Gov. Doug Burgum injured playing basketball, but will still debate
North Dakota Governor Doug Burgum was injured during a pick-up basketball game with his staff Tuesday and was taken to an emergency room in Milwaukee on the eve of the first Republican presidential primary debate, according to a source familiar with his injury and a campaign source. His campaign says he will still debate.
Burgum tore his Achilles tendon, according to a campaign spokesman. He spent several hours in the emergency room, according to a source close to the governor.
Burgum went on his debate walk-through on crutches.
CNN first reported Burgum's injury.
Not long after the injury was reported, Burgum's team began selling T-shirts of the candidate dunking a basketball, with one of his feet in a walking boot.
In a social media post, Burgum thanked well wishers for their support after his injury.
Burgum, in order to meet the donor threshold set by the Republican National Committee, offered donors $20 gift cards for $1 donations. The first debate required candidates to collect 40,000 individual donors, with at least 200 unique donors per state, as well as poll at 1% in three RNC-sanctioned polls, or 1% in two other national polls and two polls from key states.
Kathryn Watson and Laura Doan contributed to this report.
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