Republican presidential candidate and conservative radio host Larry Elder believes that he will qualify for the first Republican debate. 

Elder said as much during an interview that he did on the Fox News Channel on Friday.

"I’m this close to doing it," Elder said.

He added, "I expect to be there. There is no plan B. Plan B is to make plan A work."

Who's made the stage?

The first Republican presidential primary debate is scheduled to take place on Wednesday, Aug. 23, 2023. It will take place in Wisconsin.

The Republican National Committee (RNC) has put forth criteria that each Republican candidate must have in order to participate in the debate.

ABC News reports:

To qualify for the Aug. 23 debate, candidates need to satisfy polling and donor requirements set by the Republican National Committee: at least 1% in three high-quality national polls or a mix of national and early-state polls, between July 1 and Aug. 21, and a minimum of 40,000 donors, with 200 in 20 or more states.

At the time of this writing - which is Aug. 20, 2023 - nine Republican presidential candidates have qualified for the debate.

According to the Washington Examiner, these nine candidates are former President Donald Trump, Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis (R), U.S. Sen. Tim Scott (R-SC), former New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie (R), former Vice President Mike Pence, entrepreneur Vivek Ramaswamy, North Dakota Gov. Doug Burgum (R), Miami Mayor Francis Suarez, and former United Nations Ambassador Nikki Haley.

Only three days left

Thus far, Elder has not made the debate stage. The Hill reports that Elder "has one qualifying national and one state poll and is just 2,000 donors shy of the mark."

We'll have to see if he could manage to meet the requirements within the next couple of days.

The reality is that, regardless of whether or not Elder qualifies for the first debate, it is highly unlike that Elder has any shot at becoming president during the upcoming election cycle - at least according to polling.

So, why is Elder still in the running? Elder says that it is to raise awareness about certain issues that he is passionate about, such as exposing the Democrats' lie that America is systemically racist.

"Even if I’m not your guy, even if I’m not the nominee, if I can get the party and the Democrats and the media to begin talking about these kinds of things, then I would have done my job for my party and more importantly I would have done my job for my country," Elder said.