On Friday, Vivek Ramaswamy's campaign said the GOP presidential hopeful has clinched enough donor support to qualify for the first primary debate in August.
Ramaswamy's senior campaign adviser, Tricia McLaughlin, told The Hill that the candidate has amassed 65,000 unique donors, clearing the Republican National Committee's campaign hurdle of 40,000 to qualify for the Republican presidential debates.
According to FiveThirtyEight's mean polling average, Ramaswamy is the third most popular GOP candidate and is currently polling at 6.8%, which clears the RNC's criteria hurdle of polling at 1% in two national polls to qualify for debates. In the past month, Ramaswamy's support surged by more than four points.
On Friday, the entrepreneur took a dig at former President Donald Trump.
According to NBC News, during a town hall event at a steakhouse in Cedar Rapids, Iowa, the candidate expressed concerns that Trump may be too polarizing for the party.
"Here's a reality about my friend, Donald Trump," Ramaswamy said. "I respect what he did, but it's just a fact; it's not even his fault — 30% of this country becomes psychiatrically ill when he's in the White House."
Despite the criticism, Ramaswamy has been one of Trump's staunchest defenders among GOP candidates. In June, the candidate announced he would pardon the former president if he were to be convicted on any of the charges against him.
The first GOP debate, slated for Milwaukee on Aug. 23, will be moderated by Fox News.
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