Closing summary
In Miami, NBC News hosted the most sober and restrained of the three Republican presidential debates thus far. Ron DeSantis, Tim Scott, Nikki Haley, Vivek Ramaswamy and Chris Christie feuded and found common ground over a variety of topics, including border security, abortion access and social security reforms. But there was drama nonetheless, particularly between Haley and Ramaswamy, who the former UN ambassador at one point called “scum”. Donald Trump, who has an overwhelming lead among polls for the nomination, once again skipped the get-together, and reportedly will not attend the fourth debate set for next month in Alabama.
Here’s a recap of some of the biggest moments:
DeSantis again called for gunning down drug traffickers who cross into the US over the southern border with Mexico.
Christie accused TikTok of “polluting the minds of American young people all throughout this country”, and said he would ban it on his first day in the White House.
Scott warned of “terrorist sleeper cells” in America, while demanding more accountability for aid to Ukraine.
Ramaswamy called for Joe Biden to drop his re-election campaign, and accused him of not really being the president.
Haley said Vladimir Putin and Xi Jinping would love to see Ramaswamy in the White House. She did not mean it as a compliment.
Biden campaign says debate showed Republicans 'embracing Donald Trump’s losing and extreme Maga agenda'
The manager of Joe Biden’s re-election campaign Julie Chavez Rodriguez released a statement lumping the five Republicans who participated in tonight’s debate with Donald Trump, saying there is no daylight between their policies:
Normally, after you lose, you take a moment to reflect and course correct. But in Donald Trump’s MAGA Republican Party, apparently you double down on the same extreme agenda that was soundly rejected last night in elections across the country. That’s what we witnessed tonight: the entire Republican field once again embracing Donald Trump’s losing and extreme MAGA agenda of banning abortion, cutting Social Security and Medicare, and rigging the economy for the ultra-wealthy at the expense of working Americans. In fact, the only thing that the American people agree with these MAGA Republicans on is that their extreme agenda has left them reeling as ‘a party of losers.’
A year from now, Americans will face a clear choice — between President Biden, who is focused on the issues impacting you, and MAGA Republicans, whose policy platform is to make things worse for you by taking away your freedoms. We’ll spend the next year making sure every American knows just that.
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Noted Republican pollster Frank Luntz complimented Nikki Haley’s stance on abortion.
The GOP has been suffering at the ballot box ever since the supreme court overturned Roe v Wade last year. Just yesterday, voters in Ohio, a state that has voted Republican in the last two presidential elections, approved a constitutional amendment to protect abortion, while in Virginia, Democrats took control of the general assembly, preventing Republican governor Glenn Youngkin’s plan to pass an abortion plan.
Here’s a recap of Haley’s remarks. We’ll see if the policy does her any good in her race for the nomination, or if other Republicans follow suit:
Nikki Haley has the best Republican answer on abortion.
— Frank Luntz (@FrankLuntz) November 9, 2023
The @GOP would be stronger if they used her language. pic.twitter.com/gaXStT7gmG
Trump plans to skip fourth Republican presidential debate in Alabama - report
Donald Trump did not attend tonight’s debate of Republican presidential candidates, nor the two that came before it, and CBS News reports he will not participate in the fourth debate set for next month:
Newsy — Trump advisor Chris LaCavita tells @edokeefe that Trump will not attend the fourth debate next month in Tuscaloosa, Alabama
— Olivia Rinaldi (@olivialarinaldi) November 9, 2023
That debate is set for 6 December in Tuscaloosa, Alabama.
Tonight was the first debate without Doug Burgum, the North Dakota governor and presidential aspirant who is basically nowhere in the polls.
Shortly after it wrapped up, he posted some sour grapes on X, formerly known as Twitter:
Tonight, voters learned why a career politician shouldn’t be the next president, and why party insiders have no business artificially shrinking the Republican field. Career politicians can’t fix what’s wrong in Washington. They’re why we’re in this mess in the first place!
— Doug Burgum (Text "DOUG" to 70177) (@DougBurgum) November 9, 2023
Abortion bans that Republicans pushed for have become a liability for the party. As the candidates search for new ways to discuss the topic, they have been softening their tones and regurgitating anti-abortion myths.
