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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Haley tries to defuse barbs
Haley tried to defuse the flying attacks, including another round of barbs between Christie and Ramaswamy.
"This is exactly why Margaret Thatcher said if you want something said, ask a man. If you want something done, ask a woman," Haley said.
"If you want something said, ask a man. If you want something done, ask a woman," says Haley (quoting former U.K. Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher), chastising both Christie and Ramaswamy while drawing attention to the fact that she's the only woman up on stage tonight.
-Analysis by Jacob Rubashkin, Inside Elections
Pence, Ramaswamy get into first back-and-forth of the night
Pence and Ramaswamy engaged in the first fiery back-and-forth of the night, with the former vice president going after the entrepreneur in an unprompted attack.
"You got people on this stage that won't even talk about issues like Social Security and Medicare," Pence said. "Vivek, you recently said, a president can't do everything. Well, I got news for you … the president of the United States has to confront every crisis facing America. I will put our nation back on the path to growth and prosperity and restore fiscal responsibility."
Ramaswamy didn't directly take Pence on in response, saying he'd tap into all of America's energy resources.
Pence didn't let Ramaswamy off the hook, firing back, "Let me explain it to you. I'll go slower this time."
Burgum finally gets a word in, and starts with an easy "break a leg" joke. Notable that he pivots pretty quickly from the economy write large to specifically talk about energy. He's come armed with the statistics you'd expect from the leader of one of the top energy-producing states in the union.
Trump leads everyone on stage by nearly 40 points
The moderators finally turn to discussing Trump, who has skipped the debate for a (pre-recorded!) interview with Tucker Carlson. It's clearly intentional that they waited this long — Trump is ahead by 37 points in our national polling average, so he's an obvious elephant (not) in the room. In some ways the entire debate is moot because of that lead. Remember that these candidates are running for second and third place right now, not first.
-Analysis by G Elliott Morris of FiveThirtyEight