Republican debate highlights and analysis: Candidates squabble in Simi Valley

2024 hopefuls argued over education, spending and border security.

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.


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South Carolina on South Carolina: Nikki Haley and Tim Scott spar several times on stage

At several points during the second hour of the debate, it got particularly heated between former South Carolina Gov. Nikki Haley and someone she appointed to the U.S. Senate in 2013: Tim Scott.

Haley first went after Scott for not completing what he touted as his economic policy accomplishments.

“I appreciate him. We've known each other a long time. But he's been there 12 years and he hasn't done any of that. He has, they've only given four audits on time,” she said.

Then came a heated back-and-forth before Haley repeated, “Twelve years, where have you been? ... Bring it, Tim.”

The two also fought over Haley’s gas tax in South Carolina.

“​​I would love to finish my conversation with Nikki as it relates to the job that needs to get done. Nikki offered a 10-cent gas tax increase in South Carolina. Talk about someone who has never seen a federal dollar,” Scott said.

Haley then told Scott to do his homework regarding the spending and gas tax in South Carolina. He responded, “just go to YouTube.”

Haley ended the exchange by telling Scott that he was “scrapping right now” (as in scrambling).

“You are scrapping right now, you are scrapping. You know, I fought taxes, I cut taxes, I took care of South Carolina and you know it.”

They then got into a rift over a set of over $50,000 customized curtains for the State Department in the official residence of the ambassador to the United Nations. Haley was the first to live in the new residence.

–ABC News’ Abby Cruz, Gabriella Abdul-Hakim and Isabella Murray


Christie says he'd vote Trump "off the island," Ramaswamy tries to make case that America First isn't about one person

After the moderator asked who should drop out of the GOP race, Christie said he'd have Trump drop out of the race if he had his pick because the former president has been so divisive. Ramaswamy offered an alternate view, arguing that Trump had been a great president, but that the America First movement isn't about one person but about "you," the American people. Once again, Christie differentiated himself by openly hitting Trump, something most of the other candidates shied away from tonight.

Analysis by Geoffrey Skelley of 538


Who will come out on top in our post-debate 538/Washington Post/Ipsos poll?

After last month’s debate, we declared Haley as a big debate winner, according to our previous poll with The Washington Post and Ipsos. When likely Republican primary voters who watched the debate were asked whether they’d consider voting for each candidate, Haley jumped from 30 percent before the debate to 47 percent after. Overall, participation in the debate was beneficial for candidates, and absence from the debate was (at least marginally) detrimental.

We’ll be following up with the same group as our pre-debate poll to see how participants performed and what respondents' views on all of the candidates are. Check back in with 538 tomorrow afternoon for our post-debate analysis.

—Analysis by Holly Fuong of 538


DeSantis gets another chance to be the adult in the room by rejecting the premise of that moderator question. He did the same thing in the first debate when the moderators asked candidates to raise their hands if they believed in man-made climate change.
-Jacob Rubashkin, 538 contributor


Fact-checking DeSantis’s claim that Florida proposal to teach that enslaved people benefited from slavery was a ‘hoax that was perpetrated by Kamala Harris’

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