evidence: Vivek Ramaswamy The biotech entrepreneur and author of "Woke, Inc.: Inside Corporate America’s Social Justice Scam" is an audience favorite at multicandidate events and has polled well despite not being nationally known when he entered the race. Ramaswamy’s campaign says he met the donor threshold earlier this year. This summer he rolled out "Vivek’s Kitchen Cabinet" to boost his donor numbers even more, by letting fundraisers keep 10 percent of what they bring in for his campaign. Chris Christie The former New Jersey governor opened his campaign by portraying himself as the only candidate ready to take on Trump. Christie called on the former president to "show up at the debates and defend his record." Christie will be on that stage, even if Trump isn’t, telling CNN this month that he surpassed "40,000 unique donors in just 35 days." He also has met the polling requirements. Doug Burgum Burgum, a wealthy former software entrepreneur now in his second term as North Dakota’s governor, has been using his fortune to boost his campaign.