When is the Second Republican Debate and Will Donald Trump Attend?

On Wednesday, eight Republican candidates for the party's presidential nomination went head-to-head in the first primary debate of the 2024 election, hosted by Fox News in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. But one person was conspicuously absent.

Donald Trump confirmed ahead of the debate that he would not be attending, writing in a Truth social media post on Sunday that "the public knows who I am." The former president has argued that he did not need to participate given his commanding lead in the polls.

Instead, the audience heard from Florida Governor Ron DeSantis—Trump's main rival for the GOP nomination, who still trails way behind the frontrunner, according to the latest primary poll—as well as Trump's former vice president, Mike Pence, who is behind entrepreneur Vivek Ramaswamy in polling.

As well as DeSantis, Pence and Ramaswamy, South Carolina Senator Tim Scott and former U.N. ambassador Nikki Haley are likely to appear in the second debate. But will Trump?

The former president said on Sunday that he would "NOT BE DOING THE DEBATES." However it remains unclear if he was referring to those already scheduled, or every primary debate that could occur before the party picks its nominee. In either case, it seems unlikely he will make an appearance at the next one.

Newsweek approached the Trump campaign via email for comment on Wednesday.

Questions remain as to whether a debate audience will again hear from some of the race's other contenders, such as former New Jersey Governor Chris Christie and former Arkansas Governor Asa Hutchinson.

Politico reported at the start of August that the Republican National Committee was tightening the requirements candidates must meet to qualify for the second debate. They will need 50,000 unique donors instead of 40,000 and must be polling on at least 3 percent nationally, up from 1 percent for the first debate.

The second GOP primary debate will be held at the Ronald Reagan Presidential Library in Simi Valley, California, on September 27, and will be hosted by Fox Business. Jay Wallace, president of the network, described it as "an unparalleled opportunity to assess the candidates and their stances."

Pence—who has been keen to distance himself from Trump and could prove a key witness in the trial of the former president over the mishandling of classified documents—has already confirmed he has qualified for the second debate, which could tempt Trump to appear on stage.

"We never had any doubt, but I wanted to share the news with you first and directly that we have qualified for the 2nd Republican Presidential debate in September," the former vice president's campaign manager, Steve DeMaura, wrote in a message to donors, which was subsequently shared with The Hill.

Meanwhile, Trump has a date with a booking officer in Georgia today as he is expected to surrender himself for arrest over charges relating to his alleged involvement in a conspiracy to overturn the 2020 election results in the state. The former president denies any wrongdoing.