--- title: Republican Debate: Carly Fiorina Fights to Get Invite description: Former Hewlett Packard CEO Carly Fiorina is launching a public lobbying effort to gain a spot in Saturday's Republican primary debate. canonical: https://time.com/4206670/republican-debate-carly-fiorina-invite/ author: Zeke Miller article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2016-02-03T20:33:56.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-08-19T07:46:36.727Z article:section: Politics og:title: Fiorina Fights to Get Invited to New Hampshire Debate og:description: She and Jim Gilmore might be the only candidates not invited. og:url: https://time.com/4206670/republican-debate-carly-fiorina-invite/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt7c8f33655f2ba3f1/69887c07f887dca2bee9471c/carly-fiorina.jpg?branch=production&width=594&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 594 og:image:height: 334 og:image:alt: Carly Fiorina, former chairman and chief executive officer of Hewlett-Packard Co. and 2016 Republican presidential candidate, speaks during the Republican presidential candidate debate at the Iowa Events Center in Des Moines, Iowa, U.S., on Thursday, Jan og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: Fiorina Fights to Get Invited to New Hampshire Debate twitter:description: She and Jim Gilmore might be the only candidates not invited. twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt7c8f33655f2ba3f1/69887c07f887dca2bee9471c/carly-fiorina.jpg?branch=production&width=594&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # Fiorina Fights to Get Invited to New Hampshire Debate > Sponsored content. 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It explains the politics, personalities and power dynamics behind the headlines, three times a week. #### 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. by [Zeke Miller](https://time.com/author/zeke-j-miller/) ## Zeke Miller Feb 3, 2016 8:33 PM UTC  Carly Fiorina, former chairman and chief executive officer of Hewlett-Packard Co. and 2016 Republican presidential candidate, speaks during the Republican presidential candidate debate at the Iowa Events Center in Des Moines, Iowa, U.S., on Thursday, Jan. 28, 2016. Carly Fiorina, former chairman and chief executive officer of Hewlett-Packard Co. and 2016 Republican presidential candidate, speaks during the Republican presidential candidate debate at the Iowa Events Center in Des Moines, Iowa, U.S., on Thursday, Jan. 28, 2016. Bloomberg—Bloomberg via Getty Images by [Zeke Miller](https://time.com/author/zeke-j-miller/) ## Zeke Miller Feb 3, 2016 8:33 PM UTC Former Hewlett Packard CEO Carly Fiorina is launching a public lobbying effort to gain a spot in Saturday’s Republican primary debate, a pivotal forum just hours before polls close in New Hampshire. On a conference call with donors, supporters, and the press, Fiorina, the only woman in the GOP field, argued that she shouldn’t be excluded from the debate stage. The debate, hosted by ABC and sanctioned by the Republican National Committee, will not feature an undercard contest. There are only three ways to make the stage: finish in the top three in Iowa, place in the top six in averages of national polls, on in averages of Granite State polls. Fiorina and former Virginia Gov. Jim Gilmore would be the only remaining candidates excluded under those criteria. On the call, Fiorina argued that she over-performed Ohio Gov. John Kasich and New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie in Iowa, and has more cash on hand than either of them, adding she is over-performing Ben Carson in Granite State polls. Fiorina added that she is “tied with Jeb Bush in delegate count”—at one delegate to the GOP convention—even though Bush spent tens of millions of dollars more on his campaign. She also [posted an open letter](https://medium.com/@CarlyFiorina/letter-to-the-rnc-regarding-debate-process-da7c64b7b5e3#.bo0fffpv8) on Medium. The public pressure tactic has worked for Fiorina before, causing CNN and the Republican National Committee to [adjust the rules for the September debate](http://time.com/4019451/cnn-republican-debate-carly-fiorina/) in Simi Valley, California, to allow Fiorina to participate on the main stage. As rivals [Rick Santorum](http://time.com/4206565/rick-santorum-drop-out-race-president/), [Mike Huckabee](http://time.com/4203702/iowa-caucuses-mike-huckabee-ends/) and [Rand Paul](http://time.com/4205874/rand-paul-ends-campaign/) made their way to the exit after their distant Iowa finishes, Fiorina maintained she was in it for the long haul. “We’re going all the way to Cleveland,” she said. ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/4206670/republican-debate-carly-fiorina-invite/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/4206670/republican-debate-carly-fiorina-invite/"},"headline":"Fiorina Fights to Get Invited to New Hampshire Debate","datePublished":"2016-02-03T20:33:56.000Z","dateModified":"2026-08-19T07:46:36.727Z","description":"Former Hewlett Packard CEO Carly Fiorina is launching a public lobbying effort to gain a spot in Saturday's Republican primary debate.","url":"https://time.com/4206670/republican-debate-carly-fiorina-invite/","keywords":["2016 Election","new hampshire","Carly Fiorina","Debates"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt7c8f33655f2ba3f1/69887c07f887dca2bee9471c/carly-fiorina.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Zeke Miller","jobTitle":null,"url":"https://time.com/author/zeke-j-miller/"}],"articleSection":"Politics","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt7c8f33655f2ba3f1/69887c07f887dca2bee9471c/carly-fiorina.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"Carly Fiorina, former chairman and chief executive officer of Hewlett-Packard Co. and 2016 Republican presidential candidate, speaks during the Republican presidential candidate debate at the Iowa Events Center in Des Moines, Iowa, U.S., on Thursday, Jan","caption":"Carly Fiorina, former chairman and chief executive officer of Hewlett-Packard Co. and 2016 Republican presidential candidate, speaks during the Republican presidential candidate debate at the Iowa Events Center in Des Moines, Iowa, U.S., on Thursday, Jan","creditText":"Bloomberg—Bloomberg via 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":"https://time.com/4206670/republican-debate-carly-fiorina-invite/","name":"Fiorina Fights to Get Invited to New Hampshire Debate"}}]}] ```