Ron DeSantis and several other Republican candidates will go head-to-head on the debate stage for the first time in Milwaukee tonight.

The debate effectively fires the starting gun on the 2024 race to be the Republican Party’s presidential candidate.

When is the first Republican debate?

The debate will take place at the Fiserv Forum in downtown Milwaukee, Wisconsin, on Wednesday at 8pm local time. That is 9pm ET, 6pm PT and 2am in the UK.

Wisconsin is one of the most politically competitive states in the nation, and both Democrats and Republicans will be fighting hard to win there in the 2024 presidential election.

Republicans are set to hold their national convention in the state in roughly 11 months, where they will formally nominate a challenger to take on Joe Biden.

Where to watch the debate

It will be broadcast on Fox News and is expected to last around two hours.

Viewers in the US can watch it across Fox News’s platform, including Fox Business Network and Fox News Digital and streaming.

The Republican National Committee (RNC) also said it would be livestreamed on Rumble, a video-sharing service popular with conservatives.

Who is attending?

Eight candidates have met the Republican National Committee’s threshold to appear on the debate stage.

To qualify, candidates need to have reached minimum thresholds in national or state-level polls and have received donations from at least 40,000 unique donors.

Those attending are Florida governor Ron DeSantis, former UN ambassador Nikki Haley, senator Tim Scott, former vice president Mike Pence, multi-millionaire entrepreneur Vivek Ramaswamy, former New Jersey governor Chris Christie, North Dakota governor Doug Burgum, and former Arkansas governor Asa Hutchinson.

A condition of participating in the RNC debates is that each candidate signs a pledge certifying that they will support the eventual Republican nominee.

Perry Johnson and Larry Elder have bother expressed their frustration after being excluded from the qualifying list.

Mr Elder said he intended to sue the RNC to halt the debate in a post on Twitter. Mr Johnson has made a similar threat, according to reports.