Highlights from first 2024 Republican presidential debate

Former Vice President Mike Pence recalled his heated exchange over abortion with former South Carolina Gov. Nikki Haley during the first GOP presidential debate, telling CNN that “most of the candidates running” are “trying to relegate the question of abortion as states-only issue.” 

Pence endorsed a 15-week federal abortion ban, while Haley pushed for consensus on issues such as encouraging adoption and allowing doctors and nurses with moral objections to the procedure the right not to perform them.

“It’s not a states-only issue, it’s a moral issue,” Pence told CNN’s Dana Bash following the debate. “When the Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade, they returned the issue of abortion to the states and the American people.”

Following the debate, Pence also dodged questions on whether he considers candidate Vivek Ramaswamy a threat as he repeatedly sparred with the entrepreneur on the debate stage. 

“Because I was a conservative leader in Congress for 12 years, because I lead Indiana as a conservative governor, because I was vice president in a consequential conservative administration, I think I’m the most qualified, most tested, and most ready candidate for president of United States in this field,” Pence said. “And as I said, whether it be Vivek or others, no one can match that experience.” 

Former President Donald Trump sought to minimize any threat his Republican rivals pose to him to win the 2024 nomination and portray President Joe Biden as unfit for office in a pre-recorded interview with former Fox News host Tucker Carlson that he sat for in lieu of participating in the first GOP debate. 

Trump argued his standing in the polls meant debating was beneath him, saying:

The former president dismissed the 91 charges he faces across four separate criminal cases in the interview that was posted the night before he is expected to turn himself in at the Fulton County jail after being criminally charged in the state’s 2020 election subversion case. 

“I got indicted four times. All trivia nonsense. Bullshit. It’s all bullshit,” Trump said.

Trump, who still refuses to accept he lost the 2020 presidential election, claimed without evidence his political opponents would try to steal the election in 2024. 

“They’ll try. They’re going to be trying,” Trump said.

Trump declared Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis, whom Trump has long seen as his chief rival for the GOP nomination, was “gonezo.” Trump has spent months relentlessly attacking DeSantis but spent little time in the 46-minute interview posted to X, formerly known as Twitter, focused on the Florida governor. 

As he has before, Trump falsely claimed former Vice President Mike Pence had the power to change the outcome of the 2020 election. 

Carlson at one point asked Trump if he believed the country was “moving toward civil war.”

Chris Christie’s campaign is praising the former New Jersey governor’s authenticity during Wednesday night’s first Republican presidential primary debate.

“Christie was his authentic self tonight because he didn’t come with memorized lines like everyone else, and it was obvious,” a campaign spokesperson told CNN, pointing to Christie’s ability to show “humor and emotion” and tell “the truth about Trump and the GOP.”

The spokesperson said while Christie was able to answer questions on complex policy issues, he “threw a political haymaker when the time came.”

One of the most contentious moments of the evening came about an hour in when Christie was met with loud boos from the debate hall as he called out his rivals for “normalizing” the conduct of former President Donald Trump and got in a testy exchange with newcomer Vivek Ramaswamy over his dogged defense of the former president.

Vice President Kamala Harris said there were no winners and only extremism on display in Milwaukee during the first primary debate of the 2024 campaign.

She said the candidates favored gutting Social Security and stripping rights away from Americans.

“These extremists focus on unnecessary debates meant to divide our nation in hopes that the American public will not notice they have no affirmative agenda,” she wrote.

Former New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie said President Joe Biden’s son Hunter Biden was “facing a 10-year mandatory minimum” for lying on a federal form when he purchased a gun in 2018.  

Facts First: Christie, a former federal prosecutor, clearly misstated the law. This crime can lead to a maximum prison sentence of 10 years, but it doesn’t have a 10-year mandatory minimum.

These comments are related to the highly scrutinized Justice Department investigation into Hunter Biden, which is currently ongoing after a plea deal fell apart earlier this summer.  

As part of the now-defunct deal, Hunter Biden agreed to plead guilty to two tax misdemeanors and enter into a “diversion agreement” with prosecutors, who would drop the gun possession charge in two years if he consistently stayed out of legal trouble and passed drug tests.  

The law in question makes it a crime to purchase a firearm while using or addicted to illegal drugs. Hunter Biden has acknowledged struggling with crack cocaine addiction at the time, and admitted at a court hearing and in court papers that he violated this law by signing the form.   

The US Sentencing Commission says that “the statutory maximum penalty for the offense is ten years of imprisonment.” There isn’t a mandatory 10-year punishment, as Christie claimed.   

During his answer, Christie also criticized the Justice Department for agreeing to a deal in June where Hunter Biden could avoid prosecution on the felony gun offense. That deal was negotiated by special counsel David Weiss, who was first appointed to the Justice Department by former President Donald Trump.

Former Gov. of Arkansas Asa Hutchinson arrives to take part in the first Republican Presidential primary debate at the Fiserv Forum in Milwaukee on Wednesday.

Former Arkansas Gov. Asa Hutchinson said that outlining his arguments against former President Donald Trump’s 2024 presidential bid, including his disrespect for institutions and his possible ineligibility, was an important message during the first GOP debate of the campaign.

“I had the courage to make that case, and other candidates should as well. It is about President Trump and how he’s undermined our institutions. And I also raised the question as to whether he’s even eligible as a candidate under our Constitution” under the 14th Amendment, Hutchinson told CNN’s Dana Bash following the GOP debate Wednesday night.

“Republicans need to be aware of that because this could put us in a terrible position if he continues in the lead into next year,” he said.

Language of Section 3 of the 14th Amendment deals with acts of insurrection and says:

“And so he would be ineligible if that theory is correct, and there’s obviously a lot of substance to it,” Hutchinson said about Trump. “This is not good for the Republican Party. It’s not good for the voters when they have to be in this position.”

Hutchinson also said that GOP rival Vivek Ramaswamy’s “inexperience” showed in tonight’s debate.

“He’s standing out with some very harsh statements, policy positions that are not workable. And I think it showed tonight in that, you know, inexperience and his inability to bring people together to solve problems for our country. He is a little bit of a bomb thrower on policy issues,” he said.

CNN’s Veronica Stracqualursi contributed reporting to this post.

Former Vice President Mike Pence said during Wednesday’s GOP debate that the Trump administration “spent funding to backfill on the military cuts of the Obama administration.” 

Facts First: This is misleading. While military spending decreased under the Obama administration, it was largely due to the 2011 Budget Control Act, which received Republican support and resulted in automatic spending cuts to the defense budget.

Pence, a senator at the time, voted in favor of the Budget Control Act. 

Former South Carolina Gov. Nikki Haley and Sen. Tim Scott participate in the first debate of the GOP primary season.

Sen. Tim Scott said that the Justice Department under President Joe Biden is targeting “parents that show up at school board meetings. They are called, under this DOJ, they’re called domestic terrorists.” 

Facts first: It is false that the Justice Department referred to parents as domestic terrorists. The claim has been debunked several times – during the uproar at school boards over Covid-19 restrictions and anti-racism curriculums; after Kevin McCarthy claimed Republicans would investigate Merrick Garland with a majority in the House; and even by a federal judge. The Justice Department never called parents terrorists for attending or wanting to attend school board meetings. 

 The claim stems from a 2021 letter from The National School Boards Associations asking the Justice Department to “deal with” the uptick in threats against education officials and saying that “acts of malice, violence, and threats against public school officials” could be classified as “the equivalent to a form of domestic terrorism and hate crimes.” In response, Garland released a memo encouraging federal and local authorities to work together against the harassment campaigns levied at schools, but never endorsed the “domestic terrorism” notion. 

A federal judge even threw out a lawsuit over the accusation, ruling that Garland’s memo did little more than announce a “series of measures” that directed federal authorities to address increasing threats targeting school board members, teachers and other school employees. 

The president of a leading anti-abortion group praised former Vice President Mike Pence, Sen. Tim Scott and former Arkansas Governor Asa Hutchinson for their endorsements of a federal abortion after 15 weeks of pregnancy during tonight’s debate.

Susan B. Anthony Pro-Life America President Marjorie Dannenfelser released a statement Wednesday evening crediting Pence, Scott and Hutchinson for offering “a clear, bold case for national protections for the unborn at least by 15 weeks.” 

“Mike Pence, Tim Scott and Asa Hutchinson each offered a clear, bold case for national protections for the unborn at least by 15 weeks, when they can feel pain, which aligns with the overwhelming consensus of Americans,” Dannenfelser said.

Dannenfelser also explicitly criticized North Dakota Governor Doug Burgum for saying abortion restrictions should be decided by states, which she called “unacceptable.”

“The position taken by candidates like Doug Burgum, that life is solely a matter for the states, is unacceptable for a nation founded on unalienable rights and for a presidential contender,” Dannenfelser said.

Dannenfelser did not mention former South Carolina Governor Nikki Haley, who did not explicitly support a 15-week abortion restriction and cited the political problems a federal abortion ban would encounter in Congress.

Her statement also neglected to specifically mention Florida Governor Ron DeSantis, who has signed a six-week abortion ban in Florida but did not explicitly commit to a national ban.

Former Vice President Mike Pence led tonight’s debate, with more than 12 minutes of speaking time. Former Arkansas Gov. Asa Hutchinson had the least amount of time to get his message out, speaking just over seven minutes.

Here’s how long the other candidates spoke:

Former New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie poked fun at moderators when asked if he would “level with the American people” about what the US government knows about UFO encounters if he was president.

“I get the UFO question? Come on man,” he said with a smirk, after his rivals were asked questions on topics including faith and military service during a “lightning round.” 

“I think it’s horrible that just because I am from New Jersey, you ask me about unidentified flying objects and Martians. We are different, but we are not that different,” he joked.

Christie then used the moment to broadly lay out his views on the role of president and emphasize his positions on education, telling the audience, “the job of the president of the United States is to level with the American people about everything. The job of the president of the United States is to stand for truth. The job of the president of the United States is to be a role model for our children and our grandchildren, whether it was UFOs or this problem of education.”

He contended teachers unions are the “biggest threat” to the country, “not UFOs.”

The question comes as lawmakers on Capitol Hill have focused in on concerns by military experts that unidentified anomalous phenomena are a national security problem and that the government has been too secretive about them.

Former South Carolina Gov. Nikki Haley harshly slammed Vivek Ramaswamy’s foreign policy record, calling him out for his stance on the war in Ukraine, protecting Taiwan from China, and the US-Israel relationship. 

Haley, who previously served as the US Ambassador to the UN during the Trump administration, portrayed Ramaswamy as inexperienced on foreign policy matters and criticized him for supporting policies that will “make America less safe.”

“The problem that Vivek doesn’t understand is, he wants to hand Ukraine to Russia, he wants to let China eat Taiwan, he wants to go and stop funding Israel. You don’t do that to friends,” Haley said.

