WASHINGTON — Republican presidential candidates Larry Elder and Perry Johnson plan to sue the Republican National Committee after failing to qualify for Wednesday’s primary debate.
elder claimed in a post on Xthe platform formerly known as Twitter said its campaign had sent a debate qualification package to David Bossie, the RNC’s director of debates, before Monday – the deadline for the candidates.
But the commission informed his campaign afterwards that they would not accept pollster Rasmussen’s poll that he had used in the package to qualify.
“I said from the start it looked like the game rules had been manipulated, but we didn’t know how manipulated it was,” Elder wrote. “For some reason, the establishment leaders at the RNC are afraid to let my voice be heard in the debate.”
However, in a Fox News interview Friday, Elder said he had 2,000 donors short of the minimum threshold of 40,000 donors needed to qualify.
Johnson’s campaign also sent an email claiming that the committee rejected him because they did not accept certain polls.
“The corrupt and rigged RNC debate process has been a disaster from the start,” said Johnson. “Our campaign has met every benchmark put forward by the RNC and we have qualified for the debate. It is clear that the RNC knew from the start who they wanted on stage and who they wanted to keep off stage.”
USA TODAY has reached out to Johnson and Elder’s campaign for comment.
This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: GOP candidates plan to sue RNC after failing to qualify for debate
