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.


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DeSantis again vows to use 'lethal force' at the border

DeSantis expressed support for using the U.S. military to combat drug cartels across the border.

"The president of the United States has to use all available powers as commander in chief to protect our country and the people," DeSantis said.

"When they are coming across, yes we are going to use lethal force," he continued -- a line he's used repeatedly throughout the campaign.

Activists have pushed back that his plan is inhumane and illegal.

-ABC News' Alexandra Hutzler


Martha MacCallum just asked about what to do about migrants already in the United States. In a July poll by The New York Times/Siena College, 39 percent of likely Republican voters say that they supported a “comprehensive immigration reform bill that provides a pathway to citizenship for all undocumented immigrants” in the United States, while 57 percent opposed such a bill. Support was weakest among Trump supporters (29 percent) compared with DeSantis supporters (48 percent) and voters who say they will vote for another candidate (50 percent).
-Analysis by FiveThirtyEight


Sen. Scott so far has stayed away from attacks and stuck to his stump speech

While many candidates onstage have sparred with each other -- including Haley and Ramaswamy swapping sharp words on foreign policy -- Scott has yet to engage with any of the other candidates.

Much of his remarks have almost word for word repeated elements from his campaign stump speech. When asked about China, which he has addressed in other appearances, he pivoted to speaking about the U.S. border.

-ABC News’ Gabriella Abdul-Hakim and Oren Oppenheim


DeSantis said he wouldn’t increase aid to Ukraine: "Europe needs to step up"

Asked to raise their hand if they would not increase aid to Ukraine, DeSantis did so, saying that "Europe needs to step up. They need to step up and do their job."

He argued: "I would have Europe pull their weight. ... Our support should be contingent on them doing it.

DeSantis -- who had received backlash from some other politicians for seemingly backtracking on support for Ukraine -- pivoted to say that he wasn’t going to send troops overseas but rather down to the Southern border.

-ABC News' Hannah Demissie and Will McDuffie


Trump has a huge lead in the endorsement primary

In 2016, Trump was the ultimate outsider candidate — he didn’t receive a single endorsement from a sitting senator, representative or governor until after he had already won New Hampshire, South Carolina and Nevada. This year, though, he already has a ton of elite support. According to the FiveThirtyEight endorsement tracker, he has 343 endorsement points — nearly eight times as many as DeSantis, who is in second place.

The 2016 race notwithstanding, endorsements have historically been very predictive of who eventually wins a party’s nomination. The candidate with the most FiveThirtyEight endorsement points on the day before the Iowa caucuses has won 11 of the last 17 Republican and Democratic primary fights without an incumbent president. And when that candidate has a dominant endorsement lead, they win even more often: Endorsement leaders who had collected more than 15 percent of the estimated available endorsement points before Iowa won nine times out of 10. And Trump already has 17 percent of all available endorsement points with five months left until Iowa.

-Analysis by Nathaniel Rakich of FiveThirtyEight