Haley added that Russian President Vladimir Putin is a “murderer” and that Ramaswamy is “choosing a murderer over a proud American country.”

Ramaswamy hit back at Haley by suggesting she’s supporting America’s role in global conflicts to benefit corporations who supply weapons for the US military.

“Nikki, I wish you well on your future career on the boards of Lockheed and Raytheon,” he said. “You have been pushing this lie all week, Nikki.”

Haley’s campaign earlier this week criticized Ramaswamy for comments he made in a podcast interview with Russell Brand, in which he said under his administration “additional aid won’t be necessary” for Israel by the year 2028.

Haley cut off Ramaswamy on the debate stage Wednesday night, reiterating her belief that his positions will harm America’s interests.

Ramaswamy defended his position on Israel while acknowledging the US-Israel relationship would change under his watch but advocating specifically for an advancement of normalization agreements with Arab nations in the Middle East and committing to working with Israel to prevent Iran from obtaining a nuclear weapon.

“Our relationship with Israel will never be stronger than by the end of my first term. But it’s not a client relationship, it is a friendship. And you know what friends do? Friends help each other stand on their own two feet.”  

Republican presidential candidate Nikki Haley participates in the first debate of the GOP primary season.

Former South Carolina Gov. Nikki Haley said she would support more funding for the war in Ukraine and criticized entrepreneur Vivek Ramaswamy, who said Wednesday that he would not.

Haley, who also served as the US ambassador to the United Nations, criticized the entrepreneur for having “no foreign policy experience.”

“It shows,” she said.

Ramaswamy, who earlier Wednesday argued for the prioritization of US needs ahead of Ukraine’s, responded by saying that friends “help each other stand on their two feet.”

He said he would partner with Israel should he be elected president and commended the country’s border and crime policies.

Republican presidential candidate Sen. Tim Scott speaks during the first debate of the GOP primary season hosted by FOX News at the Fiserv Forum on August 23, 2023 in Milwaukee, Wisconsin.

With the economy as one of the main topics on the forefront of voters’ minds, South Carolina Sen. Tim Scott aimed to make a case for Republican policies, misleadingly suggesting they left the US economy in record shape before Biden took office.  

“There is no doubt that during the Trump administration, when we were dealing with the COVID virus, we spent more money,” Scott said. “But here’s what happened at the end of our time in the majority: we had low unemployment, record low unemployment, 3.5% for the majority of the population, and a 70-year low for women. African Americans, Hispanics, and Asians had an all-time low.”  

Facts First: This is false. Scott’s claims don’t accurately reflect the state of the US economy at the end of the Republican majority in the Senate. And in some cases, his exaggerations echo what Trump himself frequently touted about the economy under his leadership.  

By the time Trump left office and the Republicans lost the Senate majority, US unemployment was not at a record low. The US unemployment rate dropped to a seasonally adjusted rate of 3.5% in September 2019, the country’s lowest in 50 years. While it hovered around that level for five months, Scott’s assertion ignores the coronavirus pandemic-induced economic destruction that followed. In April 2020, the unemployment rate spiked to 14.7% — the highest level since monthly records began in 1948. As of December 2020, the unemployment rate was at 6.7%.

Nor was the unemployment rate for women at a 70-year low by the end of Trump’s time in office. It reached a 66-year low during certain months of 2019, at 3.4% in April and 3.6% in August, but by December 2020, unemployment for women was at 6.7%. 

The unemployment rates for African Americans, Hispanics, and Asians were also not at all-time lows at the end of 2020, but they did reach record lows during Trump’s tenure as president. 

Republican presidential candidate Nikki Haley said former Vice President Mike Pence “did the right thing” by certifying the 2020 election results on January 6, 2021.

Weighing in on whether former President Donald Trump should serve another term as president, Haley said it’s up to the American people.

“I trust the American people. Let them vote and let them decide. They will tell you it is time for a new, generational, conservative leader. Three-quarters of Americans don’t want a rematch between Trump and (Joe) Biden.”

Criticizing Trump, Haley called her former boss the “most disliked politician in America.”

Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis said he would send troops over the US southern border to fight drug cartels “on day one” if he were elected president.

DeSantis also pledged that he would declare the situation at the border a national emergency. The Florida governor said he would use force against people bringing drugs into the country and “leave them stone-cold dead.”

Republican presidential candidates on stage at the first debate came to rival Mike Pence’ defense when asked whether the former vice president did the right thing on January 6, 2021, when he refused then-President Donald Trump’s demand to reject the results of the 2020 election.

Here’s what the candidates said:

South Carolina Sen. Tim Scott:  “Absolutely, he did the right thing.”

North Dakota Gov. Doug Burgum: “Mike Pence did the right thing on January 6th.” 

Former Ambassador Nikki Haley: “I do think that Vice President Pence did the right thing. And I do think that we need to give him credit for that.”

Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis at first avoided directly answering the question, but he later said: “Mike did his duty, I have no beef with him. Is this what we’re going to be focusing on going forward? The rehashing of this?”

Providing the fiercest defense of Pence on stage tonight, former New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie said: 

Republican presidential candidate Vivek Ramaswamy participates in the first debate of the GOP primary season hosted by FOX News at the Fiserv Forum on August 23 in Milwaukee, Wisconsin.

Vivek Ramaswamy said that if he was elected president he would not support an increase in aid to Ukraine.

He was the only one of the eight Republican candidates to raise his hand when asked the question by Fox News moderator Brett Baier. Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis appeared to half raise his arm and said he would insist that European allies step up their assistance. “Our support should be contingent on them doing it,” he said.

Ramaswamy called US support of Ukraine “disastrous” and said the resources that are going to Kyiv should instead be used domestically. 

“This is disastrous we are protecting against an invasion across somebody else’s border when we should use those same military resources to prevent the invasion across our southern border here in the United States of America,” he said at a Fox News debate.

He called out other candidates who visited Ukraine, saying that they wouldn’t do the same thing for people in “Maui, the southside of Chicago or Kensington.”

Former New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie, who did visit Ukraine, pushed back on Ramaswamy’s comments. He said he wanted to “see for myself what Vladimir Putin’s army was doing to the free Ukrainian people.”

Christie talked about Ukrainian children being abducted by Russians and about the atrocities reported from the war.

Republican presidential candidates former Vice President Mike Pence, Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis and Vivek Ramaswamy participate in the first debate of the GOP primary season hosted by FOX News at the Fiserv Forum on August 23, 2023 in Milwaukee, Wisconsin.

Former Vice President Mike Pence undermined a core value at the heart of Vivek Ramaswamy’s presidential campaign, dismissing his argument that America is in the middle of a “national identity crisis” and pinning the blame for the country’s ills on the failure of government. 

“We are in the middle of a national identity crisis,” Ramaswamy said. “The problem in our country right now, the reason we have the mental health epidemic is that people are so hungry for purpose and meaning at a time when family, faith, patriotism, hard work have all disappeared. What we really need is a tonal reset from the top saying that this is what it means to be an American.”

Pence directly hit back against Ramaswamy, saying America is not in the middle of an identity crisis, criticizing a line often repeated by Ramaswamy at campaign events. 

Ramaswamy pushed back on Pence’s optimistic view, referring to former President Ronald Reagan’s famous “Morning in America” speech. 

Pence again interjected, cutting off Ramaswamy and praising the spirit of the American people. 

“You are equating the American people with the failed government in Washington, DC. We just need government as good as our people again,” Ramaswamy said. 

The tense exchange between Pence and Ramaswamy has been one of a handful of disagreements between the former vice president and the Ohio-based entrepreneur and highlights the tension between Ramaswamy’s engagement with a harsher view of American culture and Pence’s classical conservative faith in the American people. 

Former Vice President Mike Pence said that when former President Donald Trump asked him to overturn the 2020 presidential election results, “he asked me to put him over the Constitution, and I chose the Constitution and I always will.”

This topic came up after a question from the Fox News moderators asking the candidates if they believed that Pence did the right thing in January 2021 when he rejected Trump’s request. Several said that Pence did the right thing.

On the issue of Trump’s multiple criminal indictments, Pence noted Trump is entitled to the same “presumption of innocence that every American is entitled to.”

During his answer, Pence batted back a jab by businessman Vivek Ramaswamy, who asked Pence to join him in pledging to pardon Trump if elected. Pence said that if he becomes president, he would give any pardon requests “fair consideration.”

Republican presidential candidate and North Dakota Gov. Doug Burgum, right, participates in the first debate of the GOP primary season hosted by FOX News at the Fiserv Forum on August 23, 2023 in Milwaukee, Wisconsin.

North Dakota Gov. Doug Burgum claimed that Biden’s signature climate bill costs $1.2 trillion dollars and is “just subsidizing China.” 

Facts First: This claim needs context. The clean energy pieces of the Inflation Reduction Act – Democrats’ climate bill – passed with an initial price tag of nearly $370 billion. However, since that bill is made up of tax incentives, that price tag could go up depending on how many consumers take advantage of tax credits to buy electric vehicles and put solar panels on their homes, and how many businesses use the subsidies to install new utility-scale wind and solar in the United States.  

Burgum’s figure comes from a Goldman Sachs report, which estimated the IRA could provide $1.2 trillion in clean energy tax incentives by 2032 – about a decade from now.  

On Burgum’s claim that Biden’s clean energy agenda will be a boon to China, the IRA was specifically written to move the manufacturing supply chain for clean energy technology like solar panels and EV batteries away from China and to the United States.  

In the year since it was passed, the IRA has spurred 83 new or expanded manufacturing facilities in the US, and close to 30,000 new clean energy manufacturing jobs, according to a tally from trade group American Clean Power. 

Former Vice President Mike Pence talks with Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis during a break at a Republican presidential primary debate hosted by FOX News Channel on Wednesday.

After not directly answering a question about whether former Vice President Mike Pence did the right thing by certifying the results of the 2020 election, Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis argued that Republicans should move on from the issue.

Moments earlier, replying to the question from Fox News moderator Martha MacCallum, DeSantis attempted to deliver his usual response about ending the “weaponization” of the federal government.   

Pressed that he was not answering the question, DeSantis acknowledged that, but argued that Democrats “want to talk about all these other issues,” and Republicans should be focusing on the future and “reversing the decline of our country.”

DeSantis – the only veteran in the 2024 Republican field – argued the party must “focus on the mission,” still not offering a direct answer to the question. 

“I learned in the military, I was assigned with US Navy SEALs in Iraq that you focus on the mission above all else, you can’t get distracted. So Republicans, we’ve got to look forward, and we’ve got to make sure that we’re bringing the message that can win in 2024,” DeSantis said. 

Fox News moderator Bret Baier pushed back on the relevance of the questions: “Former President Trump is beating you by 30, 40 points in many polls, so it is a factor in the GOP primary.”

Republican presidential candidates indicate if they would support Donald Trump if convicted.

Republican presidential candidates on the debate stage were asked to raise their hand if they would support former President Donald Trump if he became the party’s nominee — even if he were to be convicted in a court of law.

