Chris Christie and Tim Scott announce they’ve reached donor threshold to make GOP debate stage

By Veronica Stracqualursi, CNN

(CNN) — Former New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie and the campaign of South Carolina Sen. Tim Scott both said Wednesday they’ve reached the number of individual donors that the Republican National Committee is requiring candidates to have in order to make the GOP debate stage in August.

“I am glad to be able to tell people tonight, Anderson, that last night we went past 40,000 unique donors in just 35 days,” Christie told CNN’s Anderson Cooper on “AC360.”

His announcement comes the same day Scott’s team announced he’s also met the threshold, having received contributions from 53,000 unique donors across all 50 states.

Under the RNC’s requirements, candidates need a minimum of 40,000 individual donors to their principal campaign committee – with at least 200 donors per state or territory in 20 or more states and/or territories.

Former President Donald Trump, Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis, former United Nations ambassador Nikki Haley, and entrepreneur Vivek Ramaswamy have said they’ve reached 40,000 individual donors. So far, it’s unclear whether other candidates – including former Vice President Mike Pence and former Arkansas Gov. Asa Hutchinson – have met the donor threshold.

Scott raised $6.1 million during the second fundraising quarter of the year, his campaign announced, the vast majority of which it said was raised in the six-week period since he announced his candidacy in May. That haul puts him behind the totals announced by some of his rivals, including DeSantis and Haley. But his team said Scott, a prolific fundraiser in his Senate campaigns, entered July with more than $21 million in cash reserves as the battle for the GOP nomination heats up.

Trump’s joint fundraising committee – which is split between his official campaign and a political action committee – raised more than $35 million in the second quarter, a campaign official told CNN last week. But the official did not answer questions about how much of the haul was directed to the campaign versus the PAC, which has been used to pay Trump’s legal fees.

Candidates have until Saturday to file reports with the Federal Election Commission that detail their fundraising and spending during the April-to-June fundraising quarter.

To make the debate stage, candidates also need to hit 1% in three recognized national polls or a combination of two national qualifying polls and polls from two separate early voting states.

Another requirement that has drawn some criticism from the candidates is the so-called loyalty pledge in which a candidate must agree to support the eventual GOP nominee.

Christie, a former Trump ally who launched his presidential bid in June, has been sharply attacking Trump and on Wednesday reiterated that he thinks the pledge is a “dumb idea” and will “take it every bit as seriously as Donald Trump took it in 2016.”

The first Republican primary debate is scheduled for August 23 in Milwaukee.

This story has been updated with additional information.

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CNN’s Fredreka Schouten contributed to this report.