Asa Hutchinson calls on Iowans to donate to his campaign so he makes the GOP debate stage

Republican presidential candidate Asa Hutchinson wants to be on stage at the Republican National Committee's first primary debate in August.

But first, he has to earn it.

Hutchinson — along with all the Republican candidates — must poll at 1% or higher in a certain number of polls and have a minimum of 40,000 unique donors, with at least 200 individual donors from 20 different states, according to a release from the RNC Friday.

The latest requirements set by the committee come amid a quickly expanding field of hopeful Republican nominees, with more announcements scheduled next week.

Hutchinson said he felt confident about reaching the 1% polling threshold but called on prospective voters to donate to his campaign during a Thursday town hall in his latest visit to Iowa ahead of U.S. Sen. Joni Ernst’s annual Roast and Ride.

"I want to be on the debate stage in August," the former Arkansas governor told a group of about 30 people who gathered at the Mid-States Companies office in Nevada, Iowa. "We'll get there but we do need your help. $1 counts. $5 counts."

The new criteria for the coming debate reflect a different approach from the GOP debate hosted by Fox in August 2015. That debate was split in two, with a prime-time debate for 10 candidates who scored the highest in an aggregate of polls and an earlier one for those who didn't make the top ten.

Republican candidates will also have to sign a loyalty pledge requiring contenders to support the eventual GOP presidential nominee if they want to join the 2024 debates, RNC chair Ronna McDaniel told CNN’s "State of the Union" in February.

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"The RNC is committed to putting on a fair, neutral, and transparent primary process and the qualifying criteria set forth will put our party and eventual nominee in the best position to take back the White House come November 2024," McDaniel stated in the release outlining the criteria for the first primary debate in Milwaukee on Aug. 23.

On Thursday, Hutchinson shared his dislike for the donation requirements, saying it put a priority on spending money instead of emphasizing a candidate's strengths.

"That's too high of a threshold. It's the duty of Iowa voters to whittle the field down and they do a good job of that," he told the Register. He declined to comment on the number of donations he has received so far.

Ray Dearin, of Ames, told the Register Tuesday night that while he's not sure 40,000 donations is fair, he agreed there needs to be a way to limit the number of candidates.

"I hope he makes it. I'm still not sure about the 40,000," Dearin said. But "you've got to set the limit somewhere."

Hutchinson spoke to attendees about his top priorities if he were to take office including reducing "excessive" federal spending, increasing energy production in the U.S., securing the southern border and protecting values such as families and "individual lives."

He also joked about the sudden popularity of the "non-Trump lane" — an opinion that there is a need for "different leadership" — a lane that he said walked alone for a long time.

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"It's not lonely anymore," he said, pointing to a number of Republicans poised to announce their presidential bid. "What does this tell you? It says that leaders of our party are saying … we need to have different leadership."

Virginia Barreda is the Des Moines city government reporter for the Register. She can be reached at vbarreda@dmreg.com. Follow her on Twitter at @vbarreda2.

This article originally appeared on Des Moines Register: Asa Hutchinson asks Iowans to donate to campaign to reach debate stage