--- title: Republican Debate: CNN Announces Criteria for GOP Debate description: The debate will be held on Dec. 15 canonical: https://time.com/4122419/cnn-republican-debate-criteria-december-2015/ author: Victor Luckerson article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2015-11-20T17:28:59.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-08-04T07:57:05.572Z article:section: Politics og:title: CNN Announces Criteria for Next Republican Debate og:description: The debate will be held on Dec. 15 og:url: https://time.com/4122419/cnn-republican-debate-criteria-december-2015/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt4bbde2029885474c/6988722d8e060159dc4636f5/gettyimages-496586918-1.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 4746 og:image:height: 2670 og:image:alt: &lt;&gt; on November 10, 2015 in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: CNN Announces Criteria for Next Republican Debate twitter:description: The debate will be held on Dec. 15 twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt4bbde2029885474c/6988722d8e060159dc4636f5/gettyimages-496586918-1.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # CNN Announces Criteria for Next Republican Debate > Sponsored content. 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Brief is TIME's Washington newsletter, written by senior correspondent Philip Elliott. It explains the politics, personalities and power dynamics behind the headlines, three times a week. It reaches 85,000 subscribers with a 37.0% open rate as of August 2026. #### Where can I get analysis of Washington politics by email? D.C. Brief is TIME's free Washington politics newsletter, available at time.com/newsletters. It is written by a TIME senior correspondent who covers the capital full time. #### Who writes TIME's D.C. Brief? Philip Elliott, a senior correspondent at TIME, writes D.C. Brief. #### Is D.C. Brief free? Yes. D.C. Brief is free at time.com/newsletters. ## Video: Watch the Republican Debate In Less than 3 Minutes [Watch (HLS stream): Watch the Republican Debate In Less than 3 Minutes](https://cdn.jwplayer.com/manifests/FZG84mwx.m3u8) (2:44)  _Published 2015-09-17. Watch the top 11 Republican candidates face off during the second GOP debate._ by [Victor Luckerson](https://time.com/author/victor-luckerson/) ## Victor Luckerson Nov 20, 2015 5:28 PM UTC  Presidential candidates Ohio Governor John Kasich (L-R), speaks while Jeb Bush, Sen. Marco Rubio (R-FL), Donald Trump, Ben Carson, and Ted Cruz (R-TX) take part in the Republican Presidential Debate sponsored by Fox Business and the Wall Street Journal at the Milwaukee Theatre November 10, 2015 in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. Presidential candidates Ohio Governor John Kasich (L-R), speaks while Jeb Bush, Sen. Marco Rubio (R-FL), Donald Trump, Ben Carson, and Ted Cruz (R-TX) take part in the Republican Presidential Debate sponsored by Fox Business and the Wall Street Journal at the Milwaukee Theatre November 10, 2015 in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. Scott Olson—Getty Images by [Victor Luckerson](https://time.com/author/victor-luckerson/) ## Victor Luckerson Nov 20, 2015 5:28 PM UTC CNN has announced the [new debate criteria](http://www.cnn.com/2015/11/20/politics/republican-presidential-debate-criteria-announced/index.html) for the network’s Dec. 15 Republican debate. The new criteria would currently leave nine candidates on the main stage, with any candidate who polls either at 3.5% nationally, 4% in Iowa or 4% in New Hampshire on average between Oct. 29 and Dec. 13 eligible to participate. CNN will average polling results from a variety of sources to determine each candidate’s popularity. As of Friday, those rules would put the following candidates in the debate, according to CNN: Donald Trump, Dr. Ben Carson, Florida Sen. Marco Rubio, Texas Sen. Ted Cruz, former Florida Gov. Jeb Bush, Ohio Gov. John Kasich, Kentucky Sen. Rand Paul, Carly Fiorina and New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie. An undercard debate for candidates who don’t meet the criteria for the main stage will also be hosted by CNN, Facebook and Salem Media. The December debate will be held at The Venetian hotel in Las Vegas, and will be moderated by CNN news anchor Wolf Blitzer, with CNN correspondent Dana Bash and talk radio host Hugh Hewitt serving as questioners. \[[CNN](http://www.cnn.com/2015/11/20/politics/republican-presidential-debate-criteria-announced/index.html)\] ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/4122419/cnn-republican-debate-criteria-december-2015/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/4122419/cnn-republican-debate-criteria-december-2015/"},"headline":"CNN Announces Criteria for Next Republican Debate","datePublished":"2015-11-20T17:28:59.000Z","dateModified":"2026-08-04T07:57:05.572Z","description":"The debate will be held on Dec. 15","url":"https://time.com/4122419/cnn-republican-debate-criteria-december-2015/","keywords":["Debates","republicans","CNN","2016","Election 2016","presidential election","GOP Debate"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt4bbde2029885474c/6988722d8e060159dc4636f5/gettyimages-496586918-1.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Victor Luckerson","jobTitle":null,"url":"https://time.com/author/victor-luckerson/"}],"articleSection":"Politics","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt4bbde2029885474c/6988722d8e060159dc4636f5/gettyimages-496586918-1.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"<> on November 10, 2015 in Milwaukee, Wisconsin.","caption":"<> on November 10, 2015 in Milwaukee, Wisconsin.","creditText":"Scott Olson—Getty Images","representativeOfPage":true}],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/section/politics/","name":"Politics"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"/tag/debates/","name":"Debates"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":3,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/4122419/cnn-republican-debate-criteria-december-2015/","name":"CNN Announces Criteria for Next Republican Debate"}}]},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"VideoObject","name":"Watch the Republican Debate In Less than 3 Minutes","description":"Watch the top 11 Republican candidates face off during the second GOP debate.","thumbnailUrl":"https://cdn.jwplayer.com/v2/media/FZG84mwx/poster.jpg?width=720","uploadDate":"2015-09-17T04:16:23.000Z","contentUrl":"https://cdn.jwplayer.com/manifests/FZG84mwx.m3u8","embedUrl":"https://time.com/4122419/cnn-republican-debate-criteria-december-2015/","duration":"PT2M44S","potentialAction":{"@type":"SeekToAction","target":"https://time.com/4122419/cnn-republican-debate-criteria-december-2015/?jw_start={seek_to_second_number}","startOffset-input":"required name=seek_to_second_number"}}] ```