Who are the presidential candidates in the first GOP primary debate?

Eight Republicans will take the debate stage in Milwaukee at the first Republican primary debate hosted by Fox News.

Here’s how to watch the debate.

The race to the 2024 election is officially in full swing as at least a dozen Republicans, including former President Donald Trump, have declared and launched their 2024 presidential campaigns.

The first hurdle many of these candidates had to overcome was to qualify for the Republican primary debate, hosted by Fox News and held in Milwaukee. The Republican National Committee on Monday announced which candidates met the qualifications based on polling, donor numbers and willingness to sign a pledge to back the eventual Republican nominee.

WATCH MORE: GOP strategist on how presidential contenders can break through on debate night

Who qualified for the first GOP primary debate?

Mike Pence

Pence is Trump’s former vice president and running mate. Before his vice presidency, he was governor of Indiana and a longtime congressman, as well as a radio personality. On Jan. 6, 2021,Trump said that Pence had the ability to change the outcome of the election. Pence has consistently denied that the vice president is constitutionally allowed to interfere with the certification of votes and rebuffed any pressure to do so. The events of that day widened the rift between the former president and vice president and have become central to Pence’s campaign ahead of 2024.

For more of the NewsHour’s coverage of Pence, click here.

Ron DeSantis

DeSantis is the current governor of Florida. Before that, he was a Florida congressman. Desantis has grabbed headlines in recent years because of his stances on COVID, his very public battle with Disney, and his push for anti-LGBTQ+ legislation and socially conservative ideals. Desantis benefited from an endorsement from Trump during his campaign to become governor of Florida, but is now Trump’s rival on the campaign trail.

For more of the NewsHour’s coverage of DeSantis, click here.

Nikki Haley

Haley was the former South Carolina governor. She was appointed by Trump to be the U.S. ambassador to the United Nations. Haley made history in 2010 as the first woman and first person of color elected governor in South Carolina. She has centered foreign policy issues in her campaign, drawing on her time at the United Nations. And while she resigned the Trump White House administration after Jan. 6, she has continued to have a congenial relationship with her former boss.

For more of the NewsHour’s coverage of Haley, click here.

Tim Scott

Scott is a South Carolina senator. He is a career politician who got started in local politics before becoming a congressman, and then in 2013 became a senator. Scott is the only Black Republican in the U.S. Senate, but he doesn’t center race in his campaign. He does, however, center his faith and uses Christian talking points on the campaign trail.

For more of the NewsHour’s coverage of Scott, click here.

Chris Christie

Christie is the former New Jersey governor. He previously was U.S. attorney for New Jersey and a Trump ally. Now, he is outwardly critical of the former president, particularly about his role on Jan. 6. Christie also ran in 2016 against Trump for the presidency. After he dropped out of the race, and despite attacks from Trump, he went on to endorse Trump’s campaign ahead of his presidential win. However, Trump’s 2020 election outcome denial eventually pushed Christie away from the outgoing president. “I got off the train when he stood up in the West Wing of the White House, behind the seal of the president, and told us the election was stolen, when he didn’t have one fact to back it up,” Christie said of his relationship with Trump.

For more of the NewsHour’s coverage of Christie, click here.

Vivek Ramaswamy

Ramaswamy is an entrepreneur from Cincinnati, OH, who graduated from Harvard University and has never held political office. He was the CEO of a biomedical company and has used millions of his own money to launch and fund his presidential run The son of Indian immigrants, Ramaswamy has consistently attacked the left on cultural issues. At 37 years old, he’s also hoping to be the youngest president in American history. Ramaswamy has said that Trump was a good president and has pledged to pardon him.

For more of the NewsHour’s coverage of Ramaswamy, click here.

Doug Burgum

Burgum is the governor of North Dakota. He’s a lifelong North Dakotan and tech entrepreneur who sold his company to Microsoft in 2011 for more than a billion dollars. Before running for, and winning, the 2016 election for North Dakota governor, he had never before held political office. North Dakota is one of the country’s top oil-producing states, but Burgum has called for a diversification of energy sources and production.

For more of the NewsHour’s coverage of Burgum, click here.

Asa Hutchinson

Huchinson is a former Arkansas governor who also served in the George W. Bush administration. Hutchinson was the last to make the debate stage cutoff by the RNC. He has been vocal in his criticism of both Trump and President Joe Biden.

For more of the NewsHour’s coverage of Hutchinson, click here.

What about Trump?

Trump has met the donor and polling thresholds to get onto the debate stage, but says he will not sign the pledge to back any other Republican nominee.

He says he plans to not only skip this debate, but all other upcoming primary debates. He has skipped debates in the past, including in 2016 and 2020. Ahead of this first GOP primary debate, Trump sat down for a taped interview with Tucker Carlson that will air on the same night as the debate.

As he eschews the debate stage, Trump is mired in legal troubles. The latest indictment from a Georgia grand jury charges Trump and members of his legal and campaign teams for conspiring to overturn the 2020 election in the state.

Earlier this year, Trump became the first former president to face criminal charges after an indictment in New York for hiding hush money payments during his 2016 campaign. Trump now faces a total of 91 felony charges across four prosecution efforts, including two federal cases.

What about the rest of them?

To learn more about the GOP candidates running for their party’s presidential nomination, watch PBS NewsHour’s coverage of each one here.