More than 200 elected officials, Republican and conservative activists, and business leaders have signed a letter to CNN president Jeff Zucker requesting the cable network award Carly Fiorina a spot in the upcoming Republican presidential primary debate. Fiorina campaign staff posted the letter on Medium, with a note saying the campaign is “so grateful for their support.”
Read the contents of the letter below:
Carly Fiorina is a top tier candidate in this race. She won the last debate and has been in the top 10 in every poll released this month. To ensure a fair and representative process, your network should seat her alongside the other candidates polling in the top 10. A transparent effort by your network to benefit candidates from and of the political establishment will not be acceptable to conservative grassroots voters. We are the audience for this debate, and we will not tolerate a TV network inappropriately influencing our primary process.
We also call on the Republican National Committee (RNC) to encourage CNN to adjust its debate criteria. Make no mistake, the RNC — which decided how many GOP primary debates there would be and who would host them — holds considerable influence over this process. Its continued silence is tantamount to turning its back on Republican voters who overwhelmingly want to see Carly on the debate stage. Carly Fiorina has already proven that she deserves to be on the main debate stage. It’s time for CNN and the RNC to recognize it as well.
Fiorina has broken into the top 10 in several national and early state polls since her well-received performance in the August 6 Fox News “undercard” debate. But under CNN’s current debate criteria, her lower rankings in polls from as far back as May are likely to keep her out of the main debate on September 16.
Update: CNN reports the network is changing its debate criteria:
The cause: a lack of national public polling following the August 6 debate has so far provided only three new polls to determine the lineup for the Reagan Presidential Debate, according to a CNN statement.
As a result, CNN reevaluated its criteria and decided to add a provision that better reflects the state of the race since the first Republican presidential debate in August, the network announced Tuesday.
Now, any candidate who ranks in the top 10 in polling between August 6 and September 10 will be included.
