Benzinga - by Chris Katje, Benzinga Staff Writer.
A fourth debate among Republican candidates for president will take place Wednesday night, with less than one year to go before the 2024 presidential election.
Here's a look back at the last three Republican primary debates, who will be taking part in the fourth event and more.
How to Watch Fourth Republican Primary Debate: The fourth Republican primary debate will take place Wednesday, Dec. 6 from 8 p.m. ET to 10 p.m. ET, which comes less than a month after a third debate took place in Florida.
The debate will air live on NewsNation, which is owned by Nexstar Media Group (NASDAQ:NXST), and will be aired live in certain parts of the country on The CW.
Streaming company Rumble Inc (NASDAQ:RUM) will also stream the fourth Republican primary debate, which comes after the company streamed the previous three debates.
The debate will be moderated by Megyn Kelly, Elizabeth Vargas and Eliana Johnson.
The fourth debate takes place at the University of Alabama, located in Tuscaloosa, Alabama.
As of now, this is the final scheduled Republican primary debate ahead of the Iowa Jan. 15 caucus.
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Smaller Field On Stage: The fourth Republican debate will mark the smallest field of candidates on stage, with four confirmed presidential hopefuls.
Making the cut for the fourth debate are Ron DeSantis, Nikki Haley, Vivek Ramaswamy and Chris Christie. The four candidates had to meet requirements that included having at least 80,000 unique donors and registering 6% in national or early state voting polls.
The candidates also had to sign a pledge with the Republican National Committee that they would support the party's eventual nominee for the 2024 presidential election.
The third debate had five candidates on stage, with Tim Scott appearing before he later dropped out of the race.
Earlier debates saw eight candidates and seven candidates on stage for the first and second Republican debates respectively. The field has narrowed with multiple candidates dropping out of the race since the first debate took place.
The smaller field could be good for the candidates left in the race. According to PBS, at this point in the 2016 election, there were still over a dozen Republican presidential candidates.
Key items likely to be discussed at the fourth debate include healthcare, immigration, foreign policy, abortion and social security.
Donald Trump Skips Again: After rumors of a surprise appearance by Republican front-runner Donald Trump, the former president has confirmed he is skipping the fourth debate.
Trump also skipped the first three Republican debates, citing his strong lead thus far.
Instead of attending the fourth debate, Trump will attend a Super PAC fundraiser in Florida. MAGA Inc is the PAC that backs him as a candidate in the 2024 election.
Trump has launched counterprogramming against the previous three Republican debates.
Stock to Watch: Media companies Fox Corporation (NASDAQ:FOX)(NASDAQ:FOXA) and Comcast Corporation (NASDAQ:CMCSA) had the rights to the previous three debates. Fox aired the first two and Comcast airing the third debate.
Small cap company Nexstar landed the rights to the fourth debate. It could be a stock to watch due to strong viewership and increased advertising rates.
"All of us at NewsNation are incredibly honored to be hosting a presidential primary debate and to be part of what will be another historic election season," Nexstar's President of Networks Sean Compton said.
"We are also extremely pleased to have the opportunity to introduce more Americans to NewsNation, a 24-hour national news network committed to delivering outside journalism and first-rate political coverage and analysis."
Along with airing the fourth Republican primary debate, NewsNation announced a lineup of content centered around the event, which began with specials airing on Monday.
On Wednesday, NewsNation is live from Alabama for multiple shows. It will also host a two-hour news special hosted by well-known news personality Chris Cuomo called "Countdown to the NewsNation Republican Primary Debate."
Alongside airing the fourth debate, Nexstar is one of several regional media companies that could benefit from what is expected to be record advertising spending for the 2024 election.
The company is America's largest local broadcasting group. It touts 200 owned or partnered stations that cover 116 U.S. markets and reach over 210 million people.
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