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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Ramaswamy’s dance card fills up

For those keeping score at hope, Christie, Pence, Scott and now Haley have all gotten into shouting matches with Ramaswamy at these debates.

—Analysis by Nathaniel Rakich of 538


DeSantis finally gets a little momentum. His "they don't care" repetition is the most impassioned he's been all night (or in either debate). But whatever applause he might have got was cut short the conversation moving on a discussion about NATO and another Scott/Ramaswamy spat.
-Jacob Rubashkin, 538 contributor


Haley hits Ramaswamy on TikTok

Haley abruptly jumped in to hit Ramaswamy for his use of TikTok to appeal to voters, calling TikTok "one of the most dangerous social media apps," and saying she feels "dumber" every time she hears Ramaswamy talk. This moment, along with some others, revealed two things: First, Haley is on the more assertive side of the GOP foreign policy debate when it comes to dealing with China (a Chinese company owns TikTok), although Ramaswamy has said that he'd like to keep people under 16 from accessing social media. Second, she and the other Republicans on stage really don't like Ramaswamy. There've been a few other jabs at Ramaswamy tonight, but her line about feeling dumber was pretty telling.

Analysis by Geoffrey Skelley of 538


Flip-flop on TikTok?

PolitiFact has a feature we call the Flip-O-Meter. It measures — you guessed it — flip flops.

Ramaswamy entered the flip zone when he criticized TikTok and then created an account on the platform.

"I am very open to banning TikTok outright," he wrote on X in February. "In the meantime, we sit on our hands and do nothing as kids get addicted to it like it’s digital fentanyl."

Later, on Sept. 13, Ramaswamy announced that he was joining TikTok. "Yes, kids under age 16 shouldn’t be using it, but the fact is that many young voters are & we’re not going to change this country without winning," he wrote on X. "We can’t just talk about the importance of the GOP ‘reaching young voters’ while hiding in our own echo chambers."

Ramaswamy is not the first candidate to criticize a social media platform while simultaneously using it. Massachusetts Sen. Elizabeth Warren advertised on Facebook while also saying that big tech had too much power.
-Analysis by Aaron Sharockman, PolitiFact


Pence seems to be playing out the string

A couple times tonight, Pence has made the case for a conservative, small-government focused GOP. But as evidenced by the crickets on his initial joke at the start of the debate, there just doesn't seem to be much appetite for him in the Trumpified Republican Party. This isn't a surprise really, given he started the campaign already a villain to many Republicans because Trump had blamed him for his defeat because Pence didn't try to block certification of Biden's victory. But Pence finds himself on the edge of the stage tonight because of his low polling level, and there has really been no good polling news for him recently. His horserace numbers are flat or going down and his favorability numbers among Republicans have worsened, with only Christie having more negative ratings. When might Pence actually leave the race? No idea. But in a field full of candidates who are struggling to have a path to winning, Pence is among those with the least signs of hope.

Analysis by Geoffrey Skelley of 538