Republicans to hold second 2024 debate at Reagan Library 

The 2024 Republican candidates for president will hold their second debate at the Ronald Reagan Presidential Library in Southern California, Republican National Committee Chairwoman Ronna McDaniel announced Thursday.

McDaniel made the announcement during a speech at the library in Simi Valley — but stopped short of providing a date for the debate or announcing on which outlet it would air.

The first GOP debate, which will be broadcast on Fox News, has already been scheduled for August in Milwaukee, 11 months before Republican delegates return to the city to formally nominate their choice for president.

“I firmly believe that our next president will be on that stage,” McDaniel told the crowd after announcing plans for the second debate.

She went on to say there are “two very different paths being laid out” by Republicans and Democrats and called the 2024 election “so important.”

“We’re not dealing with small, minor differences between two parties,” McDaniel said. “These are not simple policy discussions that we’re discussing. We’re electing and determining the future of our country.”

The RNC chair, who was speaking at the library as part of its “A Time For Choosing” series, pointed specifically to the GOP’s platform of stricter border control, law and order, free speech protection and gun rights.

Elsewhere in the speech, McDaniel invoked one of the 40th president’s most famous quotes: “Freedom is never more than one generation away from extinction.”

“Freedom is a fragile thing and no one is going to take that fight on for us,” she said. “Our party is standing in the breach of determining America’s bright future. This is our mission, and we have to be united if we’re going to accomplish this. We have to work together.

“If we do that, we will keep the House, we will keep the Senate, we will win back the White House — and we will keep America a shining city on a hill.”

The Ronald Reagan Presidential Library has hosted four GOP primary debates in the past, most recently a raucous gathering in September 2015 in the run-up to Donald Trump’s eventual nomination.

During that debate, several GOP presidential candidates launched harsh attacks against Trump over past comments he’d made about women and his business decisions — though the future 45th president also exchanged a low-five with rival Jeb Bush after the former Florida governor riffed on Trump’s description of him as “low-energy.”

While the RNC hasn’t yet disclosed the criteria for how candidates will quality for the debates, the Republican 2024 lineup is already building.

Trump has already thrown his hat into the ring to try to reclaim his old job.

Former South Carolina Gov. Nikki Haley, former Arkansas Gov. Asa Hutchinson and business entrepreneur Vivek Ramaswamy have also announced their bids.

Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis is widely expected to formally announce his intention to run in the coming weeks.