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Former Vice President and Columbus native Mike Pence might miss the first debate for Republican presidential candidates later this month.

That wouldn’t be because Pence lacks the support in polls compared to some of the other candidates who have qualified. No, the problem, as the party sees it, is that Pence hasn’t raked in enough campaign donations for their liking.

It should come as no surprise that the Republican and the Democratic Party place an overriding emphasis on the size of a candidate’s potential bankroll versus their potential ability to lead. The parties have institutional infrastructures that demand to be greased by cash every election cycle. You’d hate to live without those political TV ads, right?

Whatever your opinion of Pence, it’s illogical to argue that he doesn’t belong on the debate stage among Republican presidential candidates. Yet as The Republic’s Andy East reported, Pence’s party might keep him off the stage merely because he’s not rolling in dough.

“Filings with the Federal Election Commission show that Pence received contributions from 455 unique donors during the first 25 days of his campaign,” East reported. “The filings, which are current as of the end of June, showed that the former vice president was on pace at the time to have around 1,492 unique donors by the (Republican National Committee’s) Aug. 21 deadline, well short of the 40,000 minimum” required for participation in the debate. Candidates also must report at least 200 donors in 20 or more states.

By that metric, Pence would not qualify for the GOP’s first debate on Aug. 23 without substantially increasing his campaign’s focus on begging for dollars and getting them.

Pence projected optimism that he could meet the goal, telling CNN, “We will make it. I will see you at that debate stage.”

And perhaps he will. But he really should not have to. Let’s call this what it is, whether the Republicans or the Democrats do it: It’s a corrupt bargain. Political parties should not put dollar signs before popular support to restrict candidates from the debate stage.

Of course, we are not suggesting that Pence is Mr. Popularity. Far from it. That said, he is in fourth place in early Republican polling, according to Real Clear Politics, which averages multiple polls. President Donald Trump has a runaway lead of 54% across those polls, Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis has 18.3% support, entrepreneur Vivek Ramaswamy has 4.9% and Pence has 4.3%.

Yet several candidates with less public support have qualified for the debate, the Associated Press reported. They include former UN Ambassador Nikki Haley (who averages 3.5% across Real Clear Politics polls) South Carolina Sen. Tim Scott (3%), former New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie (2.4%) and North Dakota Gov. Doug Burgum (0.6%).

Most significantly, however, the public deserves a debate in which Trump and Pence, who led one of our most tumultuous administrations, have an opportunity to share the stage and face each other before the American people.

If the Republican Party chooses dollars over democracy and restricts Pence from the debate stage, it would be a costly disservice to the nation and to history.