CNN will host two GOP debates in Iowa and New Hampshire

CNN will hold two Republican presidential debates next month in Iowa and New Hampshire in the days leading up to those states’ nominating contests, the network said Thursday.

The announcement, made a day after the fourth debate this year, comes as the Republican National Committee considers whether it should relax its rules and allow candidates to participate in debates it does not sponsor.

The committee approved four debates this year, steadily raising the minimum thresholds for participation and pushing out candidates with lower voting numbers.

The current Republican frontrunner, former President Donald J. Trump, was not present at any of the debates. His campaign did not immediately respond when asked whether he would participate in the CNN events.

The Republican Party had suggested it would hold forums in both Iowa and New Hampshire in January, but several people involved in the process said those debates may no longer be sponsored by the party.

A spokesman for the Republican National Committee, Keith Schipper, said on social media that the committee had not approved the CNN debates.

Almost immediately on Thursday, Florida Governor Ron DeSantis, who has staked the success of his campaign on a strong showing in Iowa, said: said he would participate in the debate there.

That meeting will take place on January 10 at Drake University in Des Moines, five days before the Iowa caucuses. The network will only allow candidates to participate if they receive at least 10 percent in three separate national or Iowa polls, with at least one poll of likely Republican caucus-goers from Iowa.

The second debate is scheduled for January 21 at St. Anselm College in Goffstown, NH, two days before the New Hampshire primary. The top three finishers in Iowa will be invited to participate. Otherwise, the criteria are similar to the Iowa debate.