‘Maybe I Can Slide In There’: Longshot GOP Candidate Larry Elder Suggests He Could Replace Injured Doug Burgum on Debate Stage
One candidate’s hospital visit is another’s good fortune, it seems. Or at least that’s what longshot Republican presidential candidate Larry Elder is counting on.
After participation by North Dakota Governor Doug Burgum at Wednesday night’s GOP primary debate was briefly thrown into question by a pick-up basketball injury, Elder suggested he might simply replace Burgum on stage, even though he failed to meet all of the requirements for earning a spot.
“Well, it looks like there’s another podium available, so maybe I can slide in there,” said Elder after being asked about Burgum’s injury on Wednesday morning.
Elder also said that he will be filing a Federal Election Commission complaint against the Republican National Committee on Wednesday afternoon if he is not allowed on stage.
It has since been reported that Burgum is planning on participating in spite of his injury.
The RNC is not allowing Elder to participate because it says that one of the polls is campaign is pointing toward to argue he qualified for it is not eligible because it was paid for by the Trump campaign.
According to Semafor’s Dave Weigel, Elder’s argument is that while the “RNC told him that Rasmussen didn’t count [because] it was paid for by Trump campaign,” it wasn’t really. “Enforce the Law PAC paid for it, and Enforce the Law’s Eric Branstad used to work for Trump PAC/admin but no longer,” explained Weigel in a summary of Elder’s case.
Elder had previously announced that he would pursue legal action against the RNC on Tuesday.
“I intend to sue the RNC to halt Wednesday’s presidential debate,” said Elder in a statement released on X. “I said from the beginning that it appeared the rules of the game were rigged, little did we know just how rigged it is. For some reason, the establishment leaders at the RNC are afraid of having my voice on the debate stage.”
8 candidates, including Burgum, Ron DeSantis, Vivek Ramaswamy, Nikki Haley, Tim Scott, Mike Pence, Chris Christie, and Asa Hutchinson will participate in the debate on Wednesday.
