Republican debate: Start time, candidates, how to watch and stream on Fox News

Eight presidential candidates will crowd the stage Wednesday night for the first Republican debate of the 2024 election, but many viewers tuning in will be asking the same question: Where is former President Donald Trump?

Trump, the front-runner for the Republican nomination, has opted not to participate in the first debate, which will air on Fox News beginning at 9 p.m. Eastern. Instead, Trump will appear in a pre-recorded interview with ousted Fox News host Tucker Carlson expected to stream the same time the debate begins.

» READ MORE: Will Chris Christie live up to his own hype? And other things to watch for in the first GOP debate.

Trump’s dominance over the news cycle won’t end there. While Republican officials would like voters to be discussing the candidates, the former president is expected to surrender to authorities in Georgia on Thursday after being charged with conspiring to overturn the state’s 2020 election results. Fox News anchor Bret Baier, one of Wednesday’s moderators, thinks it’s a planned move by Trump to dominate the headlines the day after the debate.

“I think it is about sucking the oxygen out of the room for anybody who had a big night on Wednesday making the rounds on Thursday,” Baier said in an interview with radio host Hugh Hewitt. “It’s not a great counter-programming thing, but I do think it is calculated.”

All eyes Wednesday will be on Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis, who has run a distant second to Trump in recent polling. DeSantis has lost ground to Trump since February, and in the past month he’s replaced his campaign manager and more than a third of his campaign staff, according to recent reports.

Former New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie, who supported Trump during most of his first term before breaking with the former president over his election lies, will also participate in the debate. While Christie’s willingness to attack Trump has earned him a lot of press and numerous TV spots, it hasn’t translated much in the way of support. According to an average of recent polls by the statistical analysis website FiveThirtyEight, Christie is polling at just over 3%.

The Republican National Committee set a low bar of entry for the debate. Candidates had to secure 40,000 individual donations and rank above 1% in either three national polls or two national polls and a state poll. Candidates were also required to sign a pledge agreeing to support the eventual Republican nominee. Trump has refused to sign the pledge.

“Why would I sign it?” Trump said in an interview on Newsmax earlier this month. “I can name three or four people that I wouldn’t support for president. So right there, there’s a problem.”

Here’s everything you need to know to watch or stream the first Republican debate of the 2024 election cycle:

Wednesday’s Republican debate, the first of the 2024 election cycle, is scheduled to begin at 9 p.m. Eastern and end at 11 p.m. at the Fiserv Forum in Milwaukee, Wisc. It is hosted by Fox News, and will also air live on Fox Business.

The debate will stream live for free on FoxNews.com and Rumble, a conservative social media platform. It will also stream on Fox Nation, the subscription streaming platform run by Fox News.

Nine candidates qualified for tonight’s debate, including former President Donald Trump. While Trump made the decision to skip the proceedings, here are the eight candidates who will appear on the stage this evening, in alphabetical order:

Tonight’s debate will feature two moderators:

While eight of his challengers go at it Wednesday, a pre-recorded interview of Trump with former Fox New host Tucker Carlson is expected to stream on X, formerly known as Twitter. The interview will reportedly begin streaming at 9 p.m. Eastern, just as the Republican debate gets underway.

Carlson, who was abruptly fired by the network in April, has been streaming interviews on the social media platform as he and former White House adviser Neil Patel work to start a new digital media company.

Why is Trump skipping the debate in favor of an interview with Carlson? With such a lead in the polls, Trump has said it would be foolish to take part in a debate where he will presumably be the primary target. It’s also a chance to stick it to Fox News, which Trump has repeatedly attacked for what he claims was a lack of support before and after the 2020 election.

“He is doing what he does best, which is get absolutely everybody to talk about him,” NPR White House correspondent Tamara Keith said of Trump during a preview of the debate on PBS. “He’s making it extremely awkward for Fox, which is, of course, a feature, not a bug. It’s all part of what he does.”

We’re still several months away from the first votes being cast in the 2024 presidential election. Pennsylvania’s primary is April 23, while New Jersey Republicans won’t vote in the primary until June 4.

Super Tuesday, which includes primary elections in 15 states and features the largest number of Republican delegates up for grabs in a single day, will take place on March 5.

Here is a rundown of the early Republican contests:

It’s unclear how many debates the Republican National Committee have approved this cycle — so far, it has announced just two debates. In the 2016 election, where there wasn’t an incumbent, there were 12 Republican debates.

A second GOP debate is scheduled for Sept. 27 at the Regan Library in Semi Valley, Calif. That debate will be co-hosted by Fox Business, Univision, and the conservative social media platform Rumble.