“Networks are making up these debate rules as they go along," Carly Fiorina wrote. | AP Photo 2016 Carly Fiorina excluded from next GOP debate

Carly Fiorina has been excluded from Saturday's Republican debate in Manchester, New Hampshire, ABC News announced on Thursday.

The former Hewlett-Packard CEO has lagged her GOP rivals in national and state-level polls, but she complained in an open letter to the Republican National Committee on Wednesday that the debate process is "broken" and urged the RNC to intervene on her behalf.


“Networks are making up these debate rules as they go along — not to be able to fit candidates on the stage — but arbitrarily to decide which candidates make for the best TV in their opinion," she wrote. "Now it is time for the RNC to act in the best interest of the Party that it represents.”

ABC News will not hold an undercard debate for the bottom tier of the winnowing field. Qualifications for the main debate stage included ranking among the top three in the Iowa caucuses, top six in New Hampshire polls or top six nationally.

But for several hours on Thursday evening, the Fiorina campaign held out some hope. ABC News hyped the debate lineup release for 5 p.m. ET, directing attention to the network's Facebook and the ABC News livestream. But for more than two hours, nothing happened related to the debate — and the livestream eventually switched to showing footage of "Bella the Hummingbird Tends to Her Eggs."

The Fiorina campaign was standing by, eagerly watching the livestream and awaiting the results, but did not know if it meant good news for them, deputy campaign manager Sarah Isgur Flores told POLITICO before the results came down.

In the end, it was not good for Fiorina.

Fiorina finished seventh in Iowa with less than 2 percent support and doesn’t poll among the top six in New Hampshire or nationally. According to POLITICO’s calculations, she is running in eighth place nationally with 2.3 percent, and in eighth place in New Hampshire with 3.5 percent. (Those calculations include Rand Paul, who has since dropped out of the race. Without Paul, Fiorina remains in eighth place nationally and is in seventh place in New Hampshire.)

"Excluded from both debates this year and Carly *still* beat two of establishment's guys in actual election," Flores tweeted after the lineup was released.

A number of top Republicans, including Ben Carson, Texas Sen. Ted Cruz, 2012 nominee Mitt Romney and New Hampshire Sen. Kelly Ayotte, had urged ABC to include Fiorina.

“Hey @ABC: put @CarlyFiorina on the debate stage! She got more Iowa votes than John and Chris. Don't exclude only woman,” Romney tweeted on Thursday.

With Fiorina excluded, the lineup for Saturday's debate includes: Jeb Bush, Ben Carson, Chris Christie, Ted Cruz, John Kasich, Marco Rubio, and Donald Trump.

Saturday's debate will be moderated by "World News Tonight" anchor David Muir and Martha Raddatz, the network's chief global affairs correspondent and "This Week" co-anchor. The right-leaning website Independent Journal Review will co-host the event, and WMUR political director Josh McElveen and conservative pundit Mary Katharine Ham will be asking additional questions.

