New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie and former Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee have been cut from the main GOP presidential debate set for Fox Business Network on Tuesday.
The pair have been relegated to the undercard debate earlier in the evening.
South Carolina Sen. Lindsey Graham and former New York Gov. George Pataki didn't even make the cut for the undercard debate.
Fox Business Network announced the participants on Thursday night, based on four recent polls: Fox News, The Wall Street Journal/NBC News, Quinnipiac University and Investors Business Daily.
Eight candidates made the main debate:
Businessman Donald Trump
Dr. Ben Carson
Florida Sen. Marco Rubio
Texas Sen. Ted Cruz
Former Florida Gov. Jeb Bush
Businesswoman Carly Fiorina
Ohio Gov. John Kasich
Kentucky Sen. Rand Paul
To make the cut candidates needed to average at least 2.5 percent in the four polls used.
Making the earlier undercard debate:
New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie
Former Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee
Former Sen. Rick Santorum
Louisiana Gov. Bobby Jindal
A showing of at least 1percent in one of the four polls was needed to make that debate.
Graham, Pataki and former Virginia Gov. Jim Gilmore did not make the cut even for the undercard debate. Gilmore has not been invited to any of the three previous debates.
The undercard debate will be held at 7 p.m. ET on Fox Business Network, followed by the main debate at 9 p.m.
Fox Business has promised the debate, moderated by Maria Bartiromo, Neil Cavuto, Trish Regan, and Sandra Smith, will focus on business and economy. That had been the plan for the recent CNBC debate, but candidates began complaining from the debate stage when the moderators veered into other areas, including personality issues.
As a result, RNC Chairman Reince Priebus canceled a scheduled NBC debate, and 11 campaigns met to work out a plan to negotiate with networks themselves.
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