Former South Carolina governor Nikki Haley repeatedly called Florida Governor Ron DeSantis a liar while both candidates criticised the former president and Republican frontrunner Donald Trump in the final debate before the Iowa caucus on Wednesday evening.
The debate hosted by CNN in Des Moines came five days before Republicans across the Hawkeye State gather in public meeting spaces to make their decision about who they support to be the Republican nominee for president.
Mr DeSantis, the once-promising governor who had hoped his hard-right policies on everything from abortion to restricting how gender and sexuality are taught in schools would bolster him in the heavily church-going Iowa, elected to regularly attack Ms Haley.
“As Republicans, you need somebody that is going to be in there and fight for you and Nikki Haley, anytime the going gets tough, anytime people come down, she caves,” Mr DeSantis said.
Throughout the debate, he sought to highlight how Ms Haley’s failure to pass a school voucher program showed she could not be a reliable conservative leader. Mr DeSantis, who has the endorsement of Iowa’s Governor Kim Reynolds and who has visited all 99 counties in the state, criticised Ms Haley’s numerous gaffes.
“She’s got this problem with ballistic podiatry, shooting herself in the foot,” Mr DeSantis said.
Ms Haley has seen her poll numbers in Iowa rise in recent weeks despite her campaigning heavily in New Hampshire. But polling has shown she is also competitive in Iowa.
In turn, she criticised Mr DeSantis for being dishonest about her record. She also pointed out Mr DeSantis’s own failures in his presidential campaign.
“He has blown through $150m, I don't even know how you do that,” she said. “He spent more money on private planes than he has on commercials trying to get iowans to vote for him.”
At multiple points, Mr DeSantis attempted to call Ms Haley insufficiently conservative or unable to pass Republican priorities, which led to her offering quick ripostes.
“I think I hit a nerve,” she said at one point, while when Mr DeSantis attacked her record on Social Security, she interrupted him by saying “You’re just so desperate.”
Ms Haley also repeatedly plugged her website – DeSantisLies.com – highlighting how Mr DeSantis supposedly lied about her record. In total, she mentioned the website a staggering 16 times.
But the two candidates could not avoid talking about Mr Trump, who had chosen instead to participate in a town hall event with Fox News.
“I wish Donald Trump was up here on this stage,” Ms Haley said. “He's the one that I'm running against. He's the one that I wish would be here. He needs to be defending his record.”
Similarly, Mr DeSantis criticised Mr Trump for not being tougher on immigration.
The two also criticised Mr Trump for not being sufficiently conservative on abortion and not answering questions on whether he opposes the procedure despite the fact he nominated three of the Supreme Court justices essential to killing Roe v Wade.
“You'd have to ask him, that's why he should be on this debate stage,” she said. “Don't ask me what President Trump thinks you need to have him on this debate stage and ask him for yourself.”
Mr DeSantis for his part criticised Mr Trump for opposing a law he signed in Florida that banned abortion at six weeks.
Debate moderators Jake Tapper and Dana Bash of CNN also asked about Mr Trump’s call to terminate all rules including the US Constitution. Both Mr DeSantis and Ms Haley criticised the call.
Ms Haley also pushed back on Mr Trump praising the January 6 riot at the US Capitol as a “beautiful day” and denounced the former president’s lie that the 2020 election that he lost to President Joe Biden was stolen.
“But that election, Trump lost it,” she said. “Biden won that election and the idea that he's gone and carried this out forever, to the point that he's going to continue to say these things to scare the American people are wrong.”
Conversely, Mr DeSantis, who rose to prominence for rapidly re-opening Florida during the Covid-19 pandemic, sought to brush off Mr Trump’s remarks as something the media mentions regularly despite the fact that Mr Trump remains the overwhelming favourite for the Republican nomination for president.
“I mean, I know he does, you know, word vomit from time to time on social media, but obviously I will uphold the Constitution,” he said. “ But you know who else deserves to be criticized? The people who violated the Constitution during Covid to lock people out of schools, to destroy businesses, to force masks, to force vaccines.”
Despite the heated exchanges, both candidates face uphill climbs to win both in Iowa on Monday and in the Republican primary as a whole. Mr Trump holds an overwhelming lead in the state that holds the first presidential contest.
While one poll showed Ms Haley down by single digits in New Hampshire, which holds the first primary in the nation, another showed her down by 19 points against Mr Trump.
Shortly before the debate, former New Jersey governor Chris Christie, an outspoken critic of Mr Trump, dropped out of the race. Prior to his announcement, a hot microphone caught him saying about Ms Haley, “She’s gonna get smoked” whereas he said that Mr DeSantis called the former governor and said “he’s petrified.”
The move should ostensibly help Ms Haley, who likely shares a pool of voters with Mr Christie. But his remarks show he had little faith she could beat Mr Trump.
Next month, Ms Haley’s home state South Carolina will host the third contest.