In order to qualify for the first debate, the Republican National Committee required candidates to sign a pledge saying they would back the party’s nominee.

“You all signed a pledge to support the eventual Republican nominee. If former president Trump is convicted in a court of law, would you still support him as your party’s choice? Please raise your hand if you would,” moderator Brett Baier asked.

Vivek Ramaswamy’s hand immediately shot up, followed by Nikki Haley, Tim Scott, Doug Burgum, Ron DeSantis and Mike Pence. Asa Hutchinson did not raise his hand.

At that point, Chris Christie, who has been critical of the former president, glanced at the six candidates with hands up to his left and raised his hand off the podium with his finger pointing up, lowering it and shaking his head, and then raising a finger again, this time also flattening his hand and shaking it back and forth.

Baier pressed Christie to clarify his gesture, asking him: “Just to be clear, Governor Christie, you were kinda late to the game there, but you raised your hand?”

“No, I am doing this. Not this,” Christie said firmly as he again raised and shook his hand back and forth in a disapproving gesture.

He then used the moment to launch into his frequent criticism of Trump, as well as of the support the former president still receives from his party.

“Here is the bottom line. Someone’s got to stop normalizing this conduct. OK… Whether or not you believe the criminal charges are right or wrong, the conduct is beneath the office of president of the United States,” Christie said.

Responding to booing from the crowd, “This is the great thing about this country, booing is allowed but it doesn’t change the truth.”  

Ramaswamy defended Trump, calling him “the best president of the of the 21st century” and slammed Christie’s answer.

The question on Trump came about an hour into the debate.

More on Trump’s legal challenges: Trump faces 91 criminal charges across four indictments. This month, he was indicted by a federal grand jury in the special counsel’s investigation into the aftermath of the 2020 election and arraigned in a Washington, DC, courtroom, where he pleaded not guilty. 

Then later in the month, Trump and 18 allies were charged in efforts to overturn his 2020 election defeat in Georgia. He and the co-defendants have until this Friday to surrender to the Fulton County jail. Trump is expected to turn himself on Thursday.

He also pleaded not guilty in June to dozens of federal counts related to the special counsel investigation into mishandling of classified documents. 

In New York, a hush money payment to an adult film star resulted in his indictment by a Manhattan grand jury over his alleged role in the scheme. That was the first time in American history that a current or former president was criminally charged, an event now matched three other times this summer. 

Trump denies any wrongdoing or criminality in all matters, state and federal, and he has aggressively maintained his innocence. 

CNN’s Dan Berman contributed reporting to this post. 

The post has been updated to reflect the entire exchange between Christie and the moderator.

Former Vice President Mike Pence has clocked in the most speaking time one hour into the debate, with more than 5 minutes on the board. Coming up next is former New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie, while Gov. of North Dakota, Doug Burgum, has had the least amount of speaking time so far.

Follow along as we track the candidates’ speaking time live here.

Mike Pence and Nikki Haley – who both served in the Trump administration – disagreed over whether a federal ban on abortion could ultimately be passed, with Haley pressing Pence to “be honest with the American people.”

“When it comes to a federal ban, let’s be honest with the American people and say it will take 60 Senate votes, it will take a majority of the house. So, in order to do that, let’s find consensus,” Haley said.

Pence, who has been outspoken against abortion, said, “To be honest with you, Nikki, you’re my friend. But consensus is the opposite of leadership.” 

“When the Supreme Court returned this question to the American people, they didn’t just send it to the states only. It’s not a states-only issue. It’s a moral issue,” Pence said. He argued that there should be a minimum standard for abortion to be banned at 15 weeks of pregnancy.

Haley, in her response, argued that “when you are talking about a federal ban, be honest with the American people. We haven’t had 45 pro-life senators in over 45 years. So no Republican president can ban abortions any more than a Democratic president can ban all the state laws.” 

“Don’t make women feel like they have to decide on this issue when you know we don’t have 60 Senate votes in the House,” she told Pence.

“Seventy percent of the American people support legislation to ban abortion after the baby is capable of experiencing pain,” Pence fired back.

“But 70 percent of the Senate does not,” Haley interjected.

Some background: Among Republican candidates, there’s some disagreement over whether a national ban should be a priority, or whether the issue is best left to the states.

Trump, for example, has called the six-week ban signed by Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis in Florida “too harsh.”

Sen. Tim Scott of South Carolina favors a federal law banning most abortions after 15 weeks of pregnancy.Pence supports a six-week federal ban.

Democrats see opportunity in almost any Republican conversation about abortion, citing how the issue has consistently helped galvanize voters in elections – from ballot initiatives to last year’s midterms – since the Supreme Court’s Dobbs decision that erased Roe v. Wade last year and returned the question of abortion rights to the states.

CNN’s John King contributed reporting to this post.

Former biotech executive Vivek Ramaswamy speaks as former Arkansas Gov. Asa Hutchinson, former New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie, former Vice President Mike Pence, Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis, former South Carolina Gov. Nikki Haley, Sen. Tim Scott and North Dakota Gov. Doug Burgum listen at the first Republican candidates' debate of the 2024 presidential campaign in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, on Wednesday.

Entrepreneur Vivek Ramaswamy has several headed exchanges on the debate stage already with other GOP candidates.

Here are some key things to know about the candidate:

Ramaswamy is a biotech and health care entrepreneur who has written two books, “Nation of Victims: Identity Politics, the Death of Merit, and the Path Back to Excellence” and “Woke, Inc.: Inside Corporate America’s Social Justice Scam.”

“To put America first, we need to rediscover what America is. That’s why I am running for president,” Ramaswamy wrote in a Wall Street Journal editorial earlier this year. “I am launching not only a political campaign but a cultural movement to create a new American Dream—one that is not only about money but about the unapologetic pursuit of excellence.”

“We embrace secular religions like climatism, Covidism and gender ideology to satisfy our need for meaning, yet we can’t answer what it means to be an American,” Ramaswamy wrote in the Journal.

The editorial also called for securing the border, eliminating affirmative action and repealing civil service protection for federal employees.

In Republican primary polls, Ramaswamy is competitive with seasoned politicians, though still in single figures and far behind Trump.

The tech entrepreneur posted a video of himself shirtless, practicing tennis, on Monday in a tweet he described as his debate prep.

He has also made appearances on the sorts of liberal media programs that many Republican contenders skip, such as a podcast with HBO host Bill Maher. A memo by a pro-DeSantis super PAC made public last week advised the Florida governor to attack Ramaswamy, an indication of the 38-year-old’s rise in the race.

Republican presidential candidate Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis participates in the first debate of the GOP primary season.

Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis criticized the federal government for its handling of the Covid-19 pandemic, claiming it had locked down the economy, and then said: “In Florida, we led the country out of lockdown, and we kept our state free and open.”   

Facts First: DeSantis’ claim is misleading at best. Before he became a vocal opponent of pandemic restrictions, DeSantis imposed significant restrictions on individuals, businesses and other entities in Florida in March 2020 and April 2020; some of them extended months later into 2020. He did then open up the state, with a gradual phased approach, but he did not keep it open from the start. 

DeSantis received criticism in March 2020 for what some critics perceived as a lax approach to the pandemic, which intensified as Florida beaches were packed during Spring Break. But that month and the month following, DeSantis issued a series of major restrictions. For example, DeSantis:  

Former South Carolina Gov. Nikki Haley is seen debating on screens in the media filing center on Wednesday.

Former South Carolina Gov. Nikki Haley tried to find common ground on the topic of abortion, calling for a “respectful” approach.

“We need to stop demonizing this issue,” she told Fox News moderator Martha MacCallum.

Haley, who also served as the US ambassador to the United Nations, said the topic is personal to her, noting that her husband was adopted and that she had trouble having her own children.

She said a consensus on the topic will need to be reached should a federal abortion ban be introduced.

Former Vice President Mike Pence challenged Haley, saying that “it will take unapologetic leadership that stands on principle and expresses compassion.” He called for a 15-week abortion ban in every state and said he would enact such a ban if elected president.

Haley told Pence to “be honest with the American people.”

Some more context: In interviews with dozens of Republicans, the vast majority – even among the staunchest opponents of abortion – rejected the idea of Congress pursuing a national ban and said leadership has no plans on the horizon for it to be a centerpiece of their agenda, despite passing federal restrictions on the procedure in previous years when they were in power. Republicans say there’s a practical reason for their change in stance: After Roe v. Wade was overturned last summer, they argue that the question of whether to ban abortion is now best left to the states.

Democrats see opportunity in almost any Republican conversation about abortion, citing how the issue has consistently helped galvanize voters in elections – from ballot initiatives to last year’s midterms – since the Supreme Court’s Dobbs decision that erased Roe v. Wade last year and returned the question of abortion rights to the states.

Watch more here:

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CNN’s John King contributed reporting to this post. 

In the wake of a record-breaking heatwave and a string of climate disasters, Fox moderators attempted to force candidates to answer if they believed climate change is caused by humans by a show of hands. 

Former Arkansas Gov. Asa Hutchinson raised his hand, but before the others could weigh in, Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis shut them down.

The interjection derailed the attempt to put the eight candidates on the record, which was prompted by a question from a young person who wanted to hear Republicans “calm (young people’s) fears that the Republican Party doesn’t care about climate change?” 

The hosts never were able to get all eight to weigh in. Vivek Ramaswamy, though, left no doubt where he stood on the issue. He called climate change a “hoax” and set off the rest of the field by suggesting they were all “bought and paid for.”

Republican presidential candidates former Vice President Mike Pence, Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis and Vivek Ramaswamy participate in the first debate of the GOP primary season on Wednesday.

Republican presidential candidate Vivek Ramaswamy swiped at Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis, referring to a memo released by a firm connected to Never Back Down, a super PAC backing DeSantis’ presidential bid. 

Ramaswamy responded to DeSantis touting his record on Covid policy by hitting him for using “pre-prepared slogans” and calling him a “super PAC puppet.”

“The reality is you have a bunch of people, professional politicians, super PAC puppets following slogans handed over to them by their 400-page super PACS last week,” Ramaswamy said.

The Ohio-based entrepreneur is referring to a debate and strategy memo released by a research firm associated with the super PAC backing DeSantis that suggested, among other things, to “hammer” Ramaswamy during tonight’s debate. DeSantis has since distanced himself from the super PAC memo.

Ramaswamy used the memo to distinguish himself as more authentic than DeSantis and other candidates on the stage.

“The real choices we face in this primary is this: Do you want a super PAC puppet or do you want a patriot who speaks the truth?” Ramaswamy said.

Former UN Ambassador Nikki Haley speaks during a Republican presidential primary debate hosted by FOX News Channel on Wednesday.

Nikki Haley, the former South Carolina governor and US ambassador to the United Nations, said: “Donald Trump added $8 trillion to our debt, and our kids are never going to forgive us for this.”

