Ramaswamy clinches donor threshold for first GOP debate: campaign 

Republican presidential candidate Vivek Ramaswamy has cleared the donor threshold necessary to qualify for the first GOP debate, his campaign confirmed on Friday.

Tricia McLaughlin, a senior adviser on Ramaswamy’s campaign, confirmed to The Hill that Ramaswamy had reached 65,000 unique donors — well over the required minimum of 40,000 donors.

The criteria, announced by the Republican National Committee (RNC) in June, also requires candidates to be at a polling minimum of 1 percent in at least three national polls, or at 1 percent in two national polls and one state poll from two of the early primary or caucus states: Iowa, New Hampshire, Nevada and South Carolina.

The fundraising milestone for Ramaswamy comes amid a small surge in momentum.

The entrepreneur currently sits in third place in national contests for the GOP primary, according to the latest polling average from FiveThirtyEight. At 6.8 percent support, Ramaswamy’s average support is up more than four points in the last month, and above the RNC’s threshold.

Ramaswamy on Friday took a swipe at the current GOP frontrunner for the party’s nomination, former President Donald Trump — a tactic he has largely avoided.

The candidate claimed Trump may be too polarizing to advance the party’s agenda while at a steakhouse town hall in Cedar Rapids, Iowa, according to NBC News.

“Here’s a reality about my friend, Donald Trump,” Ramaswamy said. “I respect what he did, but it’s just a fact, it’s not even his fault — 30 percent of this country becomes psychiatrically ill when he’s in the White House.”

Despite the criticism, Ramaswamy is one of many candidates that has stuck behind the former president amid his legal woes, even calling a potential indictment over the Jan. 6, 2021 riot on the Capitol a “bad idea.”

But his rise in the polls may suggest a change in strategy for his campaign.

The first GOP debate is set for Aug. 23 in Milwaukee, and will be moderated by Fox News.

The Hill’s Caroline Vakil contributed to this report.