fox relied on national polling data to split the group of contenders.
Polls show that the top candidates to make the cut are expected to be Trump, former Florida Gov. Bush, and Wisconsin Gov. Walker.