A week before the Republican primary in the US state of New Hampshire, the television stations ABC News and WMUR-TV canceled the sixth TV duel between the Republican presidential candidates – due to a lack of participants.
“Our intent was to host a debate following the Iowa caucuses,” the network said in a statement. “But we always knew that it would depend on the candidates and the outcome of the race.”
In the first Republican primary in Iowa on Monday, former US President Donald Trump achieved a clear victory. Second place in Iowa was taken by Florida Governor Ron DeSantis by a clear margin. Nikki Haley, a former US ambassador to the United Nations, came in a close third. The fourth-placed entrepreneur Vivek Ramaswamy dropped out of the race that night and threw his support behind Trump.
Another TV duel open
On Tuesday, Haley refused to take part in future TV duels without competitor Trump. He stayed away from the first five debates, arguing that he didn’t need to take part because of his high poll numbers.
A deadline set by ABC News and WMUR-TV passed without Haley or Trump confirming their presence at the debate scheduled for Thursday. There is actually supposed to be another duel on CNN on Sunday. It was initially unclear whether this would take place.
Anyone who wants to become the Republican candidate must first win internal party votes in the individual states. Everything currently indicates that Trump will prevail in the end and that there will be a new edition of the election campaign between him and the Democratic incumbent Joe Biden.
