to make the earlier debate .
mike huckabee are the first casualties of the winnowing gop presidential debate field , as fox business network announced thursday night that they both officially missed the cut for next week ’s contest .
fox business network announced thursday that christie , who has made the main stage at the previous three debates , will be in the undercard debate for the low - polling candidates .
photos - on the stump : chris christie 's presidential campaign earlier in the day , christie told nbc ’s hallie jackson , “ either way , i 'll be in milwaukee tuesday night debating the big issues of our country , putting my voice onto those issues and that ’s what really matters the most .
he is a former fox news host who won the 2008 gop iowa caucuses and finished second behind sen. john mccainjohn sidney mccainthe memo : gop fears damage from trump ’s move on daca rescue efforts underway after f-16 crashes in arizona mccain , whitehouse urge scotus to affirm wisconsin gerrymandering decision more ( r - ariz . )
advertisement christie 's fate remained in limbo until the network , which set a threshold of 2.5 percent in four major polls for the top contest .
debate host fox business network announced candidates must have a polling average of at least 2.5 percent in the four most recent polls .
the writing was on the wall for christie by wednesday night , when he received 2 percent of the vote in fox news ’s latest poll .
poll watchers noted that christie ’s stagnant numbers in a handful of recent surveys , including the fox one , made it increasingly unlikely that he ’d be able to stay above that threshold .