Third GOP debate to be held in Miami

If Donald Trump does decide to show up for the third GOP presidential primary debate, he won’t have to go far.

The third faceoff will be held in Miami, an RNC spokesperson confirmed to POLITICO.

CNN first reported the location of the third debate, which it reported will be in “early November.”

Trump, the primary frontrunner, skipped the first showdown last month in Milwaukee. He is also not expected to participate in the second debate, later this month at the Ronald Reagan Library in California, although he has until Sept. 25 — two days before the debate — to decide. That same week, Trump plans to attend a fundraiser and the California state GOP meeting.

But should he have a change of heart and decide to participate in the third contest, Miami is a fairly short drive from his “winter White House” at Mar-a-Lago.

The RNC has yet to announce the date, venue, moderators or the qualification rules for the third debate.

During the first debate, eight candidates participated. So far, seven candidates — including Trump — have qualified for the second debate. The other six candidates are Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis, businessperson Vivek Ramaswamy, former Vice President Mike Pence, former U.N. Ambassador Nikki Haley, Sen. Tim Scott (R-S.C.) and former New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie, according to POLITICO’s analysis of qualification requirements.

Candidates need 3 percent support in a handful of RNC-approved polls, and need at least 50,000 unique individual donors, to qualify for the second debate

Traditionally parties have ratcheted up debate qualification rules for each subsequent debate. Depending on what the RNC sets the threshold at, further candidates — like Scott and Christie — could be imperiled by a higher national polling threshold for the third debate.