Facts First: This is accurate. The total public debt stood at about $19.9 trillion on the day Trump took office in 2017 and then increased by about $7.8 trillion over Trump’s four years, to about $27.8 trillion on the day he left office in 2021.  

It’s worth noting, however, that the increase in the debt during any president’s tenure is not the fault of that president alone. A significant amount of spending under any president is the result of decisions made by their predecessors – such as the creation of Social Security, Medicare and Medicaid decades ago – and by circumstances out of a president’s control, notably including the global Covid-19 pandemic under Trump; the debt spiked in 2020 after Trump approved trillions in emergency pandemic relief spending that Congress had passed with overwhelming bipartisan support.  

Still, Trump did choose to approve that spending. And his 2017 tax cuts, unanimously opposed by congressional Democrats, were another major contributor to the debt spike.  

Former Vice President Mike Pence, Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis, entrepreneur and author Vivek Ramaswamy and former UN ambassador Nikki Haley take part in first Republican Presidential primary debate.

When asked about the US economy, Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis said at the first GOP presidential debate that “a major reason” for inflation and the country’s debt is the federal government’s handling of the Covid-19 pandemic. 

DeSantis, who often touts his response to the pandemic on the campaign trail, took an unnamed shot at former President Donald Trump and blamed his administration for “locking down this economy.” 

The governor also directly attacked Dr. Antony Fauci, who led the White House Covid-19 response at the start of the pandemic during the Trump administration and supported social distancing measures.  

“As your president, I will never let the Deep State bureaucrats lock you down,” DeSantis added. “You don’t take someone like Fauci and coddle him. You bring Fauci in, you sit him down and you say, ‘Anthony, you are fired.’” 

After entrepreneur Vivek Ramaswamy responded to a concerned child’s question about climate change with the response “Climate change is a hoax,” which got some boos from the audience, former New Jersey governor Chris Christie interrupted, proclaiming “I have had enough!”

Governor Nikki Haley then chimed in, “I think this is exactly why Margaret Thatcher said, ‘If you want something said, ask a man. If you want something done, ask a woman.’” 

She said “Climate change is real,” adding “If you want to change the environment, we need to start telling China and India that they have to lower their emissions. That’s where our problem is.”

Former Vice President Mike Pence leads the group in speaking times after the first question on the economy, followed by Vivek Ramaswamy. Follow the full breakdown below here.

Former Vice President Mike Pence arrives onstage.

Mike Pence flexed his experience as vice president, congressman and governor during the Republican National Committee Debate in Milwaukee.

“I think I am unquestionably the best prepared, the most tested, the most qualified and proven conservative in this race,” Pence said.

Pence defended the Trump administration’s policies and touted his successes in his various tenures in office.

“I will put our nation back on the path to growth and prosperity and restore fiscal responsibility. Just as I did in Congress and as governor and when I was vice president,” he said.

Pence also took a jab at entrepreneur Vivek Ramaswamy.

“Vivek recently said, ‘A president can’t do everything.’ Well I’ve got news for you, Vivek. I’ve been in the hallway and the West Wing. A president of the United States has to confront every crisis facing America,” Pence said.

Former UN ambassador Nikki Haley takes part in the first Republican Presidential primary debate at the Fiserv Forum in Milwaukee on Wednesday.

Former governor of South Carolina Nikki Haley said fellow Republicans shared the blame for the country’s debt crisis at Wednesday night’s 2024 debate aired on Fox News.

Haley went on to mention debt left from the Trump administration’s $2 trillion Covid stimulus bill, claiming that “no one has told you how to fix it.”

“I’ll tell you how to fix it,” she said. “They need to stop the spending, they need to stop the borrowing. They need to eliminate the earmarks that Republicans brought back in.”

Entrepreneur and author Vivek Ramaswamy waves as he arrives to take part in the first Republican Presidential primary debate in Milwaukee on Wednesday.

Entrepreneur Vivek Ramaswamy is making an appeal to voters at the 2024 Republican presidential primary debate by seeking to distinguish himself as an outsider.

“I’m not a politician, Bret. You’re right about that,” he said, in response to a question from Fox News moderator Bret Baier Wednesday night about why voters should choose him over more experienced candidates.

Ramaswamy, 38, argued that a new generation of leaders is needed to fix issues in the country, adding, “That’s why I’m in this race and we’re just getting warmed up.”

Reporters watch Republican presidential candidate, Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis speak on television during the first debate of the GOP primary season hosted by FOX News at the Fiserv Forum on August 23 in Milwaukee.

Fox News moderators opened the debate by asking Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis why the number-one song in the country, Oliver Anthony’s “Rich Men North of Richmond,” a viral hit about working-class woes, is striking such a nerve right now. The Florida governor responded by saying that “our country is in decline.”

“This decline is not inevitable. It’s a choice,” DeSantis continued. “We need to send Joe Biden back to his basement and reverse American decline.” 

DeSantis also called for making “lower gas prices” a priority in his opening remarks of the night.

Florida Governor Ron DeSantis speaks, flanked by former US Vice President Mike Pence and entrepreneur and author Vivek Ramaswamy, during the first Republican Presidential primary debate at the Fiserv Forum in Milwaukee on Wednesday.

Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis, firmly polling in second in the GOP presidential nominating fight, is standing in one of the center stage spots as the frontrunner among the candidates who showed up in Milwaukee. 

With former President Donald Trump not in attendance, DeSantis and his campaign have set the expectation that he will be the focal point of the debate as the rest of the field attempts to cut into his support. 

The campaign is “fully prepared” to be “on the receiving end of false, desperate charges from other candidates and the legacy media,” new DeSantis campaign manager James Uthmeier wrote in a memo over the weekend, adding that the debate was “biggest chance yet to grab headlines by attacking the governor.”

Next to DeSantis in the middle is entrepreneur Vivek Ramaswamy. The interactions between these two will be closely watched after a DeSantis-aligned super PAC, Never Back Down, wrote in pre-debate guidance that DeSantis should “hammer” Ramaswamy as a “fake” conservative.

That guidance, which was posted online and first reported by the New York Times, baffled and angered the DeSantis campaign and donors. Never Back Down founder Ken Cuccinelli said Sunday on CNN’s State of the Union that posting the memo was a “mistake.”

People watch the first debate of the GOP primary season hosted by FOX News at the Fiserv Forum on August 23, 2023 in Milwaukee, Wisconsin.

This is no ordinary live studio audience.

About 4,000 people have taken their seats in the Fiserv Forum in downtown Milwaukee to watch the first Republican presidential primary debate.

That is no insignificant fact, given that applause is allowed during the two-hour debate.

While presidential hopefuls have been campaigning for months, tonight is the first time voters will be able to take a side-by-side measure of the contenders – or some of them, with former President Donald Trump choosing to stay home.

What role will the audience play in tonight’s debate, particularly when Trump’s name is mentioned? That is something to watch.

We’re tracking how long each candidate talked for at the first Republican primary presidential debate. Follow the full breakdown to see who’s getting the most and least air time here.

This graphic will be updated every 10 seconds.

Republican presidential candidates, from left to right, former Arkansas Gov. Asa Hutchinson, former New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie, former US Vice President Mike Pence, Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis, Vivek Ramaswamy, former UN Ambassador Nikki Haley, US Sen. Tim Scott and North Dakota Gov. Doug Burgum take the stage for the first debate of the GOP primary season hosted by FOX News at the Fiserv Forum on August 23, 2023 in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. 

The first 2024 Republican presidential primary debate has started.

Fox News Channel is hosting the two-hour debate, with hosts Bret Baier and Martha MacCallum moderating.

Eight candidates will be on stage:

Front-runner Donald Trump is skipping the debate. He sat for a pre-recorded interview with fired former Fox News host Tucker Carlson that’s expected to be released around the time of the debate. The interview will be released on X, formerly known as Twitter, as counter programming to the debate, a source familiar with the matter told CNN.

CNN is covering the debate at cnn.com, including our live updates, analysis and fact checks.

The Fiserv Forum is prepared for the Republican presidential debate in Milwaukee, Wisconsin.

With front-runner Donald Trump skipping the first 2024 Republican presidential primary debate, eight of his GOP rivals will vie to emerge as the party’s top alternative to the former president in their first on-stage showdown Wednesday night in Milwaukee. 

The two-hour debate is set to start at 9 p.m. Eastern time. It is hosted by Fox News Channel, with hosts Bret Baier and Martha MacCallum moderating.

CNN will cover the debate at cnn.com, including live updates, analysis and fact checks.

Eight candidates will be on stage: Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis; entrepreneur Vivek Ramaswamy; former Vice President Mike Pence; former South Carolina governor and US ambassador to the United Nations Nikki Haley; former New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie; South Carolina Sen. Tim Scott; former Arkansas Gov. Asa Hutchinson and North Dakota Gov. Doug Burgum. 

Here are six things to watch in Wednesday night’s debate: 

Can DeSantis withstand the bright lights? With Trump skipping Wednesday night’s debate, DeSantis — who has polled in second place nationally and in early-voting states among likely Republican primary voters all year — might wear the biggest target on the stage in Milwaukee. 

After all, Trump remains broadly popular with Republican voters, which means attacking the former president could alienate broad swaths of the primary electorate. Instead, in something of a replay of the 2016 primary, many GOP contenders appear focused on first positioning themselves as the field’s most viable Trump alternative — a status DeSantis now occupies.

After a 19-point reelection victory last year, DeSantis entered the GOP race to sky-high expectations. But he has not yet lived up to that promise, stalling out in the polls while downsizing and reshuffling his campaign staff. 

A strong performance Wednesday night could steady the Florida governor’s ship. 

But he already endured an embarrassing lead-up to the debate, when his super PAC – one he has unusually close ties to after outsourcing a number of functions typically handled by a candidate’s own campaign — in a memo advised him to “hammer” Ramaswamy and defend Trump if the absent former president is attacked by Christie. DeSantis distanced himself from that memo. 

“That’s a separate entity. I had nothing to do with it. It’s not something that I’ve read, and it’s not, not reflective of my strategy,” DeSantis said Monday.

To Trump or not to Trump? That is the question. The former president’s absence from the stage offers his Republican rivals an opportunity to introduce themselves and talk about their own ideas for the future on the biggest night so far in the 2024 campaign.

At least that’s the advice from Scott Walker, the former Wisconsin governor who shared a debate stage with Trump during the 2016 cycle before bowing out of the race.

“The only person who changes your opinion about Donald Trump is Donald Trump – not any of the candidates,” Walker told CNN, sharing a bit of advice he has given to some of the contenders. “If they waste time attacking him, they’re doing just that, they’re wasting their time. But if they come out and have a breakthrough moment and have passion, credibility and a bold agenda, it gets people worked up and creates a buzz.”

He added: “I’m not saying it will happen, but at least it gives them a fighting chance.”

