Republican debate highlights and analysis: Fiery faceoff on Trump, Ukraine and more
The 2024 hopefuls took the stage in Milwaukee on Wednesday night, without Trump.
The first Republican debate of the 2024 presidential primary was held in Milwaukee on Wednesday night.
Eight candidates qualified for a spot on the stage: North Dakota Gov. Doug Burgum, former New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie, Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis, former U.N. Ambassador Nikki Haley, former Arkansas Gov. Asa Hutchinson, former Vice President Mike Pence, entrepreneur Vivek Ramaswamy and South Carolina Sen. Tim Scott.
Missing from the event was the primary's early front-runner: former President Donald Trump, who declined to participate and instead released a pre-recorded interview with Tucker Carlson.
ABC News and FiveThirtyEight live-blogged every major moment and highlight from the debate, aired on Fox News, with FiveThirtyEight providing analysis and a closer look at the polling and data behind the politicians. PolitiFact made real-time fact checks of key statements.
Read deeper:
Haley finally gets a question on foreign policy, a strong suit for the former U.N. Ambassador. She defends American support for Ukraine and ties it to the fight against China. But while the moderators teed her up to attack DeSantis, she instead pivots to Ramaswamy. She's pretty fiery in her back-and-forth with him, saying he has no foreign policy experience "and it shows."
-Analysis from Jacob Rubashkin, Inside Elections
Christie says US needs to stand up to 'autocratic killing'
On Russia's invasion of Ukraine, Christie referenced his recent trip to the war-torn country and said that he "wanted to see for myself what [Russian President] Vladimir Putin's army was doing to the free Ukrainian people."
"They have gouged out people's eyes, cut off their ears and shot people in the back of the head," Christie said of the brutality he saw.
"This is the Vladimir Putin who Donald Trump called 'brilliant' and a 'genius,'" he continued. "If we don't stand up against this type of autocratic killing, we will be next."
-ABC News' Meredith Deliso
Born in 1985 and only 38, Ramaswamy may be the only candidate on stage who was too young to remember the Cold War. The USSR dissolved when he was 6.
-Analysis by Monica Potts of FiveThirtyEight
The debate over Ukraine is a window into the intraparty battle between its previously more dominant neoconservative wing that lost credibility during and after the George W. Bush years and the comparably isolationist wing that's gained ground with Trump's time in office. Ramaswamy, as an avatar for the New Right, specifically name-checked the Iraq War, saying the Ukraine conflict could lead to American intervention. By comparison, Pence and Haley, more traditional conservatives who have foreign policy experience from their time as vice president and U.N. ambassador, respectively, were especially vocal in defending U.S. support for Ukraine.-Analysis by Geoffrey Skelley of FiveThirtyEight
Nixon, Gore, Perry and more memorable moments from debates past
A hallmark of the American electoral process, debates are considered a key showcase for candidates seeking to hold the nation's top office.
Memorable moments include Ronald Reagan’s witty response to questions about his age and Kamala Harris’ challenge to Joe Biden on segregation and race, which prompted the viral line: "That little girl was me."
But not all debate highlights are positive. Richard Nixon’s sweating, Al Gore's relentless sighing and Rick Perry’s "oops" gaffe were considered costly to their campaigns.
"These are the only times we see them side by side," one expert told ABC News. "They provide opportunities for candidates to either help themselves or hurt themselves."
Read more here.
-ABC News' Alexandra Hutzler