The Iowa caucuses may still be months away, but it’s already crunch time for Republican presidential candidates (myself included).
Here’s the situation: To qualify for the first Republican primary debate next week, the Republican National Committee (RNC) is requiring each candidate to attract 40,000 individual donors and register at least one percent in the polls. Whether intended or not, the RNC’s new requirement has rigged the rules of the game by imposing artificial, arbitrary limits that favor billionaire or establishment-backed candidates. Ahead of the debate, the goal is to ironically limit debate, saddling political outsiders with burdensome rules.
Nevertheless, I am on track to make the debate, like some of my fellow candidates. Still, it is discouraging to see the RNC undermine so many qualified, passionate Republicans whose voices deserve to be heard on the national stage. There are plenty of Republicans not named Donald Trump who have new ideas for the Grand Old Party—and how to defeat Joe Biden in 2024.
What the lead-up to the first debate has shown is that voter engagement matters now more than ever before. Donor engagement is even more important in 2024 than in election cycles past. Given the RNC’s threshold of 40,000 donors per candidate, there is an unprecedented opportunity for even the lowest-dollar donors to determine the outcome of the Republican primaries. Even donors who only chip in $1 could have an outsized impact on Iowa, New Hampshire, and other primary states.
My message to donors is this: It’s time to step up. If you’re passionate about a specific candidate who isn’t necessarily a frontrunner, now is the time to show your support by chipping in, even if “chipping in” translates to a $1 donation (and it doesn’t have to be me). I call it “hitting the tip jar.”
For so long, the viability of a presidential candidate has been tied directly to the number of high-dollar donors that candidate keeps in their pocket. In recent years, super PACs affiliated with individual candidates—Republican and Democrat—have been known to attract single donations totaling tens of millions of dollars (see: Hillary Clinton in 2016).
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And, of course, high-dollar donations still matter. It takes money to win a presidential election, and wealthy donors naturally bring a larger checkbook. But, this election cycle, American voters of all income levels need to know that they have a unique opportunity to make a difference. By hitting the tip jar with even $1, Americans aren’t just supporting the candidates of their choosing; they are also standing up for free speech and the open exchange of ideas. The way I see it, the primary debate stage is better-off when there are more candidates to discuss the issues. Different candidates bring diverse backgrounds, experiences, and solutions to the many problems in Biden’s America.
Because of Biden’s failed presidency, America is in decline. There is an epidemic of fatherlessness, and today’s Democrats fail to acknowledge it, selling people the lie of “systemic racism” to escape accountability for turning black people into victims. With no role models, many black children are growing up to become violent criminals, wreaking havoc and ruining lives—including their own. According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, a Black male aged 10 to 43 is 13 times more likely to be murdered than a white man in the same demographic.
Making matters worse, urban education is a disaster, with black students trapped in failing government schools while Democrats oppose the school choice that actually improves educational outcomes. Shouldn’t we talk about that on the debate stage?
I, for one, will bring a different voice to the debate than Trump or Ron DeSantis. Unlike them, I have proposed making illegal immigration a felony at the state level. Determined to root out corruption and influence-peddling in Washington, D.C., I have advocated for the “Blind Spot” initiative, an executive order that would prevent family members of presidents and vice presidents from making money off of the White House, both when their family members are in office and five years after leaving office. And, to fight the “woke” district attorneys funded by George Soros, I have released model legislation that can hold soft-on-crime Democrats accountable to their constituents, protecting law-abiding citizens from violent criminals.
And that’s just me. There are other Republicans who would bring their own unique solutions to the debate stage, and they also deserve that platform. I agree with many, disagree with some, but ultimately look forward to a robust discussion with all of them about the future of America.
When the Joe Biden problem is this bad, Americans need all the solutions they can get. That’s how we save our country. That’s how we take down the Biden Democrats and enter a new American Golden Age.
And so, I repeat: Republican voters, it’s time to step up. Republican donors, now is the time to speak up and support your preferred candidate. Your voice will be heard, whether it’s by me or someone else.
Larry Elder is a Republican candidate for president of the United States in 2024. He is the author of “As Goes California: My Mission to Rescue the Golden State and Save the Nation.”
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