The degree to which the debate still revolves around Trump — despite his decision to skip Milwaukee — also rests in the hands of the debate moderators. They have signaled their plans to try to highlight contrasts between the Republican candidates, including Trump.

While Walker believes at least half of Republican voters are eager to turn the page, they have little appetite for attacking Trump. “It’s like attacking a member of your own family,” he said. 

Read more about the things to watch for in the first 2024 Republican presidential primary debate.

Sen. Tim Scott poses for a photo with attendees while campaigning at the Story County Lincoln Dinner in Cambridge, Iowa, on August 15.

Sen. Tim Scott has made a point of running his presidential campaign as being a rise-above-the-fray nice guy kind of candidate. Overall, Scott has refrained from getting down too deep in the mud and brawling with his rival candidates – even in an era when Republicans seem to respond most to candidates who want to fight to the bitter end.

Scott could flip the script tonight and go on the offense, bash a few candidates and show the party it’s no more Mr. Nice Scott. But Republican strategists, asked whether Scott should grit his teeth and get mean tonight or stay nice, said he should stay the course.

“I’ve never seen him have to be aggressive,” said former South Carolina Republican Party chair Katon Dawson.

Dawson, a surrogate for former South Carolina Gov. Nikki Haley, went on to describe Scott as a “competitor” “who can perform.” 

Similarly, Republican strategist Terry Sullivan said “No way!”

A third strategist who requested anonymity to speak frankly said Scott shouldn’t try to get tough as it wasn’t who he is.

“If he tries to introduce himself as a [Chris] Christie-style attack dog, he’ll look like a total fraud. He’s got to be himself – the optimistic nice guy, but he’s got to figure out a way to land some punches to prove to Republicans the nice guy can fight for them.”

The signature approach of the Scott campaign so far has been to not get too negative. His strategy has been an overly positive take-the-kind-road approach to campaigning. But in interviews, he has also said he would defend himself if attacked. 

President Joe Biden’s campaign plans to run an ad during Fox News’ debate coverage as the president’s reelection effort ramps up its advertising presence and looks to counter the GOP messaging on display tonight.

The campaign booked about $250,000 worth of national airtime on Fox News today, AdImpact data shows, a pricey reservation reflecting the high-profile opportunity.  

The campaign has a total of $1.2 million in ad reservations this week, while the DNC is also rolling out billboards and a plane across Milwaukee, where the first Republican presidential primary is taking place. 

Earlier this week, Biden’s reelection effort announced plans to spend $25 million behind a major new advertising push and launched three new spots touting his administration’s record. 

The president of a leading anti-abortion group, the Susan B. Anthony Pro-Life America, said GOP candidates need to “clearly and boldly” articulate their abortion stance on Wednesday’s debate stage.

SBA Pro-Life has called on the candidates to support a 15-week federal limit on abortion as a minimum. The group has not yet endorsed a candidate.

“They need to be clear, confident, succinct and make sure [their position is] full of compassion for women,” Marjorie Dannenfelser, the group’s president, told CNN ahead of the first Republican presidential debate of the 2024 campaign in Milwaukee.  

The US Supreme Court overturned the federal right to abortion last summer, making this the first presidential primary debate — and the first presidential election — in a post-Dobbs America, Dannenfelser noted.

“I’ve been to debates before, but nothing with such consequence to the abortion issue,” she said.

Republican presidential candidate Sen. Tim Scott greets workers before working the grill at the Iowa Pork Producers tent at the Iowa State Fair, on Tuesday, August 15.

Sen. John Thune said a win for Republican presidential candidate Sen. Tim Scott is for people to see his “authentic self” on the debate stage.

“I think he’s really our best messenger. His style and tone are hopeful, they’re optimistic. He’s got a consistently conservative record, but he communicates it and articulates it in a way that’s winsome to people,” the senator from South Dakota told CNN outside of the Fiserv Forum. “The more people get a chance to see him in action, the more people he’s going to win over.”

Thune said he believes most voters will want to see candidates articulate their vision for the future.

“Most people are going to want to see out of the candidates, one: Talk about the future, not the past. And talk about, as Tim says, America’s greatness not grievance, and articulate and lay a vision for the future for this country,” Thune said.

Thune, who will join Scott’s post-debate spin room team, endorsed the South Carolina senator’s run ahead of his presidential announcement in May.

“I hope he can show those tonight and let people see him as he really is,” Thune said.

Eight Republican presidential candidates will take the debate stage tonight in Milwaukee, hoping to come out as the party’s top alternative to current front-runner Donald Trump.

The former president chose not to participate as his ongoing legal challenges continue to unfold.

See photos from inside and outside the Fiserv Forum arena in Wisconsin ahead of the 2024 campaign’s first primary debate.

Supporters of former President Donald Trump carry signs past a campaign bus of Republican presidential candidate Vivek Ramaswamy near the Fiserv Forum on Tuesday, August 22, in Milwaukee, Wisconsin.

Volunteers gather outside the Fiserv Forum on Wednesday, August 23.

Handwritten notes on the side of Ron DeSantis' campaign bus on Wednesday, August 23.

FOX News producers set up a shot in the media room at Fiserv Forum on Wednesday.

Donald Trump Jr. mingles with attendees as he arrives at the debate hall on Wednesday.

The stage is set before the FOX News Republican Presidential Debate 2023 at the Fiserv Forum on Wednesday.

Donald Trump is ahead by a country mile in the race for the 2024 Republican presidential nomination. The former president is polling so much better than the competition that he isn’t even showing up for tonight’s debate in Milwaukee.

Yet, most Republicans have been afraid to attack the front-runner. Here’s why:

Republican voters — by a near unanimous majority — say they want Trump’s rivals to make the case for their own candidacies and not go against the former president in the first debate.

The polling on candidates’ popularity among Republican voters backs this up. The most ardent Trump critics (former New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie, former Texas Rep. Will Hurd and former Arkansas Gov. Asa Hutchinson) all have negative net favorable ratings among Republicans.

In contrast, the candidate who has climbed to third in the national polls (entrepreneur Vivek Ramaswamy) and the one who’s polling in third place in Iowa (South Carolina Sen. Tim Scott) have both mostly stayed away from attacking Trump.

Just remember as the candidates start making their cases tonight, going after the former president has not been a winning proposition among Republicans.

We’ll see if that changes after tonight.

Republican presidential candidate Vivek Ramaswamy posted a video on social media Wednesday evening showing his two sons playing as he teased tonight’s debate with a caption that warned of a potential clash with one of his rivals. 

Ramaswamy’s video on X, formerly known as Twitter, showed him and his wife, Apoorva, watching their two young sons as they played with toys.

In the caption, he jokingly referred to his sons as “our consultants.” 

Christie, the former New Jersey governor, has taken jabs at Ramaswamy for aligning himself with former President Donald Trump, who will not appear in the debate.

CNN has previously reported Christie’s campaign is eyeing which candidates will “step up and defend Trump” in the former president’s absence. 

President Joe Biden speaks during a joint news conference with Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida and South Korean President Yoon Suk Yeol Friday, Aug. 18, 2023, at Camp David.

President Joe Biden’s campaign as well as surrogates and officials for the Democratic National Committee sought to draw a stark contrast between the current administration’s legislative accomplishments and “the failed MAGA agenda,” ahead of Wednesday’s RNC debate in Milwaukee.

The DNC and Biden’s campaign launched its first state-specific ad targeting Wisconsin — part of a larger $25 million television and digital ad blitz announced over the weekend targeting Republicans while highlighting Biden’s handling of the economy.

On Tuesday’s call, Biden campaign co-chair Cedric Richmond blasted the GOP field participating in the debate as “the most extreme slate of Republican primary candidates ever.” 

The campaign dismissed the suggestion that Democratic messaging might fall flat while former President Donald Trump, who’s leading the GOP field by a significant margin, declines to participate.

“The truth of the matter is, it doesn’t matter — they’re all playing out of the same playbook, and they’re all espousing the same unpopular positions that Donald Trump led with, and he continues to drag this party to the extreme,” Richmond said. “And so, whether he’s on the stage or not, his extreme agenda will be.” 

Richmond also said there are no plans for Biden to respond to attacks levied at him during the debate in Milwaukee.

Presidential candidate and Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis greets supporters after speaking at The Gathering in Atlanta, on Friday, Aug. 18, 2023.

Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis’ objective for tonight’s debate could be best described as twofold: share his message and do no harm to his campaign, according to one DeSantis ally familiar with the campaign’s thinking.  

DeSantis takes the debate stage tonight following a period of resets for his campaign that included bringing in a new campaign manager and letting go of nearly one-third of the campaign staff due to budget concerns. 

The source told CNN they believe people are underestimating DeSantis’s ability to take the attacks that will come his way and turn them into opportunities to contrast himself with former President Donald Trump and President Joe Biden. However, they do not anticipate DeSantis taking big swings at everyone on the stage. 

The campaign put out a video this afternoon teasing the debate, which features clips of DeSantis firing back at media “narratives” and news headlines.

“When they’re attacking you, that means you’re over the target,” DeSantis says in the video. “The reason why they’re doing it is because, objectively, I’ve got a great record to run on.”

Another clip makes a clear reference to Trump’s absence on the stage, where DeSantis says, “You have to earn this nomination and you have to show up.” 

The thinking is DeSantis does not need to do as much as other lower-polling candidates during Wednesday’s debate because DeSantis has the polling, money and interest to move forward to the next debate stage. Instead, the goal is to turn in a solid performance without major mishaps or mistakes and share his message with voters. 

A plurality of Americans and independents think Donald Trump should have been charged with a crime in each of his four indictments, according to ABC News/Ipsos polling. A majority of Americans said in a new AP-NORC survey that they definitely won’t vote for the former president in the 2024 general election.

Yet, Trump continues to hold a mammoth lead for the Republican presidential nomination and is polling within the margin of error of President Joe Biden in a hypothetical general election matchup.

While paragraphs one and two seem contradictory, they’re really not. Americans don’t like Trump, but Republicans do. And general elections aren’t referendums on one candidate but a choice between two or more – and Americans, as a whole, dislike both Trump and Biden.

If anything, Trump’s position within his party has become stronger since the beginning of the year. A majority (54%) of Republicans have a strongly favorable opinion of him in Fox News polling released this week, which is up 11 points from the end of last year. No other Republican candidate for president reaches even half of Trump’s current percentage.

How Republicans see the indictments: If you’re going to win a primary over Trump – who is expected to skip next week’s first GOP presidential debate in Milwaukee – there needs to be some outside force that makes Republicans deviate from the candidate they love.

You could make the argument that four indictments just might do that.

The problem is Republican voters have been consistent in what they think about the different Trump indictments. Despite the charges against the former president, ranging from his efforts to overturn the 2020 election to allegations that he mishandled classified documents, Republicans see them all the same way. Between 14% and 16% of Republicans believe Trump should have been charged, according to recent ABC News/Ipsos surveys. The vast majority don’t.

