COLUMBIA, S.C. (NEWSnet/AP) — Former Vice President Mike Pence announced Tuesday he has qualified for the first Republican debate of the 2024 presidential cycle, securing the required number of donors before the Aug. 23 event.

Pence has amassed 40,000 unique donors, according to his campaign, checking off the final requirement set by the Republican National Committee that he had not yet met.

Pence had long ago met the RNC's polling requirements for the Aug. 23 debate in Milwaukee — at least 1% in three high-quality national polls or a mix of national and early-state polls, between July 1 and Aug. 21 — but struggled to meet the mandated number of donors.

Fundraising appeals intensified as the possibility loomed that he might not make the stage.

Last week, Pence got a boost in the form of a newly unsealed federal indictment outlining criminal charges against Donald Trump in connection with the former president's efforts to overturn the 2020 election. Revealing Pence’s central role to the case, the indictment was informed, in part, by notes that the then-vice president kept of his conversations with Trump in the days leading up to the Jan. 6 attack on the U.S. Capitol.

With a notable change in tone for a usually cautious candidate, Pence is now criticizing Trump more aggressively.

Pence becomes the eighth person to announce qualification for the first debate.

In the meantime, Trump has questioned why he should debate his rivals and floated the idea of holding a competing event of his own instead.

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