There will not be a so-called “undercard” debate when the Republican presidential candidates meet three days ahead of the New Hampshire primary, according to CBS News.
Citing unnamed sourced, a reporter for CBS said on Twitter that there would be no undercard event at the GOP debate hosted by ABC News on Feb. 6. The New Hampshire primary takes place on Feb. 9.
Breaking: No undercard debate for upcoming ABC News GOP debate in New Hampshire, source tells CBS #FITN
— Jacqueline Alemany (@JaxAlemany) January 26, 2016
The undercard debates have served as a chance for the lower-polling candidates to be seen before the primetime debates, though by a smaller audience.
At the last GOP debate in North Charleston, S.C., there were three candidates at the undercard event: Mike Huckabee, Rick Santorum and Carly Fiorina. Rand Paul declined to attend the undercard debate in protest of being excluded from the primetime one.
On the main stage were Donald Trump, Jeb Bush, John Kasich, Chris Christie, Ted Cruz, Ben Carson and Marco Rubio.
The field will likely be split up the same way for the next debate, which takes place Thursday in Iowa, ahead of the state’s caucuses.
A spokesperson for ABC did not return a request for comment.
