Haley, as a former ambassador, made an impassioned case for the U.S. continuing military and financial aid to Ukraine amid Russia's invasion.

"When you look at the situation, you have a pro-American country that was invaded by a thug," she said. "You want to talk about what has been given to Ukraine, less than 3.5% of our defense budget has been given to Ukraine. If you look at the percentage per GDP, 11 of the European countries have given more than the U.S."

She was interrupted by Ramaswamy, who is opposed to further assistance, and the two had a fiery back-and-forth.

Haley told the political newcomer: "You have no foreign policy experience and it shows."

On Ramaswamy's approach to Putin, Haley said: "This guy is a murderer and you are choosing a murderer."

-ABC News' Alexandra Hutzler

Scott just took a question about national security and turned it into one about immigration, saying our Southern border is the greatest national security threat. Ramaswamy did something similar earlier. If you look at the polling, it’s easy to see why: According to our FiveThirtyEight/Washington Post/Ipsos poll, 36 percent of Republicans identified “controlling immigration” as one of their top issues in the primary — second only to inflation and rising prices.
-Analysis by Nathaniel Rakich of FiveThirtyEight

Ramaswamy came out hitting the other candidates, saying he's the only one who hasn't been bought and sold. When it came to his comments on Ukraine, though, Pence and Haley are hitting back. "You have no foreign policy experience and it shows," Haley said. As Jacob said, his quick rise is drawing attacks, especially on his lack of political experience.
-Analysis by Monica Potts of FiveThirtyEight

Haley tried to go after DeSantis as he was answering a question on Ukraine but it didn't generate the same back-and-forth as with Ramaswamy, and the moderators quickly moved on to another matter. Clearly Ramaswamy -- his lack of political experience and rapid rise in the polls -- has gotten under the skin of the other candidates on the stage and they're going out of their way to take him down a peg even if it means forgoing opportunities against the ostensible polling leader.
-Analysis by Jacob Rubashkin, Inside Elections

Recent initial primary debates have involved a lot of candidates — 17 for Republicans in 2016 and 20 for Democrats in 2020 — across two debates, either on the same night or across two evenings. To lead off the 2024 cycle, Republicans will have a more intimate affair, with eight contenders taking the stage tonight. That number could’ve been slightly larger, however, as nine GOP candidates met the RNC’s debate qualification criteria for polls and donors. But Trump isn’t participating, having refused to sign a mandated loyalty pledge promising to support the eventual GOP nominee in the general election, so there will be only eight lecterns on stage.

Eligible participants either earned 1 percent support in three national polls or at least 1 percent in two national polls and two polls from the first four states voting in the GOP primary (each coming from separate states), based on surveys that meet certain criteria for inclusion. They also attracted donations from at least 40,000 unique contributors, with at least 200 donors from 20 or more states and/or territories.

Meeting these criteria was straightforward for most of the candidates, as by the end of July, seven (including Trump) had enough qualifying polls and donors to make the stage. Lagging behind, Pence became the eighth eligible contender when his campaign announced on Aug. 7 that he brought in enough unique donors. Hutchinson had enough surveys in hand by late July, but he only announced on Sunday that he had reached the 40,000 donor mark, coming in just under the deadline.

But there was last-minute drama, as businessman Perry Johnson and Miami Mayor Francis Suarez each said they had qualified, only for the RNC to leave them off its final list of participants. Johnson in particular may have a bone to pick, as he claimed that the RNC initially indicated that he had enough polls, and our analysis suggests he did, too. Larry Elder, who along with Johnson hasn’t met FiveThirtyEight’s criteria for being considered a major candidate, also claimed he had made it,> but one of the polls he cited did not have a large enough sample size to meet the RNC’s criteria. Johnson and Elder announced yesterday that they were suing the RNC. Suarez, Johnson, Elder and Hurd all had enough donors to make the stage but, controversially or not, lacked the polls in the end.

-Analysis by Geoffrey Skelley of FiveThirtyEight