On education, Ramaswamy says he would eliminate the Department of Education and make families more central to their children's educational choice. Central to Ramaswamy's campaign is that several federal agencies should be eliminated, but the idea of parental choice in education has swept through conservative states this year. Four Republican-led states passed new universal voucher programs that would allow parents to take tax dollars and spend them on private schools, including religious schools, or homeschool their children. More states have pushed for parental bills of rights that allow students' parents to have more of a say, and object to more, curricula.
-Analysis by Monica Potts of FiveThirtyEight

According to a Ipsos/Reuters poll from July, 77 percent of Republicans say that transgender athletes should not be able to participate in children’s sports at the elementary/high school level. Just 18 percent say they should, and 6 percent are not sure.
-Analysis by FiveThirtyEight

Ramaswamy and Haley traded shots on his Israel and Russia-Ukraine views, with Ramaswamy interrupting Haley and claiming she has been saying misleading things about his proposals on Israel. Ramaswamy has called for winding down aid to Israel after integrating the country more into the region.

"I wish you well on your future career on the boards of Lockheed and Raytheon,” Ramaswamy quipped, referring to the aerospace and defense companies.

Haley struck back: "You have no foreign policy experience and it shows," she said -- and was met with cheers and applause from the audience.

-ABC News’ Abby Cruz

Trump wasted no time attacking other Republican candidates during his pre-taped interview with former Fox News host Carlson.

"I'm saying, do I sit there for an hour or two hours, whatever it's going to be and get harassed by people that shouldn't even be running for president?" Trump said.

The 46-minute interview -- released on Carlson's X account as the GOP debate got underway -- is being seen among the campaigns as an attempt to counter-program the first debate among 2024 Republican presidential candidates on Fox News.

Read more about the interview here.

-ABC News' Lalee Ibssa , Soo Rin Kim and Meredith Deliso

As Republican candidates gear up for the debate, many have specific rituals they’ll be doing in preparation.

A campaign adviser for Haley said she will be listening to music, “lots and lots of music: Joan Jett, Queen, Def Leppard and [the] Go-Gos, to name a few.”

DeSantis has spent today with his wife, Casey, and their three children, though a campaign spokesman offered few details about how the family has spent their time.

Hutchinson posted a photo of himself preparing with notepad and laptop in hand.

“Some last minute studying and prep for tomorrow! It’s important to show up and be ready to answer the tough questions, you deserve nothing less than a leader ready to lead on day one,” Hutchinson captioned the photo online.

Pence will plan to spend time in prayer before the debate, while Scott took a tour of the debate stage, which he posted a video of, along with encouragements from his family, to X, formerly known as Twitter.

Others prepared physically, earlier this week.

Ramaswamy posted videos to X of himself playing tennis and him and his wife doing floor exercises in a gym throughout the lead-up week.

Burgum was playing a stress-relieving pickup game of basketball on the eve of the debate, according to a campaign press secretary, when he sustained an Achilles injury that called into question his ability to participate in the event.

He will be participating, albeit on crutches, per a photo posted to his X account.

-ABC News’ Gabriella Abdul-Hakim, Libby Cathey, Abby Cruz, Will McDuffie and Olivia Osteen