By A crutch-bound North Dakota Gov. Doug Burgum said he will participate in the first Republican presidential debate in Milwaukee on Wednesday night, shrugging off a leg injury that sent him to an emergency room one day earlier.
“I’m in,” Burgum posted to his social media account Wednesday afternoon.
The post included a photo of Burgum in a backstage area, walking with crutches and wearing a black brace on his left leg.
Burgum’s campaign confirmed to NBC News that the 67-year-old presidential candidate will be on stage for the debate after being evaluated by a sports physician and an injury specialist.
The campaign told NBC earlier that Burgum suffered a high-grade tear of his Achilles tendon during a game of pick-up basketball with his staff on Tuesday.
He was transported to a Milwaukee emergency room and discharged from the hospital the same day, NBC reported.
Prior to the governor’s social media post, it was unclear if he would have to bow out of the event, which is set to air on Fox News starting at 9 p.m. ET on Wednesday night.
“If I have to stand on one leg for two hours, to, you know, fulfill this mission of improving every American life, you know, I’m happy to do it,” Burgum told NBC earlier that afternoon.
“There’s all kinds of people that make bigger sacrifices than that,” he said.
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Burgum is one of eight candidates to meet the Republican National Committee’s qualifications for the first debate. The others are Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis, former Vice President Mike Pence, former United Nations Ambassador Nikki Haley, South Carolina Sen. Tim Scott, former New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie, entrepreneur Vivek Ramaswamy and former Arkansas Gov. Asa Hutchinson.
“Wishing Doug Burgum well. Looking forward to seeing him on stage tonight,” Ramaswamy tweeted Wednesday morning.
For the participants, the debate offers a rare chance to shake up a primary race that has so far been defined by former President Donald Trump’s dominance over the field.
But with Trump opting to skip the debate, his rivals won’t be able to take a direct shot at their biggest obstacle to the GOP nomination, potentially limiting the impact of the event. The absence of the attention-grabbing former president could also result in lower viewership.
Trump, who has accused Fox News of covering him unfairly, is actively working to undermine the debate by taping an interview with ousted Fox host Tucker Carlson that is set to air at the same time. Much of the remaining oxygen in the GOP primary race is being sucked up by Trump’s mounting legal troubles, including his expected surrender Thursday night at a jail in Georgia.
Burgum, a wealthy businessman who was elected governor in 2016, is widely considered a long-shot presidential candidate. He regularly scores in the low single digits in national polls of the GOP primary field.
To reach the 40,000-donor threshold required to qualify for the debate, he gave out $20 gift cards to up to 50,000 people who donated at least $1 to his White House bid.
Multiple candidates — including former Texas Rep. Will Hurd, conservative radio host Larry Elder and businessman Perry Johnson — were denied a spot on stage for failing to meet the debate qualifications.
