Mike Pence makes $1 donation plea in push to make GOP debate

Former Vice President Mike Pence Thursday rolled out a new pitch for $1 donations as he desperately seeks to snag a spot on the stage for the first Republican debate.

As lesser-known candidates lock up their spots for the Aug. 23 debate, Pence still needs to clear the hurdle of 40,000 individual donors set by the Republican National Committee.

After weeks of mostly courting larger donors, the ex-veep issued a plea for donations of any size.

“We need 40,000 freedom loving Americans to join us!” Pence wrote in a message to supporters. “Donate today and we’ll see you on that debate stage!”

The campaign has avoided giving updates on progress toward the 40,000 milestone, suggesting he could still be a ways short.

Pence has so far avoided gimmicks to attract donors compared to little-known North Dakota Gov. Doug Burgum, who is giving $20 gift cards to anyone who donates even $1.

Burgum’s strategy worked so well that another lesser candidate, Miami Mayor Francis X. Suarez, is doing the same thing, hyping his 20-buck donation a “Bidenomics relief card.”

Candidates also need to score at least 1% in a combination of national and early voting state polls to get on the debate stage.

So far, former President Trump has already qualified for the debate along with Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis.

Sen. Tim Scott, Nikki Haley, Chris Christie, Vivek Ramaswamy and Burgum have also made the stage.

That leaves Pence as the odd man out, an unexpected predicament for the man with perhaps the biggest national profile going into the campaign.

Trump has suggested he will likely skip the contest in Milwaukee and a second one scheduled for September in southern California.

If so, the debate could turn into a prime opportunity for mid-level candidates like Scott and Ramaswamy to knock DeSantis off his perch as the main challenger to Trump.

DeSantis has been dropping in the polls for months now as Trump consolidates his support and the Florida governor fails to light a fire under GOP voters.

Pence is now widely despised by MAGA loyalists for refusing to help the former president overturn the 2020 election.

The former Trump standard-bearer has mostly sidestepped condemning Trump, even suggesting that prosecutors should not indict him for his role in the Jan. 6 attack when Trump supporters attempted to hunt down Pence.