Carly Fiorina, who along with long-shot Republican presidential candidate Jim Gilmore is being kept off the stage in Saturday night's GOP debate, Friday accused ABC News and the Republican National Committee of rigging the rules to keep her voice from being heard.
"I have been saying all along in this election the game is rigged, and now you see it in plain day," the former Hewlett-Packard CEO told
MSNBC's "Morning Joe" program.
"The voters of Iowa voted, and in that vote I beat [Chris] Christie, I beat [John] Kasich, I tied [Jeb] Bush for delegates, yet I'm not on the stage and they are."
She also accused ABC News chief political correspondent George Stephanopoulos of being involved in the decision.
"This is George Stephanopoulos' network after all," she said. "So maybe George doesn't want to see Hillary Clinton ever have to debate. But it's a rigged deal. It's a back room deal and meanwhile, I think, the voters of New Hampshire believe that it's their job to pick presidents, vet candidates and win on the field so I'll keep talking for them."
On Thursday, ABC News announced that Texas Sen. Ted Cruz, Donald Trump, Florida Sen. Marco Rubio, and Ben Carson would join Christie, Kasich, and Bush on the debate stage.
Candidates were invited if they either placed among the first three finishers in the Iowa caucuses, placed among the top six in an average of national polls, or placed among the top six in an average of New Hampshire polls.
According to
The Des Moines Register, Cruz led all candidates with eight delegates, while Trump and Rubio each picked up seven delegates. Carson received three delegates, and Rand Paul, Mike Huckabee, Kasich, Bush, and Fiorina all got one delegate.
Fiorina is also polling at the bottom of an average of national polls, according to
Real Clear Politics, at 2.2 percent, and is near the bottom of the
New Hampshire poll with 3.2 percent. Gilmore is not listed in either of the poll averages.
On Friday, Fiorina insisted that the decision to leave her off the stage should frustrate the voters of Iowa who picked her and New Hampshire voters, because "ABC and the RNC are saying 'you can't make up your minds three days before the primary, we have to take somebody off the stage who's clearly a viable candidate.'"
But, she insisted that so many people have dropped out of the race, there should be room for on the stage.
"Ted Cruz and Ben Carson said I ought to be on the stage," she said. "The rest are silent. Maybe they're afraid to debate me, too."
Fiorina also accused "certain candidates" of "lobbying hard" with ABC and the RNC to keep her off the stage.
"I think they are afraid to debate. I don't know how they'll defeat Hillary Clinton if they can't even debate me," she complained. "Here's what I'm going to keep saying to the people of this nation, but in particular New Hampshire: The game is rigged. Power is being taken away from you day after day."
Sandy Fitzgerald ✉
Sandy Fitzgerald has more than three decades in journalism and serves as a general assignment writer for Newsmax covering news, media, and politics.
© 2025 Newsmax. All rights reserved.