Who’s going to the first Republican debate?

Whether or not former President Donald Trump attends the first Republican debate, Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis said he’ll be there. Meanwhile, other GOP candidates are still working to meet the Republican National Committee’s debate requirements.

Trump has said he might not go to the debate, which is scheduled for Aug. 23 in Milwaukee and will be hosted by Fox News. Trump has a commanding lead in early national polls, and he called Fox News “hostile” in an interview with Reuters and said he didn’t see the point in going when he was so far ahead of the rest of the field. He said he was considering hosting a separate event the same day or time as the debate.

DeSantis said he’ll be in Milwaukee for the debate “regardless.”

“I hope everybody who is eligible comes,” DeSantis told Fox News last week. “I think it’s an important part of the process, and I look forward to being able to be on the stage and introducing our candidacy and our vision and our leadership to a wide audience.”

Republican presidential hopefuls have to meet two qualifications to make it to the debate stage next month: 1) raise money from 40,000 donors, with at least 200 of those donors coming from at least 20 states; and, 2) poll at 1% or more in any of three national polls or a combination of national and early-state polls between July 1 and Aug. 21.

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So far, just Trump, DeSantis, Sen. Tim Scott of South Carolina, former South Carolina Gov. Nikki Haley and entrepreneur Vivek Ramaswamy have said they’ve qualified, according to The Associated Press. Former Vice President Mike Pence’s campaign told the AP it hasn’t met the debate requirements yet because Pence announced his campaign about one month ago, but they’re confident they’ll make the cut.

DeSantis was seen as Trump’s most competitive challenger, but he’s polling in a distant second and hasn’t closed the gap with Trump since announcing his campaign, despite Trump facing criminal charges and ongoing investigations. DeSantis still maintains a significant lead over the rest of the field, however, and other candidates have yet to break out from the pack.

National polling averages from FiveThirtyEight Tuesday show Trump leading with 52% support, followed by DeSantis with about 21%, and former Vice President Mike Pence at about 7%.

DeSantis was asked about his campaign stagnating in national polls during a recent interview with Fox News, and he said he was being attacked by the media and others who don’t want him to be president.

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“I think if you look at the people like the corporate media, who are they going after? Who do they not want to be the nominee? They’re going after me,” he said. “Who is the president of Mexico attacking because he knows we will be strong on the border, to hold him accountable and the cartels? He is going after me. So, I think if you look at all these people that are responsible for a lot of the ills in our society, they are targeting me as the person they don’t want to see as the candidate.”

DeSantis added that he was “running to win in January and February, I’m not running to juice polling now” and “we have a lot more to do.”