Republicans justify their stance by saying that the charges are politically motivated. Over 80% of Republicans agree in the new polling from ABC News/Ipsos and the AP that both the Fulton County district attorney in Georgia and the Department of Justice are playing partisan politics.

This has caused Republicans to not only stick to Trump but also double down on him. His primary polling advantage has swelled from the single digits at its lowest point to nearly 40 points today over his nearest competitor, Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis.

Keep reading here.

Supporters of Republican presidential candidate and former President Donald Trump walk around the arena with Trump campaign signs the day before the debate in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, on Aug. 22.

Republicans seem to have a fascination with the Badger State. After all, that’s where they’re holding the first presidential debate and their 2024 convention.

So what’s the deal? Republicans know that no Democrat has won the presidency since 1960 without carrying Wisconsin.

Over the past few cycles, elections in the state have been particularly close. Donald Trump took Wisconsin by less than a point in 2016 on his way to winning the White House. Joe Biden followed up in 2020 with a similar margin of victory.

For the past two cycles, Wisconsin has been what is known as the “tipping point” state. If the Democratic presidential candidate won every state that was more Democratic-leaning than Wisconsin and the Republican presidential candidate won every state that was more Republican-leaning, then neither side would have an Electoral College majority. Wisconsin would have been the ultimate arbiter.

We’ll see what happens in 2024, but keep in mind that Wisconsin maintained its swing-state status in 2022. The state was a rarity in that it elected a candidate of one party (Democratic) to the governorship and another party (Republican) to the US Senate.

Dozens of the most generous donors to super PACs that supported Donald Trump’s reelection bid in the 2020 cycle have skipped giving to the new crop of super PACs backing the former president and his rivals for the 2024 Republican presidential nomination, a CNN analysis shows.

Roughly three-quarters of the individuals who contributed $50,000 or more to the previous Trump super PACs have not donated so far to super PACs supporting any individual Republican candidates – underscoring how much the GOP presidential primary remains frozen in place. Some of the wealthy people who once supported Trump remain reluctant to back his third bid for White House as the former president confronts three criminal indictments. But they also haven’t committed to another GOP contender at this stage in the campaign.

“People like to give their money to winners,” said Eric Levine, a GOP fundraiser in New York who opposes Trump’s candidacy and views the large GOP field as too unwieldy. “There is a lot of concern that we have too many people in the non-Trump lane. We’d really like to see it narrow down.”

Of the 88 people who donated $50,000 or more to the two main super PACs that backed Trump’s reelection in the 2020 cycle, four of those donors – or people closely connected to them – donated to Trump’s super PAC, MAGA Inc., during the first six months of this year, according to CNN’s review of new filings with the Federal Election Commission.

They include New York Jets owner Robert Wood “Woody” Johnson, who was a top fundraiser for Trump’s earlier campaign and served as his ambassador to the United Kingdom. He donated $1 million to the Trump super PAC active in the 2024 election, Make America Great Again, Inc.

Among Trump’s rivals, Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis attracted the most donations from the Trump big-donor world. Four gave to the DeSantis super PAC Never Back Down, the analysis found, including Republican megadonors Richard and Elizabeth Uihlein, who donated $1 million apiece.

Doug Leone, another larger donor to a Trump super PAC in the 2020 election cycle, contributed $2 million to Never Back Down.

At least one previous Trump super PAC donor – Arkansas-based investment banker Warren Stephens – is playing the field. He donated to four of Trump’s rivals: giving $1 million to a super PAC aligned with former Arkansas Gov. Asa Hutchinson, $100,000 to one supporting former Vice President Mike Pence, $50,000 to a group aligned with former New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie and $25,000 to one backing former South Carolina Gov. Nikki Haley.

Stephens, who initially opposed Trump’s candidacy in 2016, donated $3.5 million to two Trump-aligned super PACs in the 2020 cycle. He declined an interview through a company spokesperson.

The Uihleins also declined comment through a spokesman, and Leone did not respond to CNN’s inquiry.

Mike Pence, Ron DeSantis, Nikki Haley, Vivek Ramaswamy, Doug Burgum, Tim Scott, Asa Hutchinson and Chris Christie.

Eight Republicans have qualified for the party’s first 2024 presidential primary debate Wednesday night, the Republican National Committee announced Monday evening.

Former President Donald Trump – the clear front-runner in national and early state polls – has said he would skip the debate in Milwaukee and called on his rivals to drop out.

These are the candidates who qualified for the debate:

Ron DeSantis: The Florida governor could wear the biggest target Wednesday night, as the top-polling candidate onstage in Trump’s absence. DeSantis has downsized and reshuffled his campaign in recent weeks after failing to make progress toward unseating Trump as the GOP’s standard-bearer in the primary’s early months. His turn in the national spotlight Wednesday could become a turning point in the party’s primary – either launching DeSantis forward or displacing him as the top Trump alternative.

Vivek Ramaswamy: The tech entrepreneur posted a video of himself shirtless, practicing tennis, on Monday in a tweet he described as his debate prep. He has also made appearances on the sorts of liberal media programs that many Republican contenders skip, such as a podcast with HBO host Bill Maher. A memo by a pro-DeSantis super PAC made public last week advised the Florida governor to attack Ramaswamy, an indication of the 38-year-old’s rise in the race.

Mike Pence: The former vice president faced more difficulties than some of his rivals in reaching the 40,000 donor threshold but did so with two weeks to spare. He suggested he had looked forward to a showdown with his former ticket mate. Criticizing Trump’s decision to skip the debate, Pence said Sunday on ABC News that every candidate who qualified “ought to be on the stage willing to square off and answer those tough questions.”

Nikki Haley: The former South Carolina governor and US ambassador to the United Nations under Trump offered a glimpse of how Republicans onstage could be more focused on chipping away at their lower-polling rivals’ support than on taking on Trump directly. On Monday, she criticized Ramaswamy, saying on social media that “his foreign policies have a common theme: they make America less safe.”

Tim Scott: The South Carolina senator has sought to offer a more positive contrast to rivals such as Trump and DeSantis – and he could be on a collision course with the Florida governor as they vie to become the top choice of those seeking to move on from the former president.

Chris Christie: The former New Jersey governor is perhaps the biggest wild card on Wednesday night’s stage. As a presidential contender in 2016, he all but ended Marco Rubio’s presidential hopes in a debate when he relentlessly mocked the Florida senator for delivering a “memorized 25-second speech.” Christie has positioned himself as a fierce Trump critic, but he won’t get a head-to-head showdown with Trump skipping the debate.

Doug Burgum: The North Dakota governor, who attracted donors with a gift-card scheme – $20 in exchange for $1 donations – has described himself as the least-known contender on Wednesday night’s stage. He said Sunday on NBC that he’ll have succeeded in the debate “if we get a chance to explain who we are, what we’re about and why we’re running.”

Asa Hutchinson: The former Arkansas governor has also positioned himself as a Trump critic. He previously complained about the RNC’s loyalty pledge requirement but told CNN’s Kasie Hunt on Sunday that he was signing the pledge because he was “confident that Donald Trump’s not going to be the nominee.”

Former President Donald Trump will be at his Bedminster, New Jersey, golf club during tonight’s Republican presidential debate with a very small group of advisers while a majority of his team are in Milwaukee to do media and spin for the former president around the debate.

Sources close to Trump tell CNN that he is likely to watch at least some of the debate and coverage. One source said they expect Trump will post reaction to social media. 

Trump has also floated calling into different shows after his interview with former Fox New host Tucker Carlson concludes, two source close to the former president told CNN.

In recent days, Trump has talked extensively about the debate — and his decision not to participate — and said that he believes he made the right choice, according to sources who have spoken to the former president. He has also told people he thinks Fox News is worried about ratings in his absence, something he has cited for part of his reasoning for skipping the debate. 

Some Republican operatives are not convinced that is the case and are waiting to see if Trump gave another candidate an opportunity to seize the spotlight, particularly Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis.

Ask Lisa McGaffey if she has ever voted for a Democrat and there is no pause.

“Oh, heavens, no,” she says quickly and emphatically. “Oh, no. There’s no – abortion. … They have to have a chance to grow up. They have to have the chance. You never know who that’s going to be.”

McGaffey is a loyal Donald Trump supporter and is grateful for his three appointments to the conservative Supreme Court majority that erased Roe v. Wade last year and returned the question of abortion rights to the states.

Two-hundred miles away, in the fast growing Des Moines suburbs, Betsy Sarcone takes a different view.

Iowa, like Florida, in recent months enacted a law outlawing most abortions at six weeks. Sarcone – a single mother and a Catholic and Republican who told us, “I don’t believe in abortion” – thinks that is too restrictive.

“I agree with a time limit,” Sarcone said in a recent interview in her West Des Moines home. “I’ve had three babies grow inside me. I agree when you feel them kicking and you feel them moving – that’s in my heart, is a time when that (a cutoff to abortion access) would be. Which is around say, like 18 weeks, something like that typically. So in my heart, that’s what I feel. I again, I just I don’t know that much further than that it’s somebody’s place to judge.”

Abortion is among the fault lines in the 2024 Republican campaign, and a likely debate topic in Wednesday’s first primary season showdown between Republican candidates – all of whom support abortion restrictions. It’s also an issue that splits GOP voters, even those who share an opposition to the procedure. Sarcone and McGaffey, for example, are among a group of Iowa Republicans we are tracking as part of a CNN project designed to view the 2024 campaign through the eyes of voters – to see firsthand if their views change over the course of the cycle, and if so, why.

Among that group is also Chris Mudd, a businessman in Cedar Falls and a Trump supporter, who signals a potential warning for GOP hopefuls on abortion.

“I’m a pro-life guy,” Mudd told us. “But I think it is a losing issue for Republicans.” Of the six-week bans enacted in Florida and later in his home state of Iowa, Mudd said: “I think that was a mistake.”

Among Republican candidates there’s some disagreement over whether a national ban should be a priority, or whether the issue is best left to the states.

Read more about what the voters are saying.

Doug Burgum’s campaign moved to recover from the North Dakota governor’s injury ahead of the Republican presidential debate.

Just a few hours before the first debate, Burgum’s campaign started selling shirts in the mold of the Air Jordan “Jumpman” logo. But the campaign had some fun with it. The Burgum “Jumpman” includes a silhouette of Burgum with a cowboy hat and wearing a single cowboy boot.

The governor suffered an Achilles injury while playing basketball earlier in the day. It was possible that the tendon injury meant Burgum couldn’t stand on stage and therefore unable to participate in the debate.

But by early afternoon the governor posted a photo of himself on social media with crutches saying “I’m in.” 

Former President Donald Trump said his interview with Tucker Carlson will air at 9 p.m. ET Wednesday night, which will directly coincide with the first GOP primary debate.

Trump posted on Truth Social that the interview will be shown at the same time as the debate.

The interview, which was previously recorded, will air on X, formerly Twitter, a source familiar with the matter told CNN. 

