CNN cancels New Hampshire debate after Nikki Haley says she’s out if Trump doesn’t participate

CNN canceled its New Hampshire debate scheduled for Sunday after former United Nations Ambassador Nikki Haley said she would only participate if former President Donald Trump did as well.

The network announced on Wednesday that it would not host the debate, one day after ABC News canceled its debate for Thursday. CNN instead plans to host a town hall with Haley on Thursday, following a similar town hall with Gov. Ron DeSantis (R-FL).

Trump has skipped every Republican presidential primary debate. He refused to sign the Republican National Committee pledge to support the GOP nominee, so he was ineligible for the committee-sanctioned debates. In December 2023, the RNC announced it would allow Republican candidates to participate in unsanctioned debates.

DeSantis, who finished second in the Iowa caucuses on Monday, is the only candidate who said he would debate. Haley, the third-place finisher in the Hawkeye State, said on Tuesday that she would not debate anymore unless Trump participated. 

“The next debate I do will either be with Donald Trump or with Joe Biden,” Haley said on X. “I look forward to it.”

Trump has long held his position as GOP front-runner, frequently stating his polling numbers show he does not need to debate — making it unlikely that he will take the stage against his fellow Republicans soon.

DeSantis has hit back at Haley, his prime competitor for second place in the GOP primary — particularly heading into the New Hampshire contest next week, where polling shows Haley just behind or neck-in-neck with Trump in terms of voter support.

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A survey from American Research Group released on Tuesday found that Trump and Haley were tied with 40% of support each from the state’s likely Republican primary voters. A Boston Globe/Suffolk University/NBC-10 Boston poll released on Wednesday showed Trump with 50% support while Haley came in second place with 34%.

Following the Iowa caucuses, Haley is looking to paint the nomination contest as a two-person race between her and Trump, noting that DeSantis has spent much of his campaign efforts on Iowa compared to the other states.

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