GOP candidate’s campaign on death watch after missing second debate

Former Arkansas Gov. Asa Hutchinson’s presidential campaign is on death watch after he failed to qualify for the second GOP debate Wednesday evening.

Hutchinson — who announced his candidacy for the Republican nomination in April, but has since floundered in a wide range of polls — is the sole candidate who qualified for the first Republican National Committee (RNC) debate last month to fail to qualify for the second debate. Days after the first RNC debate, Miami Mayor Francis Suarez, who failed to qualify, announced he would suspend his campaign for president. 

“I think we’ll have to see some candidates make hard choices before the third debate,” Alex Conant, a GOP strategist, told Politico in an interview Wednesday. 

“The third quarter filing deadline could be devastating for some candidates,” Conant said. “If you haven’t shown real growth in the third quarter and [don’t] have hard dollars to wage a competitive campaign at this point, I think you need to reassess the viability of your campaign.”

REPUBLICAN PRESIDENTIAL HOPEFULS TO DUKE IT OUT ONSTAGE IN REAGAN LIBRARY DEBATE

The second RNC debate is being held at the Ronald Reagan Presidential Library in Simi Valley, California, and will be televised on the FOX Business Network and UNIVISION from 9-11 p.m. EST on Wednesday.

To qualify for the debate, candidates were required to have at least 3% support in two national polls or 3% in one national poll as well as two polls from four of the early-voting states of Iowa, New Hampshire, Nevada and South Carolina. Candidates also needed to show they had at least 50,000 individual donors.

WHAT’S ON THE LINE FOR EACH OF THE GOP PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATES ON THE DEBATE STAGE

“You got to think of it as a bye week in the NFL. You don’t play every weekend. You don’t necessarily participate in every debate,” Hutchinson told reporters after he failed to qualify for the debate. “And so there’ll be another debate that will be coming up down the road. And I certainly hope to participate in that.”

He added that he would consider dropping out if he failed to qualify for the next debate in Miami in November. Hutchinson further explained that his campaign has set a goal of surpassing 4% in national polls by Thanksgiving.

Get the latest updates from the 2024 campaign trail, exclusive interviews and more at our Fox News Digital election hub.

“I understand that the RNC and the media are trying to reduce the number of candidates, but I measure success based on the response I receive in early primary states like Iowa and New Hampshire,” he said. “My goal is to increase my polling numbers to 4% in an early state before Thanksgiving. If that goal is met, then I remain competitive and in contention for either Caucus Day or Primary Day.”

Hutchinson’s average polling number is currently hovering at around 0.5% and he has failed to make up ground on any of the Republican front-runners.

On Tuesday, the RNC announced where the seven Republican candidates participating in the debate will stand on stage. Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis is set to stand center stage flanked by former South Carolina Gov. Nikki Haley, biotech entrepreneur Vivek Ramaswamy, former New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie, Sen. Tim Scott of South Carolina, North Dakota Gov Doug Burgum and former Vice President Mike Pence.

The RNC said in June that “qualified candidates will be placed on stage according to polling, with the highest polling candidate in the center.”

Hutchinson’s campaign didn’t immediately respond to a request for comment.

Fox News Digital reporter Paul Steinhauser contributed to this report.