Monday’s Republican debate in Salt Lake City has been canceled, it was announced Wednesday, hours after party front-runner Donald Trump said he would not be participating in the Fox News-hosted event.
The debate was canceled following phone conferences between FOX News Channel and the Republican National Committee, representatives for the Salt Palace, where the event was set to be held, confirmed to local affiliate Fox 13 News.
Trump’s decision to pull out of the debate led rival John Kasich to drop out as well, which in turn prompted the cancellation. “We’re sorry it’s not happening,” said Bruce Hough, the Republican National Committeeman for Utah.
Michael Clemente, FOX News Channel’s executive vice president of news, said in a statement: “On Feb. 20, the Republican National Committee announced that a GOP presidential primary debate would be held on March 21 in Salt Lake City. They offered that debate to Fox News Channel to host, provided there were enough candidates actively campaigning. This morning, Donald Trump announced he would not be participating in the debate. Shortly afterward, John Kasich’s campaign announced that without Trump at the debate, Kasich would not participate.”
“Ted Cruz has expressed a willingness to debate Trump or Kasich – or both,” the statement continued. “But obviously, there needs to be more than one participant. So the Salt Lake City debate is cancelled.”
Trump, who just nabbed three key states on Super Tuesday 2, announced he was dropping out of the debate during an appearance on Fox & Friends on Wednesday.
“Nobody told me about debates, nobody told me. As you saw, I thought the last debate on CNN was the last debate – that was gonna be it,” he said. “I’m doing a major speech in front of a very important group of people – I think it’s 8 or 9,000 people – that night, and it was scheduled a while ago. And nobody told me there was gonna be more debates!”
Before flat-out confirming that he has no plans to participate in Monday’s Salt Lake City debate – the 13th so far – Trump issued his opinions on the election staple, saying, “I think we’ve had enough.”
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“I think I’ve done well in all the debates,” he told the Fox & Friends hosts. “How many times can the same people ask you the same question? So I was very surprised when Fox called for a debate, nobody told me about it and I won’t be there, no.”
Trump added he won’t reconsider, because he’s already committed to giving a speech and despite the fact that he thinks he debates “well.”
The billionaire businessman didn’t miss an opportunity to throw in a dig at his opposing party, adding of debate telecasts, “The Democrats do not get good ratings, they get terrible ratings. The Republicans get good ratings if I’m in it.”
With the wins in Illinois, Florida and North Carolina, Trump all but ensured his place as the Republican nominee.
“I think he’s going to be the nominee, and I rather think he’ll be the president,” GOP consultant Jean Card, a former Bush administration official, told PEOPLE. “A lot of people in D.C. won’t say that but I can totally see it happening.”
