A freak pick-up basketball injury may derail Doug Burgum's debate plans after he loaned himself nearly $10 million to make the stage
REUTERS/Dan Koeck
- GOP presidential hopeful Doug Burgum was injured during a pick-up basketball game.
- The North Dakota governor might now miss the first GOP primary debate.
- Burgum loaned himself nearly $10 million in a bid to catapult his long-shot campaign onto the stage.
North Dakota Gov. Doug Burgum was briefly hospitalized on Wednesday after suffering an injury during a pick-up basketball game, raising the possibility that after loaning his campaign nearly $10 million he might miss out on the biggest night of his Republican presidential campaign thus far.
According to multiple reports, Burgum suffered an injury during a basketball game in Milwaukee. CNN reported that it's unclear if Burgum could even stand up.
Burgum is one of nine GOP hopefuls to meet the Republican National Committee's polling and donation thresholds. Unlike former President Donald Trump, who refused to debate, Burgum is among a handful of candidates who have polled in single digits at the national level and could really use a nationally televised debate to catapult his campaign into contending status.
A former software founder, Burgum loaned his campaign millions as it used a novel approach to offer donors $20 gift cards if they donated as little as $1 dollar to his campaign. Other campaigns later raffled off tickets to see soccer superstar Lionel Messi or paid people to text for donations during the intense race to get the required 40,000 unique donors.
A representative for Burgum's campaign did not immediately respond to a request for comment.