Trump isn’t at the debate, but he’s very clearly on candidates’ minds, with the former president getting direct attacks from Christie, DeSantis, and others for not being present. (Christie’s unforgettable line: “You’re ducking these things... We’re going to call you Donald Duck.”)

But with the opening of the debate so focused on labor and the autoworkers strike, Trump’s campaign is using that ducking as a bragging point, boasting about the fact that Trump is the only one out with autoworkers tonight.

"Amazing that the first question of the debate is about the UAW strike …at this moment where is @realDonaldTrump? He’s in Michigan …talking to striking workers," senior Trump campaign adviser Chris LaCivita wrote on X.

However, as ABC News has previously reported, the place Trump spoke at tonight is one of the few non-union auto-parts plants in Michigan, according to AFL-CIO, and very few of those who came to see Trump in Clinton Township, Michigan, Wednesday evening that ABC News spoke with were on actually on strike.

There are a lot of factors at play over this: Trump’s power in being part of the debate narrative while absent, ongoing labor strikes, and where Republicans show solidarity with labor (and the optics of how they do so). And then candidates like Christie add some nicknames to the mix.

-ABC News’ Soorin Kim, Lalee Ibssa, and Oren Oppenheim

Ramaswamy was asked about whether parents have the right to know about children’s identification in schools. According to a Selzer & Co./Grinnell College poll conducted in March, 71 percent of Republicans say it’s “very important” for a teacher to notify parents if a middle school student has adopted a gender identity different from the one assigned to them at birth.
—Analysis by 538

DeSantis is asked about the Florida education guidelines on teaching slavery. He immediately calls it a hoax and attacks Vice President Kamala Harris (America's first Black vice president), which has been his campaign's strategy on this issue since it first broke. The moderators are quick to tee up a discussion between DeSantis and Scott, though, since the South Carolina senator was among the most outspoken Republicans against the DeSantis plan.
-Jacob Rubashkin, 538 contributor

Moderators questioned Haley on "school choice." Seven Republican states, including Florida, passed "universal school choice" this year, which mostly means vouchers for private schools that are available to nearly all students, without income limits. Public school supporters have said these vouchers are a backdoor way of defunding public schools. In most states, states take the per-pupil allocation of tax dollars and give the money directly to parents instead, allowing them to pay for private, religious, or homeschooling courses. In many states the vouchers could go to parents who could otherwise pay for private school, and aren't enough to pay for full tuition for parents who couldn't afford it. The public is divided on these policies, but trust in public schools and public education has been declining, especially among Republicans.
— Analysis by Monica Potts of 538

The candidates who are not on the debate stage tonight are still trying to make their case to voters, but face the challenge of being out of the almost-literal spotlight tonight. Some are also starting to be more candid about their prospects.

Former Arkansas Gov. Asa Hutchinson, who is pitching himself as a moderate conservative alternative to Trump, is in the difficult position of having been onstage at last month’s debate – and then not qualifying for tonight’s event.

Instead of trekking to California, Hutchinson spoke in Detroit this morning, not far from where Trump, who’s off the debate stage by choice, is holding a rally tonight. "I'm here, in Detroit, because I want to debate. Donald Trump is here in Detroit tonight because he wants to avoid a debate,” Hutchinson said at the presser.

Media attention is largely focused elsewhere today; only four cameras were at Hutchinson's event, according to ABC News campaign reporters Libby Cathey and Fritz Farrow.
Hutchinson wrote earlier this week that he is going to try to “increase my polling numbers to 4% in an early state before Thanksgiving,” setting a self-imposed benchmark for himself without directly saying whether he would withdraw or not if he doesn’t make it there.

He’s not the only one having a moment of campaign contemplation. Fellow offstage candidate and former Texas Rep. Will Hurd wrote today that he’ll continue campaigning, with a focus on New Hampshire, but that “our campaign is at an inflection point.” And last month, Miami Mayor Francis Suarez suspended his campaign about a week after the first debate aired. We’ll have to see if others follow in his footsteps after the dust settles from tonight, but it looks like Hutchinson and Hurd plan on staying in the game for now.

—Oren Oppenheim of ABC News