Christie made an awkward joke about Biden sleeping with teacher’s unions (because he’s married to a teacher), and Pence decided it would be a good idea to remind everyone that he also is sleeping with a teacher (his wife). So, that just happened.
— Analysis by Leah Askarinam of 538

Pence has suggested a federal ban on gender transition-related healthcare for children. In a poll conducted by Marist College for NPR and PBS NewsHour in June, 52 percent of Republicans said only adults who are 18 and older should be able to receive gender transition-related healthcare. Nine percent said adults and children with the consent of their parents should be able to receive such care, and 37 percent said nobody, regardless of age, should be able to receive gender transition-related healthcare.
—Analysis by 538

DeSantis is dodging the facts.

The Florida Board of Education set new social studies standards for middle schoolers July 19.

In a section about the duties and trades performed by enslaved people, the state adopted a clarification that said "instruction includes how slaves developed skills which, in some instances, could be applied for their personal benefit."

Experts on Black history said that such language is factually misleading and offensive.

Marvin Dunn, a psychology professor emeritus at Florida International University, has authored several books on the history of African Americans.

"Most enslaved people had no special skills at all that benefited them following their enslavement," Dunn said. "For almost all their skill was picking cotton. An enslaved man who was made to be a blacksmith might have been a king had he not been captured and taken from his country. Is he supposed to be grateful? Enslavement prevented people from becoming who and what they might have been and that was slavery's greatest injury to humankind."

Bruce Levine, an emeritus professor of history at the University of Illinois and author of "Half Slave & Half Free: The Roots of Civil War," was one of several scholars of the period who told PolitiFact that they rejected the value of spotlighting "skills" learned while enslaved.

"Very simply, can you imagine saying this about ‘skills’ developed in Nazi forced-labor camps?"
-Analysis by Aaron Sharockman, PolitiFact

Several of the Republicans on stage touted their prioritization of border security should they win the presidency.

“What I’ll do on day one is sign an executive order to send the National Guard to partner with Customs and Border Patrol to make sure that we stop the flow of fentanyl over the border,” Christie said first. He expanded his answer to include his plans to fill the “6 million vacant jobs” in the country with legal immigrants.

“This border is going to be a day one issue for me as president,” DeSantis said, also noting that he’d administer the remain in Mexico policy, which requires migrants seeking asylum to remain in Mexico until their US immigration court date.

“We're going to declare a national emergency. Yes, we'll build the wall. We’ll do remain in Mexico,” DeSantis said.

Pence spoke about his role in negotiating the remain in Mexico policy of the Trump administration.

“I negotiated the remain in Mexico policy with the Mexican government. We used economic power to bring the Mexican government to the table. We build hundreds of miles of border wall and despite what's said here today, we reduced illegal immigration and asylum abuse by 90%. And as President of the United States, I can do it again,” he said. “I'm going to be ready on day one to get Congress to step up, secure the southern border of the United States.”

Haley cosigned on the Remain in Mexico Policy.

“Let's go back to Remain in Mexico policy,” she said. “Instead of catch and release. Let's go to catch and deport.”
Ramaswamy said that he was supportive of most of his opponents’ border positions, but that he’d go a step further: he’d end birthright citizenship for the kids of illegal immigrants.

“The Republicans on the stage are on the right side of this issue, militarize the southern border, stop funding sanctuary cities and end foreign aid to Mexico and Central America to end the incentives to come across,” Ramaswamy said.

--ABC News' Isabella Murray

When debate moderators asked the 2024 GOP candidates about the impending government shutdown, some – including Trump’s closest opponent DeSantis – pivoted to blame the former president and current President Biden for the logjam.

Both men also called out Trump for his absence on stage, noting that he should be answering for himself as the shutdown looms.

"People in Washington are shutting down the American dream with their reckless behavior,” DeSantis said.

“And you know who else is missing an action? Donald Trump is missing an action. He should be on this stage tonight. He owes it to you to defend his record where they added 7.8 trillion to the debt that set the stage for the inflation that we have.”

Chris Christie – one of Trump’s staunchest critics – also admonished the former president.

“If the government shuts down, should voters blame populace Republicans? Very simply everybody who's in Washington, D.C.,” said Christie.

“And let's be honest about this with the voters. You know, during the Trump administration, they added $7 trillion — $7 trillion in national debt. And now the Biden administration has put another 5 trillion on and counting.”

“Donald Trump– he hides behind the walls of his golf clubs, and won't show up here to answer questions like all the rest of us are up here. He puts 7 trillion on the debt. He should be in this room to answer those questions for the people you talk about who are suffering,” Christie said.

–ABC News’ Isabella Murray