Trump confirmed Sunday he will not participate in the debate in Milwaukee. Stating that the public already “knows who I am,” Trump wrote on his social media platform: “I will therefore not be doing the debates!”

For weeks, the former president had privately and publicly floated skipping Wednesday’s debate, given his lead in the polls. He is expected to spend Wednesday evening at his golf club in Bedminster, New Jersey.

Republican presidential candidate North Dakota Gov. Doug Burgum speaks during a fundraising event for Rep. Ashley Hinson on Sunday, Aug. 6.

North Dakota Gov. Doug Burgum will participate in tonight’s Republican debate despite sustaining a high-grade tear to his Achilles tendon, according to his campaign.  

Burgum’s injury threw into question whether he would end up attending. After a walk-through the debate site on crutches, Burgum was evaluated by a Milwaukee sports physician and injury specialist who confirmed the injury and requested additional tests tomorrow. 

“I’m in,” Burgum posted on social media along with a picture of him in crutches. 

Burgum will have to stand during the two-hour debate as he told CNN’s Dana Bash in an interview earlier.

He’s said, “I will stand on one leg for two hours to be up there tonight.” He intends to “cowboy up.”

Republican presidential candidate former New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie speaks with reporters outside the Child Rights Protection Center in Kyiv, Ukraine, on Aug. 4.

Republican presidential candidate Chris Christie expressed confidence in his ability to perform on the debate stage, highlighting what he views as his strengths. 

“I know how to articulate an argument. I know how to make it,” Christie said in a video interview with Fox News Digital that was shared Wednesday by his super PAC. “I feel like I have the ideas that people are generally attracted to.”

“If you have those things, you have a good chance to be able to do it. No guarantees, but a good chance,” he added.

As for his rivals, Christie said it would be for the audience and media to judge, but he made clear he’s counting on an attention-grabbing performance like those from his 2016 campaign.

Christie gave CNN’s Omar Jimenez this preview of his approach last week: “I listen to the question. I try to answer it, and if somebody else says something on the stage I think is really stupid, I try to point it out. That’s about, that’s the depth of our strategy.”

It’s no coincidence that tonight’s Republican debate is in Wisconsin. Republicans want to make an early statement in a state that will help decide next year’s election.

The state has been the scene of a fierce ideological battle between Republicans and Democrats for a decade.  

It saw a hardline conservative government takeover and a union-busting agenda under then-Gov. Scott Walker, who was once seen as a potential future president but flamed out early in the 2016 campaign at the start of Donald Trump’s hijacking of the Republican Party.

Democrats are fighting back, however, and now control the governorship, while the GOP runs the state legislature. The state’s two US Senate seats are split between the parties. 

Wisconsin has been one of the most intense battlegrounds over abortion since the US Supreme Court overturned the constitutional right to the procedure last year.

Liberals scored a huge victory in the wake of that decision in April when Janet Protasiewicz won a state Supreme Court seat, ending a 15-year conservative majority ahead of major decisions on district maps and abortion that could reshape politics here for years.

The last few presidential elections show just how tight things are likely to get. In 2020, Joe Biden beat Trump by 20,600 votes among 3.2 million cast in the state — or by 0.6 percentage points. In 2016, Trump beat Democratic nominee Hillary Clinton by 0.8 percentage points.  

Wisconsin’s political characteristics mirror America’s as a whole. Democrats run up their totals in the cities, like Milwaukee and in counties around the state capital, like Madison — a big college town. Republicans have seen their support ebb in the suburbs, reflecting a national trend worsened by Trump’s constant circus of chaos. But Trump signs proliferate in more rural areas and deeper red districts. 

The GOP wants Wisconsin to know its commitment — that’s why the Republican National Committee is hosting the first debate in Milwaukee and will follow up by holding its national convention in the city next July.

Biden is also a frequent visitor. He jetted into Milwaukee on Air Force One last week to mark the first anniversary of the passage of the Inflation Reduction Act, which has directed millions of dollars to promote green energy jobs in Wisconsin. 

Wisconsin only has 10 of the 270 electoral votes needed to win the presidency. But don’t be surprised if it has a big say next year in deciding whether Biden wins a second term or whether a Republican sweeps to power.

Wisconsin has long been a vital stop on the road to the White House – a battleground and bellwether – that went for Joe Biden in 2020 and Donald Trump in 2016.

Former Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker – a one-time Trump rival – believes that’s another reason it’s a mistake for Trump to skip the debate tonight in Milwaukee.

As Walker sees it, Trump is not only competing in the primary, but he could also start trying to win back some of the voters who once supported him.

Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis has several surrogates and elected officials on site at the debate in Milwaukee, according to a campaign spokesperson. 

Oklahoma Gov. Kevin Stitt and Rep. Chip Roy, a Republican from Texas, will be among those in the spin room. 

Roy said in a statement to CNN that he defines a win for DeSantis tonight as “rising above all the inevitable noise to demonstrate he’s the one candidate who’s done what the people want us to do.” 

Other surrogates include: Florida Lt. Gov. Jeanette Nuñez, Rep. Laurel Lee, Rep. Rich McCormick, Florida state Sens. Jay Collins and Blaise Ingoglia, Iowa state Sens. Adrian Dickey and Jeff Reichman, and DeSantis campaign donors Hal Lambert and Pete Snyder.

Chris Christie greets people during a campaign event on August 18, in Miami, Florida.

Just days ahead of a crucial first Republican presidential debate, Chris Christie held a town hall in the home state of the two leading primary contenders.

“I do know that you have a couple of candidates who live here,” the former New Jersey governor and presidential candidate joked in front of the Miami audience Friday.

Christie wanted GOP voters, specifically in Florida, to know they didn’t have to stick with former President Donald Trump or their governor, Ron DeSantis. He framed their choice as one between someone focused on voter issues – alluding to himself – and someone “who’ll be fending off the next criminal trial” – alluding to the multiple indictments Trump faces at both the federal and state levels.

“By Wednesday night, the front-runner for our party’s nomination is going to be out on bail in four different jurisdictions,” he told the town hall crowd. “When are we going to stop pretending that this is normal?”

Criticizing Trump, who has called Christie a “sad, pathetic slob” in the past, has been a hallmark of the former governor’s campaign to this point. But Christie also used his Florida stage to go after DeSantis, in part over a recent memo from a pro-DeSantis super PAC floating potential debate talking points that included defending Trump onstage.

“The only way to beat someone is to beat them. If [DeSantis] thinks he’s gonna get on the stage and defend Donald Trump on Wednesday night, then he should do Donald Trump a favor and do our party a favor, come back to Tallahassee, endorse Donald Trump, and get the hell out of the race,” Christie said.

In response to the memo, a spokesperson for the DeSantis campaign pointed out that “this was not a campaign memo and we were not aware of it prior.”

DeSantis told reporters Saturday, “I didn’t do it. I didn’t read it. It’s not going to influence what I do. We’re gonna go, and we’re gonna speak the truth and we’re looking forward to getting the job done.”

In a separate memo obtained by CNN, DeSantis’ new campaign manager, James Uthmeier, laid out to friends, donors and supporters how the Florida governor is preparing for Wednesday’s debate.

“We are fully prepared for Governor DeSantis to be the center of attacks and on the receiving end of false, desperate charges from other candidates,” the memo read in part.

One attendee of the Christie town hall asked how he could attack Trump so forcefully when Christie had endorsed him in 2016 and advised him on past campaigns.

“First of all, let me remind you, I ran against Donald Trump, so it’s not like Donald Trump was my first choice for president. I was,” Christie said, referring to his first White House run in 2016. “I thought, having been his friend for 15 years, that I could make him a better candidate and a better president. I was wrong. That’s it. It’s that simple.”

That approach seemed to resonate with some voters who attended Friday’s town hall.

Read more here.

President Joe Biden told reporters Wednesday that he plans to watch the Republican debate tonight. 

Asked if he would watch the debate, Biden, who’s traveling in Lake Tahoe, Nevada, said he was “going to try and get as much as I can, yeah.”

When asked what his expectations were for the debate, the president said, “I have none.” He chuckled and walked away from cameras.

The president’s own low-key plans stand in stark contrast to those of his official re-election effort, which has fashioned a “war room” at the Washington headquarters of the Democratic National Committee, from where staff will dispatch rapid responses to GOP candidates over e-mail, social media and text message.

When it comes to the main event, Biden campaign co-chair Cedric Richmond told reporters the campaign won’t try to steal the limelight from the GOP.

“We are glad to let the other side have their primetime moment tonight, where the American people will get to see how extreme their positions are and how wildly unpopular they are,” he said.

While Biden is not expected to respond directly to attacks against him on the main debate stage, the campaign is planning a rebuttal to comments by Trump, the GOP frontrunner most likely to go head-to-head with Biden if the election were held today.

Trump is not expected to be at the debate. Instead, the former president recorded an interview with Tucker Carlson which is set to air on X, formerly known as Twitter, at the same time as the GOP debate.

Former President Donald Trump speaks at a rally on July 29, in Erie, Pennsylvania.

The front-runner for the 2024 Republican nomination is not only skipping the first presidential primary debate of the season – he’s also attempting to wrest the spotlight away from the stage in Milwaukee.

With the Republican National Committee’s window to meet fundraising and polling requirements having closed Monday night, the debate stage is set, and the GOP contenders vying to become the party’s top alternative to former President Donald Trump are making their final preparations ahead of what will be among the most-watched moments in many of their political careers. As his rivals prepare for the two-hour showdown on Fox News, Trump’s campaign is attempting to counter-program the debate.

The first debate, a key moment in any presidential primary, is also taking place in the middle of a week in which Trump’s legal troubles will once again take center stage.

Trump has already taped an interview with Tucker Carlson, the fired former Fox News host, two sources familiar with the matter told CNN Monday. It is unclear what platform the interview with Carlson will be published on. The sources said that it would be released around the time of the debate Wednesday night.

The former president, who on Sunday said he will skip the first debate and could skip others, is expected to spend Wednesday evening at his golf club in Bedminster, New Jersey.

But Trump’s son Donald Trump Jr. and other surrogates planned to travel to Milwaukee, where they would have had opportunities to weigh in on national broadcasts before and after the debate in the spin room.

However, Fox News informed the Trump campaign on Monday that they will no longer provide credentials to some surrogates of the former president to attend the spin room at the debate since the former president is not participating in the debate, three sources with direct knowledge of the matter told CNN.

Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis speaks at an event in Cedar Rapids, Iowa, on August 6.

Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis is prepared to be “the center of attacks” at the GOP’s first debate in the 2024 presidential race on Wednesday, according to a campaign memo obtained by CNN over the weekend that lays out how DeSantis is preparing for the debate stage.

The memo, sent by new campaign manager James Uthmeier to donors and supporters, argues the Republican primary is a “two-man race” between DeSantis and former President Donald Trump, who is not planning to participate in the debate.

