A long-shot candidate is trying to qualify for the Republican presidential debate by raffling off tickets to Messi's first MLS game

• Long-shot GOP presidential candidate Mayor Francis Suarez is campaigning off of international soccer superstar Lionel Messi's Major League Soccer debut.

• He's raffling off front-row tickets to the game to anyone who donates to his campaign.

• He's one of several GOP candidates utilizing creative tactics to increase their donor numbers.

Miami Mayor Francis Suarez, who's running for president in the Republican primary, is trying to make it to the debate stage by raffling off tickets to international superstar Lionel Messi's first MLS game.

In order to make it to the GOP presidential debate stage, the Republican National Committee stipulates that a candidate must have received at least 40,000 unique donations with at least 200 unique donors coming from 20 or more states.

The RNC also has one other stipulation to make it to the debate stage: candidates must poll 1% or higher in 3 national polls with 800 or more registered Republican likely voters. And while this appeared like it would disqualify Suarez and several other long-shot candidates from making it to the debate, the RNC recently clarified that Morning Consult's weekly polls count, giving smaller candidates like Suarez many more opportunities to hit the "3 national polls" mark.

Suarez's campaign itself has yet to report its financials to the Federal Elections Commission, but he said over the weekend that his campaign and associated political action committees have raised $13.6 million and that he believes he qualifies for the debate.

"The campaign committee itself raised a million dollars in a very few days," he tweeted on July 14. "Having just got started, we will meet the RNC limits for the first debate. I am humbled and blessed."

Suarez's ticketing raffle isn't the first creative stunt that GOP presidential candidates have used this go-around to try and qualify for the GOP debate. The long-shot campaign of North Dakota Gov. Doug Burgum pledged to send $20 gift cards to the first 50,000 people who donated at least $1 to his campaign while Perry Johnson's said he'll send his book to anyone who similarly donates to his own campaign.

Read the original article on Business Insider