Francis Suarez was a defiant.
He told NBC News six days prior to the debate that he was confident he would make it on stage.
But he didn’t. Suarez is now reversing his belief , that candidates, such as himself, should withdraw from the race for GOP presidential nominations if they don’t qualify to debate.
Suarez, who was speaking with reporters 12 days prior to the debate at the Iowa State Fair, was asked about his opinion of the former New Jersey governor. Chris Christie’s assertion , that candidates who do not qualify for the debate are to drop out.
“I’ve always been in agreement with that.” Suarez told Des Moines that if you don’t meet minimum thresholds you shouldn’t try to take away time and volume from those who do.
Suarez has been lingering for a while now.
The Republican National Committee published its list of qualified candidates two days before the debate in Milwaukee. Suarez was not on the list. Suarez, who suggested that those who didn’t make it to the debate stage would have to withdraw from the race for nomination, is still running.
However, the campaign has been a complete blackout since he did not attend the debate.
Suarez is yet to hold a public event for his campaign since a swing through New Hampshire on Aug. 17. , his official campaign account , on X (formerly Twitter), hasn’t posted since Tuesday, when the lineup of the debate was announced.
His final post, a reaction to the RNC decision to not invite him to Milwaukee, explained where he got his false confidence that he would meet the polling threshold required to debate.
Suarez thought the RNC was going to count three polls where he had the required 1%. This led him to prematurely rejoice in a X video that has now been deleted. But only one of these polls was counted.
His final public statement concluded cryptically with: “I am looking forward to working together with my party to win back the White House, and restore a path to a better future for our nation.”
A spokesperson from the campaign did not respond to an inquiry for clarification about the status of the campaign.
Suarez’s super PAC ally, SOS America has also reduced its expenditures to a crawl. According to AdImpact, the super PAC’s ads cost more than $400,000.
It’s only spent $50,000 in seven days, and $5,000 of that was after the debate on Wednesday.
The criteria for next debate may shrink the stage. The RNC announced that candidates must reach a unique donor threshold of 50,000 and register at 3% either in two national surveys after August 1 or one national survey combined with polls from 2 different early voting states.