The memo, first reported by Axios, follows an apparent attempt by a super PAC supporting DeSantis to float debate strategies to the Republican’s presidential campaign last week.

In the talking points from the super PAC Never Back Down, first reported by The New York Times, DeSantis is advised to “hammer” entrepreneur Vivek Ramaswamy and defend Trump if he is attacked by former New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie. It also included tips for how many times to attack President Joe Biden and the media.

On Sunday, Ken Cuccinelli, the founder of the Never Back Down super PAC, said it was a mistake to post the memo.

“There isn’t a sense of knowing (DeSantis) yet like people feel like they know Donald Trump after seven or eight years,” said Cuccinelli, a former senior official in the Trump administration, during a panel discussion on CNN’s State of the Union.

DeSantis told Fox News on Saturday that he hasn’t read the debate strategy put out by Never Back Down and that it’s “something we have put off to the side.” He told reporters in New Hampshire later Saturday that the super PAC talking points are “not going to influence what I do. We’re gonna go, and we’re gonna speak the truth and we’re looking forward to getting the job done.”

In contrast to the super PAC-floated talking points, DeSantis’ campaign memo states his objective on the debate stage “will be to lay out his vision to beat Joe Biden, reverse American decline, and revive the American Dream.”

Read more about the campaign memo.

Former Vice President Mike Pence greets people at a campaign event in Waukee, Iowa, on June 8.

Former Vice President Mike Pence got a workout in and is spending time with family ahead of the first Republican presidential debate tonight, according to his spokesperson.

Pence is spending time with his wife, Karen, his daughter Charlotte Pence Bond, and his granddaughter. 

The former vice president, one of the few with previous experience debating at this level, started preparing for the first presidential primary debate last month, holding several debate prep sessions and a few mock debates. Pence, who was last on a national debate stage in 2020, also studied 2016 debates as a reference.

Pence had said that his strategy on the debate stage is: “I’m just going to be me.” 

Fulton County Jail in Atlanta, Georgia.

Former President Donald Trump plans to turn himself in and be processed at the Fulton County jail on Thursday, following his agreement on Monday to a $200,000 bond and other release conditions.

“I’ll be going to Atlanta, Georgia, on Thursday to be ARRESTED,” Trump wrote on Truth Social, confirming CNN’s earlier reporting from two sources familiar with the plan.

Several co-defendants in the sweeping Georgia racketeering case have also agreed to the terms of their bond agreements with the district attorney’s office.

Trump’s lawyers Jennifer Little, Drew Findling and Marissa Goldberg met with the district attorney’s office on Monday before the details of the bond agreement were released. Little, Findling and Goldberg are based in the state. Other Trump lawyers have been working behind the scenes on the approach to the bond and Trump’s forthcoming arrest, including Todd Blanche, who has taken the helm as Trump’s primary defense attorney across his multiple criminal indictments.

The release conditions outlined in Trump’s bond order are more extensive than those laid out in the others approved earlier Monday in the case.

Unlike some of his co-defendants, the former president is explicitly barred in the order from using social media to target his 18 co-defendants in the case, as well as any witnesses and the 30 unindicted co-conspirators.

“The Defendant shall perform no act to intimidate any person known to him or her to be a codefendant or witness in this case or to otherwise obstruct the administration of justice,” the order signed by Fulton County Superior Court Judge Scott McAfee states.

“The above shall include, but are not limited to, posts on social media or reposts of posts made by another individual on social media,” the order reads.

The Fulton County election subversion case marks the first time the release conditions for Trump have included a cash bond and a prohibition on intimidation through social media.

Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis speaks during a town hall event on June 27.

With former President Donald Trump out of tonight’s debate, Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis – who has consistently polled in second place nationally and in early-voting states – could be positioned to face the sharpest scrutiny Wednesday night, as other contenders seek to replace him as the party’s top alternative to Trump.

The Florida governor also continued to distance himself from a memo from the super PAC Never Back Down, which last week advised him to “hammer” entrepreneur Vivek Ramaswamy and defend Trump if he is attacked by former New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie.

“That’s a separate entity. I had nothing to do with it. It’s not something that I’ve read, and it’s not, not reflective of my strategy,” DeSantis said Monday.

However, DeSantis has unusually close ties with the super PAC. He has outsourced many typical campaign functions, including early-state organizing, to the super PAC, which can raise and spend unlimited sums. DeSantis frequently appears at events as a “special guest” of the super PAC.

Other candidates also plot their strategies: Ramaswamy, the 38-year-old entrepreneur who has risen in polling in recent weeks, appears to have become a significant factor in the race in his rivals’ eyes.

Another contender, Nikki Haley, the former South Carolina governor and US ambassador to the United Nations under Trump, attacked Ramaswamy on Monday, in a potential preview of a debate-stage showdown.

Haley said Ramaswamy is “completely wrong” for his call to reduce US military aid to Israel. During an interview with Russell Brand on Rumble last week, Ramaswamy claimed he would cut off additional aid to Israel in 2028, after the current $38 billion US aid package expires.

“This is part of a pattern with Vivek—his foreign policies have a common theme: they make America less safe,” Haley said on Twitter.

Ramaswamy, for his part, tweeted a video of himself, shirtless, practicing tennis. “Three hours of solid debate prep this morning,” he said.

One key wild card Wednesday night is Christie. He is the only contender on stage who has run against Trump before, and has proven lethal on the debate stage previously: In February 2016, he effectively stymied all momentum of Florida Sen. Marco Rubio when he mocked Rubio for delivering memorized, pre-planned lines.

South Carolina Sen. Tim Scott, a strong fundraiser who many within the GOP see as an increasing factor in the race, has largely stuck to a positive and optimistic message, making Wednesday night a test of whether and how he is willing to mix it up with his rivals.

Former Vice President Mike Pence has emphasized his conservative positions on ideological issues like abortion. But he had also looked for a debate-stage clash with Trump, his former running mate. On Sunday, he criticized the former president on ABC for skipping the first debate.

Hours before the first 2024 Republican presidential debate, the South Carolina Supreme Court upheld the constitutionality of the state’s new six-week abortion ban. In a 4-to-1 ruling the currently all-male court upheld the ban recently signed into law by South Carolina Gov. Henry McMaster in May.

The timing of the ruling raises the likelihood of a robust discussion on abortion and stringent bans during tonight’s debate, especially among the two-South Carolina-based Republican presidential candidates, former Gov. Nikki Haley and Sen. Tim Scott. 

Both Scott and Haley have avoided directly weighing in on the ban with Scott recently responding to a question on it by saying his primary focus as president would be to “cultivate a culture that protects life.”

Haley, meanwhile, has argued that there needs to be a “national consensus” on abortion but the former governor and former Trump administration ambassador to the United Nations has also refused to back a federal ban on abortion at a certain number of weeks.

The ruling on Wednesday adds to the likelihood that both candidates as well as the other Republican presidential hopefuls will be pressed in on where they specifically stand on a federal abortion ban or how far into a pregnancy abortion should be outlawed.

Spokespeople for the Scott and Haley campaigns did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

The day before former President Donald Trump announced he would not participate in the 2024 Republican presidential primary debate, GOP Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene of Georgia campaigned at the Iowa State Fair on Trump’s behalf.

Greene was photographed pouring drinks for fair goers and parading a Trump campaign flag on the iconic ski lift overlooking the fair.

On Wednesday, Greene will join other key Trump congressional allies at the Republican primary presidential debate in Milwaukee to represent the former president at the request of the Trump campaign, amid a crowded Republican field of candidates.

And on Thursday, Greene will have another opportunity to rally around Trump – this time near her own backyard – as he turns himself in to the Fulton County jail for his fourth arraignment after being indicted for his alleged role participating in schemes to meddle with Georgia’s 2020 presidential election results.

Greene said it’s still up in the air whether she will ultimately go, given the brief time Trump will actually be there and the tight security measures around the jail. But she has flights reserved just in case.

“I just talked to President Trump earlier today and told him that, of course, I’d be there in any capacity that he needed me,” Greene told CNN.

Greene’s moves are part of a broader web of Trump surrogates and allies who have fanned out across the airwaves, hit the campaign trail and made legislative moves to support the former president as his political and legal battles have converged – a familiar playbook deployed by a recurring cast of characters that have taken similar steps after Trump’s previous three indictments.

The Trump campaign has eagerly leaned into the former president’s deep bench of congressional support both to go on offense against political opponents like Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis and to play defense from the onslaught of legal challenges, particularly in recent weeks.

When Trump himself went to the Iowa State Fair earlier this month, he was flanked by a number of Florida Republicans, including Reps. Byron Donalds, Greg Steube, Matt Gaetz and Anna Paulina Luna, who all have endorsed him over DeSantis – a show of Floridian force that was meant as a clear jab at one of Trump’s top rivals in the race.

Read more about how Trump is relying on his Capitol Hill surrogates for support in lieu of participating in tonight’s debate.

Sen.Tim Scott hugs his mother, Frances Scott, at a campaign event on May 22, in North Charleston, South Carolina.

Republican presidential candidate Sen. Tim Scott is expected to lean into his background and personal story at Wednesday night’s debate and will do so with the help of a key figure in his upbringing – his mother, Frances. 

Frances Scott has been spending time with the South Carolina senator in Milwaukee leading up to the debate and will be in the audience for the debate this evening, a Scott campaign official tells CNN. 

Scott often discusses his mother on the debate trail as a way of connecting the central issues and values of his campaign to his personal life. He credits his mother for teaching him the lesson of choosing “victory over victimhood,” a common refrain in his stump speech, cites her as an example when talking about “the dignity of work,” and invokes her retiree status when discussing the need to protect Social Security benefits. 

Scott’s mother raised him and his older brother as a single parent in North Charleston, South Carolina after Scott’s parents divorced when he was 7 years old. She worked as a nursing assistant at St. Francis Hospital in Charleston for 50 years before retiring earlier this year. 

Scott’s backstory – growing up in poverty to become a US Senator – is distinctive among the field of candidates running for the Republican nomination. He often uses his story to make an argument about the enduring power of the American dream. 

Republican presidential candidate Nikki Haley delivers remarks on July 17, in Arlington, Virginia.

Republican presidential candidate Nikki Haley’s preparation ahead of Wednesday night’s debate will include listening to “lots and lots of music,” an adviser to the Haley campaign tells CNN.

Some of the former South Carolina governor’s musical selections will include Joan Jett, Queen, Def Leppard, and the Go-Go’s.

Haley has touted holding more than 80 town halls since launching her presidential bid in February. On Sunday, Haley told Fox News “debate prep for me was 80 town halls I did in Iowa and New Hampshire.”

The Haley campaign reiterated this message Wednesday: “Nikki’s been preparing for six months on the campaign trail answering unscripted questions from voters across New Hampshire, Iowa, and South Carolina. She’s not afraid of the hard questions. She’ll always fight for what she believes in,” a Haley adviser told CNN.

North Dakota Gov. