Campaign 2024 kicked off on the night of Aug. 23, as eight Candidates participated in the first Republican Debate of the upcoming Presidential Election.
Candidates talked about issues ranging from education, the economy and the criminal proceedings of Donald Trump, during the first Republican Presidential Debate of 2024 hosted by Fox News at the Fiserv Forum.
“So first let me just address a question that is on everybody’s mind at home tonight: who the heck is this skinny guy with a funny last name, and what the heck is he doing in the middle of this debate stage,” Vivek Ramaswamy, the 38-year-old political newcomer said in his opening remarks.
Ramaswamy introduced himself to most Americans on Wednesday night as a political newcomer born from immigrant parents, using a quip similar to one Barack Obama used in his first presidential bid. The Ohio entrepreneur sparred with other more established candidates in the debate like former Vice President Mike Pence, former New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie and former South Carolina Gov. Nikki Haley. Ramaswamy has seen a sharp rise in the polls in recent weeks, getting close to catching up with second place Ron DeSantis in polling averages for the primary.
“Wisconsin is gonna do it different than Texas,” Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis said on the issue of abortion during the debate.
Candidates proposed differing ideas over abortion during the debate, with Governors Haley and Burgum seeming to support more consensus-building positions on the issue, while Gov. DeSantis and Sen. Scott took more rigid ideological approaches to the issue. Abortion was an important issue in the 2022 midterm elections after the Dobbs V. Jackson decision, and it seems like it will remain as such in the 2024 campaign with both Republican candidates and Democratic President Joe Biden making it a central topic.
“…we are going to take a brief moment and talk about the elephant not in the room,” Fox Host Bret Baier said to the candidates as they entered a new segment of the debate.
This segment of the debate covered Donald Trump, who refused to sign the Republican National Committee loyalty pledge, skipping out on the debate. Trump is under four separate criminal indictments, yet holds a commanding lead over all Republican rivals for the party’s nomination. According to FiveThirtyEight, he commands 50% of Republican primary voters in the polling average compared to his closest rival, Ron DeSantis’ 15%. All eight candidates were asked if they would support Trump if nominated, and if he was convicted by the time of the election, only two: Governors Chris Christie and Asa Hutchinson, said they would not. This has led many political pundits and forecasters to predict that Donald Trump will easily end up as the party’s 2024 nominee, with some predicting a 2020 rematch in next year’s election.