Republican debate highlights and analysis: Candidates squabble in Simi Valley

2024 hopefuls argued over education, spending and border security.

By538 and ABC News via five thirty eight logo
Last Updated: September 27, 2023, 6:58 PM EDT

The second Republican debate of the 2024 presidential primary, taking place at the Ronald Reagan Presidential Library, has just come to an end.

The affair was more raucous than the first debate, which took place over a month ago. Candidates interrupted one another much more regularly and several — most notably former Vice President Mike Pence and former New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie — have directly criticized front-runner Donald Trump, who elected not to show up tonight. The two candidates from South Carolina, former U.N. ambassador Nikki Haley and Sen. Tim Scott, went after one another for their records on spending, and seemingly everyone who had the chance to take a shot at entrepreneur Vivek Ramaswamy did so.

Read below for highlights, excerpts and key moments.

Latest headlines:

Here's how the news is developing. All times Eastern.
Sep 27, 2023, 10:50 PM EDT

Yeah, Jacob — not a lot of voters are going to stay home in a swing state in a presidential election with an abortion ballot measure (maybe) on the ballot.

—Analysis by Nathaniel Rakich of 538

Sep 27, 2023, 10:49 PM EDT

DeSantis on abortion

DeSantis is asked about how he'll win over pro-choice voters in states like Arizona and, while he doesn't give an actual strategy, he says he's already done it in Florida, citing his big victory in 2022. But as many have written, Florida's Republican wave last year was just as much if not more a function of Democrats just staying home altogether rather than voting for DeSantis.
-Jacob Rubashkin, 538 contributor

Sep 27, 2023, 10:47 PM EDT

Dana Perino is asking about abortion policy. In an August survey conducted by SurveyMonkey for 19th News, only 15 percent of Republicans said that abortion should be illegal in all cases. A majority of Republicans said that abortion should be legal if the patient’s life is endangered (71 percent), in cases of rape or incest (68 percent), if the patient’s health is endangered (55 percent), or if the fetus is not expected to survive (52 percent). Only 19 percent of Republicans said abortion should be legal for women who do not wish to be pregnant.
—Analysis by 538

Sep 27, 2023, 10:45 PM EDT

DeSantis probably didn’t turn Florida red

DeSantis just bragged that the Florida Democratic Party is in ruins and that he turned Florida into a red state. I took a closer look at this question a couple weeks ago, though, and found … not a lot of evidence that DeSantis himself is responsible for the reddening of Florida.

—Analysis by Nathaniel Rakich of 538

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