Haley spars with Republican rivals at 3rd primary debate as Trump still looms

The night heavily focused on international affairs.

The third Republican debate of the 2024 presidential primary was held Wednesday night in Miami.

Five candidates took the stage: former New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie, Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis, former U.N. Ambassador Nikki Haley, entrepreneur Vivek Ramaswamy and South Carolina Sen. Tim Scott.

Missing -- again -- was front-runner Donald Trump, who instead hosted a rally not far away, in Hialeah, Florida.

ABC News and the analysts at 538 live-blogged every major moment and highlight from the debate. PolitiFact made real-time fact checks of key statements.


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Fact-checking the back-and-forth between DeSantis and Haley on China

In campaign ads and on the trail, the DeSantis campaign has been attacking Haley for recruiting a Chinese fiberglass company to South Carolina while she was governor.

On stage, Haley turned the table on DeSantis.

“Ron, you are the chair of your economic development agency that, as of last week, said Florida is the ideal place for Chinese businesses,” Haley said.

“I abolished that agency that she's talking about,” DeSantis responded.

Haley is pointing to the web page of Select Florida, Florida’s economic development entity. The website talked extensively about business opportunities in China, according to The Messenger. It included a quote from a 2020 report that discussed “positioning Florida as an ideal business destination for Chinese companies.” The references were removed from the website last week.

DeSantis’ office told The Messenger it removed some items from Select Florida's website that were "outdated information on a website for an organization that the governor abolished, so it was updated accordingly."

"Gov. Ron DeSantis signed HB 5 to eliminate Enterprise Florida (EFI), the state’s public-private business development agency. In doing so, DeSantis ended more than 30 years of EFI providing incentives to corporations and – prior to DeSantis’ crackdown – courting Chinese investments," the DeSantis campaign said.

-Analysis by Aaron Sharockman of PolitiFact


Something must be done about TikTok, candidates say

The candidates took on TikTok, arguing that the enormously popular if controversial social media app should be banned in the U.S.

Trump "talked tough about TikTok, I heard him do it many times, but when it came down to it, he did not ban them when he could have and should have," Christie said. "In my first week as president, we would ban TikTok."

"I think that China's the top threat we face. They've been very effective at infiltrating different parts of our society," Desantis, the father of three young kids, said. "These kids get these devices, and they have a mind of their own."

Ramaswamy, who has waffled on TikTok usage, targeted Haley's daughter's use of the app, drawing some boos, which he played down as coming from Haley supporters.

"We have to ban any U.S. company actually transferring U.S. data to the Chinese," Ramaswamy added. "Even U.S. companies in Silicon Valley are doing it."

"What we should do is ban TikTok, period," Scott said.

-ABC News' Tal Axelrod


TikTok bans are popular, but not among young voters

As 538’s Cooper Burton wrote a few months ago, TikTok bans are popular among roughly half of Americans. But one group that is strongly opposed is young Americans, which Republicans have historically struggled with.
-Analysis by Nathaniel Rakich of 538


Haley calls Ramaswamy 'scum'

The two candidates who have perhaps the most acrimonious relationship on stage, Haley and Ramaswamy, have spent a notable amount of the debate sparring with each other.

After Ramaswamy mentioned that Haley's daughter has used TikTok, despite Republican criticism of the Chinese-owned app -- drawing boos from attendees -- Haley admonished him.

"Leave my daughter out of your voice," she said, adding with an eye roll: "You're just scum."

-ABC News' Adam Carlson


Could this be Scott or Christie’s last debate?

Five candidates made the stage in Miami, but Christie and Scott had a tougher time qualifying than the other three contenders. That will put pressure on them to really shine as they seek to have more staying power in this race.

At this point, both have clear hurdles to making the December debate, and as past elections have shown, failing to qualify for a debate can portend the near-term end of a candidate’s campaign.

Looking ahead to the next debate, the Republican National Committee raised the polling threshold for qualifying surveys from 4% to 6%, a level that Christie and Scott have struggled to hit. In fact, Scott did not do better than 4% in a qualifying national poll for this debate, so he may face the most difficulty.

With that in mind, expect him to assert himself, which might mean more attacks on Haley, his fellow South Carolinian and someone whom Scott criticized at the last debate.

As for Christie, he’s in a tougher spot because most Republicans have an unfavorable view of him, which greatly limits his ability to increase his support. Still, given Christie’s sharp anti-Trump rhetoric, we can probably expect him to keep leaning into that approach in the hopes that it’ll draw backing from more moderate and/or independent-minded voters who plan to vote in the GOP primary.

-Analysis by Geoffrey Skelley of 538