The event will be moderated and aired on the Fox Business Channel.
On Monday, North Dakota Governor Doug Burgum reached the polling and financial thresholds required to qualify for the debate. So tonight, he will join Gov. Ron DeSantis (Florida), former Gov. Chris Christie (New Jersey), former United Nations ambassador and Gov. Nikki Haley (South Carolina), former Vice President Mike Pence, Senator Tim Scott (South Carolina), and entrepreneur Vivek Ramaswamy on the stage at the Reagan Presidential Foundation in Simi Valley, California.
Gary Bauer, chairman of the Campaign for Working Families, thinks they will all be wondering, Why am I doing this?
"They've not been able to bring Donald Trump down," he notes.
That, he thinks, is the aim of Chris Christie, who "knows he has no chance" of being president.
"He desperately wants to do what the entire liberal establishment's trying to do, which is slice and dice Trump so he cannot get another chance to make America great again," Bauer submits.
But he does not think some of the others share that goal "because they're hoping to be his vice-presidential running mate."
Still, Bauer believes the dollars going toward tonight's event would be better spent elsewhere.
"At this point, the Republican Party's wasting a lot of money on these debates that they could use to make an effort to ensure that the 2024 election is actually fair and the Democrats don't engage in more cheating," he suggests.
Since the GOP frontrunner, former President Donald Trump, will again be absent, this time opting to give a speech to union workers in Michigan, columnist Robert Knight advises the seven other candidates to focus on exposing America's internal enemy.
"When they talk about policies, and they do it in a technical manner, they're not touching hearts," he says. "People know something is deeply wrong with America right now and that absent a very vigorous resistance, the Left is going to destroy our country."
But in Knight's opinion, Trump is so far the only one who is giving that vibe.
"I thought DeSantis approached it last time around, and I think he has a great opportunity this time to be even more forceful about what we're up against," the columnist notes. "They have to bell the cat. They have to show America what the threat really is."
While he recognizes that the candidates all need to attract Independents and Democrats, Knight insists they must make it clear that "if you vote Democrat, you are voting for a Marxist revolution in this country."