Ron DeSantis said he stands “culture of life” but noted that different states may want different things. He did not emphasize the six-week abortion ban he signed into law. Nikki Haley, who once touted her stanchly pro-life views and suggested federal action taken to limit abortions tonight said it’s unlikely that a federal ban would have support in Congress.
She also brought back misinformation about “late term abortion”, which doctors emphasize is not a medical term, and does not carry medical relevance.
Tim Scott also said that California and New York allow abortion “until the day of birth” which is false. Those states ban almost all abortions after fetal viability, around 24 weeks into pregnancy. Seven states and the District of Columbia have no restrictions on abortion. Nonetheless, less than 1% of abortions in the US are performed past 21 weeks.
Here’s more context, from the Guardian’s Carter Sherman.
Ramaswamy demands Biden 'end his candidacy now'
As the debate concluded, Vivek Ramaswamy leveled an attack on Joe Biden, arguing he isn’t really the president and demanding he end his re-election campaign.
“I also want to close with one message to the Democrat Party: End this farce that Joe Biden is going to be your nominee. We know he’s not even the president of the United States – he’s a puppet for the managerial class,” Ramaswamy said.
“So have the guts to step up and be honest about who you’re actually going to put up, so we can have an honest debate. Biden should step aside and end his candidacy now, so we can see whether it’s Newsom or Michelle Obama or whoever else.”
'I don't judge anyone for being pro-choice', Haley says, arguing, 'We don't need to divide America over this issue anymore'
Tonight’s debate is taking place in the wake of yesterday’s election, where Republican attempts to curb abortion were turned down by voters in Ohio and Virginia. Indeed, the GOP has been on a losing streak at the ballot box on the issue ever since Roe v Wade was struck down in June 2022, and in response to a question on her abortion policy, Nikki Haley called for something of a ceasefire.
“What I’ll tell you is, as much as I’m pro-life, I don’t judge anyone for being pro-choice, and I don’t want them to judge me for being pro-life. So when we’re looking at this, there are some states that are going more on the pro-life side, I welcome that. There are some states that are going more on the pro-choice side. I wish that wasn’t the case, but the people decided,” Haley said.
She also noted the long odds any nationwide abortion restriction would face getting through Congress and signed by the president, and concluded by appealing for politicians to back off the issue:
So let’s find consensus. Let’s agree on … how we can ban late-term abortions. Let’s make sure we encourage adoptions and good quality adoptions. Let’s make sure we make contraception accessible. Let’s make sure that none of these state laws put a woman in jail or give her the death penalty for getting an abortion. Let’s focus on how to save as many babies as we can, and support as many moms as we can and stop judgment. We don’t need to divide America over this issue anymore.
Ron DeSantis said he wants to impose sanctions on Mexican cartels, a move that the Biden administration made yesterday.
The Biden administration imposed sanctions on 13 members of the Sinaloa cartel, and four of the Sonora cartel, accusing them of trafficking fentanyl.
The sanctions cut them off from the US banking system, and blocked their US assets.
Ramaswamy supports walls on borders with both Mexico and Canada
Like many Republicans, Vivek Ramaswamy said he wanted to build a wall on the southern border. But he didn’t stop there.
Ramaswamy says he also wants to build a wall on the northern border with Canada, arguing it’s also a source of fentanyl trafficking. From his remarks:
What we need to do is stop using our military to protect somebody else’s border halfway around the world, when we’re short right here at home.
Get serious about protecting this border and then the other thing that hasn’t been discussed as the northern border, I’m the only candidate on this stage, as far as I’m aware, who has actually visited the northern border. There was enough fentanyl that was captured just on the northern border last year to kill 3 million Americans. So we got to just skate to where the puck is going, not just where the puck is. Don’t just build the wall, build both walls.
DeSantis, again, calls for shooting drug smugglers 'stone cold dead'
Ron DeSantis once again proposed hardline, legally dubious methods to improve security on the US border with Mexico, including shooting drug smugglers “stone cold dead”.
