An update from the article:

On Monday night, the Republican National Committee confirmed that eight candidates would appear in Wednesday’s debate: Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis, tech entrepreneur Vivek Ramaswamy, former Vice President Mike Pence, former U.N. Ambassador Nikki Haley, former New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie, South Carolina Sen. Tim Scott, North Dakota Gov. Doug Burgum and former Arkansas Gov. Asa Hutchinson.

So the speculation is over, but this article does still give some interesting insight into what goes into selecting the debate field.

Also:

(One candidate who we don’t think is in a gray zone: former President Donald Trump, who has said he is not planning to be on stage. Although he has the polls and donors to qualify, the Republican front-runner looks set to skip the debate as he has refused to sign the pledge [promising to back the eventual 2024 Republican nominee]. Instead, Trump took part in a pre-recorded interview with former Fox News host Tucker Carlson that is expected to run at the same time as the debate.)

Why even run in elections if you don’t believe in accepting their results?