Republican presidential candidate Carly Fiorina did not make the cut for Saturday's GOP debate in Manchester, N.H., leaving her as the only major candidate to be left off the stage.
Host network ABC announced the candidate line-up on Thursday, saying that it would extend invitations to the following candidates: Donald Trump, Sen. Ted Cruz, Sen. Marco Rubio, Ben Carson, former Gov. Jeb Bush, Gov. Chris Christie and Gov. John Kasich. After several candidates dropped from the race following poor performances in the Iowa caucuses this week, Fiorina is the only major candidate not invited.
Fiorina called the Republican National Committee in an open letter on Wednesday to intervene on her behalf, saying that the process is "broken" and that the media should not decide who gets on the stage. "Networks are making up these debate rules as they go along - not to be able to fit candidates on the stage - but arbitrarily to decide which candidates make for the best TV in their opinion," she wrote, Politico reported. "Now it is time for the RNC to act in the best interest of the Party that it represents."
Several prominent Republicans called on ABC to put Fiorina on the stage, including 2016 rival Ted Cruz , who told reporters Thursday, "I would encourage the organizers of the debate to put [Carly Fiorina] there. She deserves to be there," The Hill reported.
ABC will not hold an undercard debate, and candidates received an invitation for the main stage if they did one of the following: placed among the top three finishers in the Iowa caucuses, placed among the top six in an average of national polls, or placed among the top six in an average of New Hampshire polls, according to ABC News.
However, Fiorina finished seventh in Iowa. In recent polling, she is in seventh place in New Hampshire with 3.2 percent support, according to recent averages compiled by RealClear Politics. Nationally, she is in ninth place with 2.2 percent support and only ahead of Mike Huckabee and Rick Santorum, both of whom dropped from their 2016 bid this week after poor showings in Iowa.
