Republican loyalty pledge: RNC chair says 2024 GOP candidates must sign pledge to participate in debates

Any Republican who wants to run for president in 2024 will have to sign a loyalty pledge if they want to join the 2024 debates, Republican National Committee chair Ronna McDaniel told CNN’s "State of the Union" on Sunday. The pledge would require candidates to support the eventual GOP presidential nominee.

Discussing the qualification criteria for the first Republican presidential debate in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, McDaniel said the rules aren’t set in stone yet, but she expects the pledge will be included.

“I think it’s kind of a no-brainer, right?” McDaniel said of the pledge. “If you’re gonna be on the Republican National Committee debate stage asking voters to support you, you should say ‘I’m gonna support the voters and who they choose as the nominee.’”

McDaniel: 'Trump would like to be on the debate stage'

Former President Donald Trump, who is seen as one of the frontrunners in the race, declined to say if he would support the nominee, telling a conservative radio host in early February that “it would depend” who the nominee was.

In 2015, Trump signed a similar pledge, albeit without the tie-in for debate participation like the pledge has for this election cycle. Later on in the 2016 election, he walked back on the pledge, also saying he would only support the nominee depending on who it was.

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McDaniel brushed off Trump’s past, saying she “thinks they’re all going to sign it,” including Trump.

“I think President Trump would like to be on the debate stage. That’s what he likes to do,” McDaniel said.

Other potential GOP candidates for 2024 have also expressed skepticism on pledging their loyalty to the eventual nominee. Former Arkansas Gov. Asa Hutchinson told the Washington Post that the Jan. 6, 2021, attack on the U.S. Capitol disqualified Trump from being “the right direction for the country” and that he would have problems with signing a pledge with Trump in mind.

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But McDaniel called for party unity, saying she still expects candidates to support the eventual nominee.

“We have to come together as a party.” McDaniel said, pointing at the GOP’s underperformance in the 2022 midterm elections. “We saw big races lost this cycle because of Republicans refusing to support other Republicans and unless we fix this in our party, unless we start coming together, we will not win in 2024.”

Several potential GOP candidates could still join the race 

Other high-profile Republicans are expected to join the race.

As of now, Trump and former South Carolina Gov. Nikki Haley are the only big-name candidates officially running, but Hutchinson and other figures are starting to make the rounds around the country, putting feelers out on potential campaigns.

Sen. Tim Scott, R-S.C., who just finished a trip to Iowa, a key early state on the Republican nominating calendar, told “Fox News Sunday” he is focused “on the mission of making sure that every single American believes that the American dream is achievable for them,” echoing his recent speeches in Iowa, where he described his early life growing up poor and as a child of segregation.

Also in the Hawkeye State was Haley, who hosted town-hall style events where she told GOP voters who might be considering Trump to “look forward.”

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“It’s time for a new direction,” Haley said on Fox News “Sunday Morning Futures,” after her trip to Iowa. “I think we need to leave the status quo of the past.”

And Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis, who has yet to formally announce a presidential campaign, visited New York, Philadelphia and Chicago on Monday on a tour aimed at framing himself as a GOP candidate of law and order.

Asked whether she had any concern of the GOP field possibly being too crowded and disrupting party unity, McDaniel instead lauded the competition.

“I think it speaks about the deep bench we have.” McDaniel said. “I mean we have so many great governors, senators, congressional members, business leaders, a former president. We have such a great bench of candidates.”