Former Arkansas Gov. Asa Hutchinson is pressing on with his campaign for president despite not qualifying for the second Republican primary debate. 

Immediately after the Republican National Committee announced Monday night that seven hopefuls will participate in Wednesday night’s debate at the Ronald Reagan Presidential Library in Simi Valley, California, Hutchinson issued a statement stressing that he’s not dropping out of the race.

“Despite falling short of the RNC's polling requirement for inclusion in the second Presidential Primary Debate, I will continue our campaign to bring out the best of America with events scheduled in Iowa, New Hampshire, and across the country in the next several weeks,” Hutchinson said.

Hutchinson said he’s gauging success “based on the response I receive in early primary states like Iowa and New Hampshire” and that his goal is to increase his polling to 4% in an early state by Thanksgiving.

“If that goal is met, then I remain competitive and in contention for either Caucus Day or Primary Day,” Hutchinson said. 

A vocal critic of former President Donald Trump, who is the front-runner for the GOP nomination, Hutchinson is the only candidate who qualified for the first debate last month in Milwaukee who won’t be on the stage Wednesday. 

To qualify, candidates were required to hit at least 3% in two national polls or in one national poll and two polls in early-voting states. They also needed at least 50,000 unique donors, including 200 or more in 20 different states or territories.

According to Politico’s tracker, Hutchinson met the 3% threshold in one national poll but did not meet any of the other requirements. FiveThirtyEight’s national polling average had Hutchinson at 0.5% in the primary as of Monday. 

“I entered this race because it is critically important for a leader within the Republican Party to stand up to Donald Trump and call him out on misleading his supporters and the American people,” Hutchinson said. “I intend to continue doing that and look forward to holding a press conference in Detroit on Wednesday where I will highlight his false promises to blue collar and union workers in Michigan and across America.”

The candidates who will participate in Wednesday’s debate are North Dakota Gov. Doug Burgum; former New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie; Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis; former South Carolina Gov. Nikki Haley; former Vice President Mike Pence; biotech entrepreneur Vivek Ramaswamy; and U.S. Sen. Tim Scott of South Carolina.

As he did in the first debate, Trump has declined to join the event.