Chris Christie, Mike Huckabee bumped down to Fox Business undercard debate

Gov. Chris Christie and Sen. Rand Paul.
(Image credit: Justin Sullivan/Getty Images)

Just eight Republican presidential candidates have qualified for next Tuesday's primetime debate, host Fox Business Network announced Thursday night, and two didn't even cut it for the undercard debate.

New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie and Mike Huckabee have dropped down from the main event to the undercard debate, while former New York Gov. George Pataki and South Carolina Sen. Lindsey Graham won't appear at all, The Associated Press reports. The Fox Business Network decided that in order to be featured on the primetime stage, a candidate had to average at least 2.5 percent or higher in the four most recent major polls conducted through Wednesday. To appear at the undercard debate, the threshold was lowered to 1 percent.

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Catherine Garcia, The Week US

Catherine Garcia has worked as a senior writer at The Week since 2014. Her writing and reporting have appeared in Entertainment Weekly, The New York Times, Wirecutter, NBC News and "The Book of Jezebel," among others. She's a graduate of the University of Redlands and the Columbia University Graduate School of Journalism.