He had made a similar remark at a previous debate, and repeated it just now:
I’ll build a wall, but we’re going to designate the cartels to be foreign terrorist organizations or something similar to that. And we’re going to authorize the use of deadly force. We’re going to have maritime operations to interdict precursor chemicals going into Mexico, but I’ll tell you this, if someone in the drug cartels is sneaking fentanyl across the border, when I’m president, that’s going to be the last thing they do. We’re going to shoot him stone cold dead.
Scott joins calls to 'close our southern border'
The debaters are debating again, and one thing’s for sure: the salvoes between Vivek Ramaswamy and Nikki Haley notwithstanding, this faceoff is a much more sober affair than the previous two.
The candidates were asked how they would handle border security and fentanyl smuggled across the border. Tim Scott responded first, and called for deploying technology to secure the border.
We should close our southern border. For $10 billion, we can close our southern border. For an additional $5 billion, we could use the currently available military technology to surveil our southern border to stop fentanyl from crossing our border.
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The debate is now taking another commercial break!
Shortly before it did so, Ron DeSantis earned himself some chuckles by making light of his state’s place as a destination for many retirees.
“Well, look, as governor of Florida, I know a few people on Social Security and I know it’s important,” DeSantis remarked.
The debate has entered wonky territory, as the candidates weigh in on whether they would reform the Social Security old-age benefit.
Reforming the program is considered one of the most perilous topics in Washington, so much so that it’s often referred to as the “third rail” of US politics. But Social Security is projected to be heading towards insolvency, and Chris Christie proposed raising the retirement age and cutting off high-earners from accessing it:
The fact is on Social Security, remember why it was established. It was established as a safety net program to make sure that no one would grow old in this country in poverty. That’s what we got to get back to – rich people should not be collecting Social Security.
Nikki Haley made a similar argument, while saying the retirement age, currently 65, should be recalibrated to “reflect more of life expectancy. It doesn’t do that now.”
Most candidates seemed to agree that TikTok is bad, and they all want to ban it. Both Republicans and Democrats in the Capitol seem to agree on this as well.
Montana became the first state in the US to completely ban the app in May, based on the argument that the Chinese government could gain access to user information from TikTok. But in legal proceedings challenging the ban, a federal judge expressed skepticism, saying that Montana had not provided evidence to debunk TikTok’s assertion that it does not share US user data.
More than half of US states and the federal government have banned the app on official devices.
Content creators have said that total bans would harm businesses and violate free speech rights.
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The snit between Nikki Haley and Vivek Ramaswamy is better watched than read.
Thus, you can see the exchange, and hear the audience’s gasps, below:
“Leave my daughter out of your voice ... You’re just scum.”
— The Recount (@therecount) November 9, 2023
— Nikki Haley hits Vivek Ramaswamy after he brings up the fact that her daughter, like him, uses TikTok. pic.twitter.com/3CKUupHaD1
Tim Scott said that Biden had sent ‘billions to Iran’, which is misleading.
Scott appears to be referring to a prisoner swap, wherein the Biden administration $6bn (£4.8bn) of Iranian oil money in exchange for the release of five American detainees. The money was not US money, but rather money owed to Iran and frozen by the Trump administration in 2018 when the US left the Iran nuclear deal.
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Haley calls Ramaswamy 'scum' after he invokes daughter in debate
It just gets worse and worse between Nikki Haley and Vivek Ramaswamy. When it came the entrepreneur’s turn to talk about his policy on TikTok, Ramaswamy referred to Haley and said, “In the last debate, she made fun of me for actually joining TikTok while her own daughter was actually using the app for a long time, so you might want to take care of your family first.”
Haley shot back. “Leave my daughter out of your voice,” she said. And as Ramaswamy went on, she dismissed him, saying “you are just scum.”
Updated
Christie backs TikTok ban, accuses app of 'polluting the minds of American young people'
The debate has resumed with the first question about TikTok, the much-maligned social media network that’s owned by a Chinese firm and beloved by many young people.
“Let me say this: TikTok is not only spyware, it is polluting the minds of American young people all throughout this country, and they’re doing it intentionally,” Chris Christie said. “In my first week as president, we would ban TikTok.”
The debate is now taking a brief break.
Shortly before the pause, Vivek Ramaswamy, who is no stranger to over-the-top, attention-grabbing remarks, appeared to call Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelenskiy a “Nazi”.
See the moment here:
Answering a question on Ukraine funding, Vivek Ramaswamy seems to call Volodymyr Zelenskyy a “Nazi.” pic.twitter.com/Yy1l6k539V
— The Recount (@therecount) November 9, 2023
Multiple candidates conflated pro-Palestine activism with antisemitism, mischaracterizing the global protest movement against Israel’s killing of more than 10,000 civilians in Gaza.
Nikki Haley compared pro-Palestinian protesters to the K.K.K., while DeSantis said he would quash student groups and questioned the existence of Islamophobia. Most pro-Palestine movements have condemned the Hamas killings in Israel alongside the growing casualties in Gaza. The candidates, however, did not speak to civilian deaths in Gaza on stage.
As the Guardian’s Wilfred Chan recently reported, this sort of rhetoric builds on “decades of organized efforts” to paint pro-Palestine advocates as antisemitic and pro-terrorist:
In 2015, CCR and Palestine Legal published a report on the tactics used by pro-Israel lobbying groups, school administrators and public officials to shut down Palestinian rights activists. They included false accusations of antisemitism or support for terrorism, legal threats and criminal investigations, and they often succeeded in “intimidating or deterring Palestinian solidarity activists from speaking out”, the report found.
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Haley says Putin and Xi 'salivating' at Ramaswamy's candidacy
The bad blood between Nikki Haley and Vivek Ramaswamy was apparent as the former UN ambassador responded to comments he made criticizing aid to Ukraine.
“Putin and President Xi are salivating at the thought that someone like that could become president,” Haley said.
She then strenuously defended assisting Kyiv in its defense against Russia’s invasion:
No, I don’t think we should give them cash. I think we should give them the equipment, the ammunition to win. And I’ll tell you if Biden had done it when they first asked for it, this war would be over. But let’s also remember this – when you left Afghanistan in shambles and left them with a ton of weapons and money, it’s not that we left it’s how we left.
When you look at Ukraine, don’t think for a second now everybody wants to move away from Ukraine. They’ll want to move away from Israel a year from now. America can never be so arrogant to think we don’t need friends. After 9/11, we needed a lot of friends. Now is the time to get partnerships.
'I believe that we have sleeper terrorist cells in America' - Scott
Responding to a question on how he would assist Ukraine in its battle against Russia’s invasion, senator Tim Scott pivoted to criticizing the Biden administration’s border policies, and then warned that “terrorist cells” are entering the country from Mexico:
The American people are frustrated that they do not have a president who reminds us and tells us where’s the accountability. Where are those dollars? How are those dollars being spent? We need those answers for us to continue to see the support for Ukraine and at the same time I would say that the package … that’s been offered by the president for Ukraine and Israel, that’s a wrong approach. We need to focus specifically on providing Israel with the $14 billion that they need so that we show the world that we are 100% undeniably standing shoulder-to-shoulder with Israel. And then, as we turn away from that direct support for Israel, we should go to our southern border and close our southern border with the resources necessary.
I believe that we have sleeper terrorist cells in America. Thousands of people have come from Yemen, Iran, Syria and Iraq. If we’re going to deal with the national security emergency at our border, we have to do it now.
Initially, DeSantis had exaggerated his intervention after Hamas attacked Israel. He received pushback from Israeli diplomats after he falsely claimed credit for aid to Israel’s military operations in Gaza.
The Florida governor claimed he had worked with Israel’s consul general in Miami to send military equipment, including drones, body armor and helmets, though private parties. But Maor Elbaz-Starinsky, Israel’s consul general, said Israel had not asked for DeSantis’s help, and that the governor’s involvement was limited to smoothing paperwork requirements for a previously arranged shipment of “rifle parts” ordered by his government.
US exporters seeking to provide support for Israel would need to first get federal authorizations.
DeSantis questions existence of Islamophobia as he vows to protect Jewish students
Responding to a question about what he would do to make Jewish students feel comfortable on college campuses, Ron DeSantis appeared to imply that Islamophobia does not exist.
“And what is Biden doing? Not only is he not helping the Jewish students who are being persecuted, he is launching an initiative to combat so-called Islamophobia,” the Florida governor said.
“No, it’s the antisemitism that is spiraling out of control. That is what we have to confront. And as president, I can tell you this, we are not going to stand for this on college campuses any longer.”
Ron DeSantis attacked the Biden administration for leaving Americans “stranded” in Israel. “There could have been more hostages, if we hadn’t acted,” he said.
It’s true that DeSantis’s administration chartered flights to bring Floridians in Israel back to the US, but the rest of what he said is false.
The hostages were taken before DeSantis took any action to charter flights. Hamas took about 240 hostages when it attacked on 7 October. The group has not appeared to take any further hostages since its initial attack. It is unclear that DeSantis’ chartered planes to Israel would have any impact on Hamas’ actions.
The Biden administration is also sending flights to Israel to evacuate Americans. DeSantis’ administration said that Floridians coming back would not be charged for the flights, whereas the State Department is asking passengers for a refund.
A few minutes later, Nikki Haley responded to Vivek Ramaswamy’s attack.
“I’d first like to say I wear five-inch heels, and don’t wear them unless you can run on them,” she said. “I wear heels not for a fashion statement – they’re for ammunition.”
Asked about his policies towards Israel, Vivek Ramaswamy attacked Nikki Haley for pursuing policies he said fueled wars – and compared her to “Dick Cheney in three-inch heels”.
Cheney is the former vice-president under George W Bush who was seen as fueling that administration’s hawkish actions. From Ramaswamy’s response:
The fact of the matter is the Republican Party is not that much better. You have the likes of Nikki Haley who stepped down from her time at the UN, bankrupt or in debt … Then she becomes a military contractor. She joins the board of Boeing … and is now a multimillionaire. So I think that that’s wrong when Republicans do it or Democrats do it. That’s the choice we face. Do you want a leader from a different generation who is going to put this country first or do you want Dick Cheney in three-inch heels?
GOP candidates call to 'finish' Hamas, back hardline Israel response to attacks
The next question put to the candidates concerned Israel. “As President of the United States, what would you be urging Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to do at this moment?” asked Lester Holt.
All the candidates said they would support Israel in its conflict with Hamas, and backed hardline policies to rout the group from the Gaza Strip.
As Florida governor Ron DeSantis put it:
I will be telling Bibi finish the job once and for all with these butchers Hamas. They’re terrorists. They’re massacring innocent people. They would wipe every Jew off the globe if they could. He cannot live with that threat right by his country, that Hamas should release every hostage and they should unconditionally surrender. I’m sick of hearing the media, I’m sick of hearing other people blame Israel just for defending itself.
Nikki Haley said much the same:
The first thing I said to him when it happened was, I said, finish them. Finish them. And the reason is, I worked on this every day when I was at the United Nations. And we have to remember that they have to one, eliminate Hamas, two, support Israel with whatever they need whenever they need it, and three, make sure we bring our hostages home.
The question was then put to Vivek Ramaswamy, a wealthy entrepreneur and first-time presidential contender who is essentially running as the candidate who is even more conservative than Trump.
He started with harsh words for the GOP and its poor performance in recent elections, including yesterday’s. “I think there’s something deeper going on in the Republican Party, here and I am upset about what happened last night. We become a party of losers,” Ramaswamy said, adding “We got trounced last night in 2023. And I think that we have to have accountability in our party.”
Then he took the unusual decision to attack the moderators:
Think about who’s moderating this debate. This should be Tucker Carlson, Joe Rogan and Elon Musk, we’d have 10 times the viewership asking questions that GOP primary voters actually care about bringing more people into our party, getting the Democrats and we’ve got Kristen Welker here. Do you think Democrats would actually hire Greg Gutfeld toasted democratic debate? They wouldn’t do it. And so the fact of the matter is him and Kristen I’m gonna use this talk because it’s actually about you in the media and the corrupt media establishment.
Gutfeld is a conservative Fox News personality, while Welker is one of the NBC moderators handling tonight’s debate.
Next up to answer the question was Trump’s former UN ambassador Nikki Haley.
She harkened back to her time working in Trump’s administration, while arguing the time was right for “an accountant in the White House”.
From her answer:
You know, everybody wants to talk about President Trump. Well, I can talk about President Trump. I can tell you that I think he was the right president at the right time. I don’t think he’s the right president now. I think that he put us $8 trillion in debt, and our kids are never gonna forgive us for that. I think the fact that he used to be right on Ukraine and foreign issues, now he’s getting weak in the knees and trying to be friendly again. I think that we’ve got to go back to the fact that we can’t live in the past. We can’t live in other headlines. We’ve got to start focusing on what’s going to make America strong and proud. And that’s what I’m focused on doing. Let’s make sure we pay down our debt. I think we need an accountant in the White House.
Donald Trump isn’t even in attendance, but moderator Lester Holt made him the subject of the first question, which was addressed to all five candidates.
“Donald Trump is the first ex-president in more than 100 years to run for the White House again and he remains popular among Republican primary voters as his legal challenges mount,” Holt said.
Addressing Florida governor Ron DeSantis, Holt asked, “why should you and not him be the Republican nominee to face Joe Biden a year from now?”
DeSantis said, in part:
This country is in trouble and the elites that have put us here, they don’t care about you. They don’t care that you’re having to grapple with higher grocery prices or have higher gas prices. They don’t care that your family is less secure because of the open border that’s allowed drugs and even terrorists to come into this country.
Well, I care. I am not going to sit idly by and let this country continue its downward spiral. We need leadership, and we need it now. I’ll take the hits, I’ll take the arrows, I’ll take the slings, because ultimately it’s not about me – it’s about you. I will fight for you. I will make sure to lead this country’s revival, and I will win for you and your family. Actions speak louder than words. We don’t have time for excuses.
Third Republican presidential debate begins in Miami
The third debate of the 2024 Republican presidential primary has kicked off in Miami.
Hosted by NBC News, tonight’s event features Florida governor Ron DeSantis, former United Nations ambassador Nikki Haley, entrepreneur Vivek Ramaswamy, senator Tim Scott and former New Jersey governor Chris Christie.
Polls show that none of these candidates are leading the race, or even close to it. The frontrunner is Donald Trump, who has maintained his lead all year, but has not attended any debates – tonight’s included.
Tonight’s debate audience of about 1,700 people consists mostly of Republican party members and officials from many states. No public tickets were made available.
Several of those heading for the debate hall spoke of the need for unity among the candidates.
“After the disappointing results in Kentucky and Virginia, we have to get back to talking about the issues and policies,” Rafael Garcia, a “probable” Chris Christie supporter from Miami, said. “Everything we hear is about Trump, or DeSantis, and how they’re fighting with each other. We want to hear what plans they have for us, not tearing each other down all the time.”
Garcia said he believed either Christie, or Nikki Haley, would represent the best chance for Republicans to oust Joe Biden from the White House next year.
“I don’t really think Chris Christie can win the nomination, there are too many Trump people who are against him. But Haley has been doing well. I’d want it to be her if it’s between her and Trump.”
Sandy Anderson, from Delray Beach, Florida, is a supporter of Ron DeSantis. “He’s done such a good job as our governor, he deserves the chance to lead the country,” she said.
“I don’t understand why people don’t like him. He’s the strongest of all the candidates.”
A handful of protestors, some Republican supporters, some Democratic, have shown up outside Miami’s Adrienne Arsht performing arts center, where Republican presidential hopefuls (minus frontrunner Donald Trump) will face off in the third primary debate a little later this evening.
Miami native Bob Kunst is a regular attendee at political events in the city. Tonight he’s here calling on the candidates to declare their support for Israel, and denounce antisemitism. “I’m a Democrat, but Joe Biden isn’t getting it done, and I don’t think any of the Republicans here tonight have the balls,” he says.
Kunst worries that members of his synagogue who planned to protest with him won’t be able to find him. “The police have moved me twice,” he says, “from the front of the building to the side and now out back where there’s nobody around. It’s wrong.”
Donald Trump supporter Chauncey O’Connor said he thought about attending the former president’s rival rally tonight a short distance away in Hialeah, but instead wanted to “shake the hand of friendship” with those rooting for the challengers.
“I’ve been flipped off a few times,” he admits. “I just show them the peace sign.”
A few protesters are beginning to gather at Miami’s Adrienne Arsht center where Republican presidential candidates debate tonight. Trump supporter Chauncey O’Connor says he’s missing the former president’s rally nearby to be here. “I’ve been flipped off a few times,” he says. pic.twitter.com/Ja56EyZmhA
— Richard Luscombe (@richlusc) November 8, 2023
However tonight’s debate goes for Ron DeSantis, it’s unlikely to touch the heights of exactly one year ago, when Florida’s hard right governor soared to re-election by a 20 point margin, a fact he has been keen to brag about on the presidential campaign trail.
It’s possible, of course, that 8 November 2022 marked the pinnacle of DeSantis’s political career. There’s evidence his extremist agenda as governor since, which includes passing a six-week abortion ban, restricting Black voters’ rights, attacking the LGBTQ+ community and going after the state’s largest private employer, Disney, in a feud over his “Don’t Say Gay” law, has alienated voters both in Florida and nationally.
A poll released Tuesday showed DeSantis has fallen even further behind Donald Trump in Florida, mirroring his cratering support across the country.
That, and the shortening window to stage a comeback before January’s first primary contest in Iowa, is why he needs a stellar performance this evening here in Miami. Polling suggests Nikki Haley has tied him for second place to Trump in Iowa, and left him for dust in New Hampshire.
Expect DeSantis to face some searching questions tonight from Haley, particularly over the Israel-Hamas war, and his record in the governor’s mansion.
Instead of attending debate, Trump to hold rally near Miami to court Hispanic voters
Donald Trump is skipping this evening’s debate of Republican presidential candidates, but won’t be far from its Miami venue, the Knight Concert Hall at the Adrienne Arsht Center for Performing Arts.
The former president is instead scheduled to hold a rally in the suburb of Hialeah, where he is looking to court Hispanic voters in a state that supported his candidacy both in 2016 and 2020, and will be crucial in his campaign for the White House next year.
Trump’s rally is scheduled to begin at 7pm.
NBC News the host of third GOP presidential debate
NBC News is hosting this evening’s Republican debate, which begins at 8pm in Miami.
The five-candidate showdown will be moderated by Lester Holt, anchor of NBC Nightly News, Kristen Welker, moderator of Meet the Press, and Hugh Hewitt, a prominent conservative radio host.
NBC will show the debate live here, as well as on major streaming platforms.
Fox News hosted the first debate in Milwaukee, while the second debate in Simi Valley, California was co-hosted by Fox News, Fox Business Network and Univision.
DeSantis, Haley, Ramaswamy, Scott, Christie set for Florida faceoff
Good evening, US politics blog readers, and thank you for joining us as we cover the third debate of the Republican presidential nomination process. This evening at 8pm eastern time in Miami, five candidates – Florida governor Ron DeSantis, former United Nations ambassador Nikki Haley, entrepreneur Vivek Ramaswamy, senator Tim Scott and former New Jersey governor Chris Christie – will take the stage for yet another unusual debate among the GOP’s presidential aspirants. What makes tonight’s faceoff, and the two others that came before, so strange is the absence of the far-and-away frontrunner for the nomination, Donald Trump. He wasn’t there for the first debate in Milwaukee, nor for the second debate in Simi Valley, California, and won’t be in Miami for tonight’s showdown, and paid no apparent penalty for it – poll after poll shows him with a massive lead for the nomination.
But no ballots have been cast yet and nothing is decided, meaning there is plenty of reason to pay attention to what these five Republicans have to say. Here’s a few things we will be looking out for:
Abortion proved once again to be the GOP’s Achilles heel in off-year elections held yesterday. Voters in Virginia handed the state legislature to Democrats in a rebuke of Republican governor Glenn Youngkin’s push to restrict the procedure, while red-leaning Ohio voted to protect the right in the state constitution. What will the five candidates, all abortion foes of various stripes, have to say about that?
Haley has seen a pop in recent polling, coming in striking distance of the second-place position currently held by DeSantis. Will that intensify the rivalry between the two candidates, or expose Haley, who served under Trump, to new attacks?
Israel’s place as a cause celebre for Republicans has been renewed ever since Hamas’s deadly 7 October attack. What will the candidates say about their policy towards the country, particularly when it comes to the ongoing and controversial invasion of Gaza?
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