After prominent Conservative media hosts critiqued the second GOP Primary Presidential debate as “inappropriate” and “boring,” NBC News announced that it will host the third debate on Nov. 8 in Miami, Florida.
The debate will be streamed on all NBC News platforms and the Republican National Committee (RNC) is partnering with Rumble to broadcast the debate, according to NBC News. The RNC chose Salem Radio Network and the Republican Jewish Coalition, a national organization that works to unite the Jewish community with Republican lawmakers, as the debate partners.
NBC News has a history of “producing substantive and thoughtful debates” and the network looks “forward to asking the questions that are on the minds of Republican voters,” Carrie Budoff Brown, NBC News’ senior vice president of politics, said.
The format of the debate as well as the moderators will be announced later, NBC reported.
Following the second GOP Presidential debate, Conservative personalities with major followings blasted the moderators’ questions as “offensively stupid” and baked in “liberal framing.”
The first two debates went to Fox News and Fox Business, while Young America’s Foundation (YAF), the Ronald Reagan Presidential Library and Univision were partners. The moderators of the second GOP debate were Univision anchor Ilia Calderón, Fox Business host Stuart Varney and Fox News host Dana Perino. Calderón was lambasted for failing to ask questions that matter to Republican voters, instead asking about racism and discrimination against LGBT people.
“This is not a general election. This is a primary. What audience was it helping serve? None. I mean, that was political malpractice,” a former party official previously told the Daily Caller when asked about the Univision partnership for the second GOP Presidential debate.
(From L) North Dakota Governor Doug Burgum, former Governor of New Jersey Chris Christie, former Governor from South Carolina and UN ambassador Nikki Haley, Florida Governor Ron DeSantis, entrepreneur Vivek Ramaswamy, US Senator from South Carolina Tim Scott and former US Vice President Mike Pence attend the second Republican presidential primary debate at the Ronald Reagan Presidential Library in Simi Valley, California, on September 27, 2023. (Photo by ROBYN BECK/AFP via Getty Images)
The vision for the next round of RNC debates was not mainstream media hosts or questions focused on liberal issues, but rather the chairman of its Temporary Committee on Presidential Debates David Bossie promised in a 2022 interview that the debates wouldn’t go to the “same old outlets” and would raise up “conservative media.” (RELATED: EXCLUSIVE: Trump Rips RNC, Says They Have To Stop Debates)
“Look I am just spitballing here because we have not done anything but wouldn’t the American people, the Republican primary voters want to see a debate where, I don’t know Mark Levin and Dan Bongino got to ask questions? Right? Wouldn’t that be interesting and entertaining all at the same time?” Bossie told Daily Caller editorial director and WMALDC radio host Vince Coglianese when asked if the debates would incorporate outlets such as Daily Wire, Breitbart or National Review.
Conservative outlets outside of the mainstream media have been frustrated with the direction of the debates and previously spoke to the Daily Caller about their conversations with the RNC about hosting a debate. Some were granted anonymity so they could speak candidly about their exchanges.
“At this point, we remain interested and would certainly entertain the idea if the RNC came to us and said we want you to co-sponsor a debate, but I feel like each passing day, my hopes get a little bit lower,” one outlet in talks with the RNC about hosting a debate told the Daily Caller.
A spokesperson for Newsmax, a conservative cable TV network and Fox News competitor, expressed aggravation with the RNC’s debate application process, noting that the standards have continuously changed making it harder for the outlet.
“We have been in discussions with the RNC about us hosting a debate, but it has been difficult because of the many unusual and changing demands they keep making on Newsmax,” a spokesperson for the station told the Daily Caller. “The RNC seems intent on ensuring that media hostile to President Trump are hosting.”