Haley draws fire in 4th GOP debate, Christie warns absent Trump is biggest issue
The Iowa caucuses are weeks away; the former president remains the favorite.
By538 and ABC News
Last Updated: December 6, 2023, 8:51 PM EST
With voting set to start in the 2024 Republican primary in less than six weeks, four of the top candidates again took the stage for a debate -- this time on Wednesday night in Tuscaloosa, Alabama -- and the event proved to be fiery.
Hosted by NewsNation and moderated by Elizabeth Vargas, Megyn Kelly and Eliana Johnson, the debate featured Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis, former U.N. Ambassador Nikki Haley, former New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie and businessman Vivek Ramaswamy. The primary's front-runner, former President Donald Trump, continued to skip the event despite criticism from his rivals. He was fundraising in Florida.
ABC News and the analysts at 538 live-blogged every major moment and highlight from the debate. PolitiFact made real-time fact checks.
Christie and Ramaswamy just got into a huge, personal back-and-forth while DeSantis and Haley looked on. Who might voters sympathize with more in that exchange? We can look at each candidate’s net favorability rating for a clue. Ramaswamy has a net favorability rating of +17 points among Republicans, according to 538’s average. That’s not outstanding, but it’s higher than Christie, who is at -34 points. So I’d guess that most Republicans agreed with Ramaswamy more than Christie in that exchange.
-Analysis by Nathaniel Rakich of 538
Dec 06, 2023, 8:42 PM EST
Christie bites back at Ramaswamy, defends Haley in heated exchange
Christie, pointing his finger at Ramaswamy, said in the first 20 minutes of the debate that Ramaswamy would be voted “the most obnoxious blowhard in America.”
"So shut up for a little while," Christie said.
The former New Jersey governor then offered a defense of Haley, who has so far been the main target of the night.
Republican presidential candidates (L-R) former NJ Gov. Chris Christie, former U.N. Ambassador Nikki Haley, Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis and Vivek Ramaswamy participate in the NewsNation Republican Presidential Primary Debate, on Dec. 6, 2023, in Tuscaloosa, Ala.
Justin Sullivan/Getty Images
"He has insulted Nikki Haley's basic intelligence. Not her positions, her basic intelligence," he said, adding, "Look, if you want to disagree on issues, that's fine. Nikki and I disagree on some issues. I've known her for 12 years ... and while we disagree about some issues and we disagree about who should be president of the United States, what we don't disagree on is this is a smart accomplished woman. You should stop insulting her."
Republican presidential candidate and former New Jersey Governor Chris Christie speaks during the fourth Republican candidates' U.S. presidential debate of the 2024 U.S. presidential campaign at the University of Alabama in Tuscaloosa, Ala., Dec. 6, 2023.
Brian Snyder/Reuters
Haley turned to Christie and said, “Thank you.”
Ramaswamy went on to criticize both on their foreign policy positions and brought back an attack line he used on Haley at a previous debate: "You can put lipstick on Dick Cheney, it is still a fascist."
-ABC News' Alexandra Hutzler
Dec 06, 2023, 8:48 PM EST
Haley responds to controversy over proposing end to online anonymity
Haley continues to face blowback over her proposed requirement that every person on social media be verified by their name and banned from posting anonymously -- a position she later walked back slightly.
"She should come nowhere near the levers of power, let alone the White House," Ramaswamy said, calling the position "fascism."
Haley responded, "What I said was that social media companies need to show us their algorithms."
"I also said there are millions of bots on social media right now," she continued. "They're foreign, they're Chinese, they're Iranian. I will always fight for freedom of speech for Americans. We do not need freedom of speech for Russians and Iranians and Hamas. We need social media companies to go and fight back on all of these bots that are happening."
DeSantis pushed back on her characterization of her past comments.
"You can roll the tape, she said, 'I want your name' and that was going to be one of the first thing she did in office," the Florida governor said. "She got real serious blowback and understandably so, because it'd be a massive expansion of government."
-ABC News' Alexandra Hutzler
Dec 06, 2023, 8:34 PM EST
Christie says he’d send troops to Gaza to rescue American hostages
“I would absolutely -- absolutely, if they had a plan which showed me, we could get them out safely, you’re damn right I’d send the American Army in there to get our people home and get them home now,” Christie said. The former New Jersey governor accused DeSantis of avoiding the question about deploying U.S. troops to rescue hostages in the Israel-Hamas war after Hamas' terror attack.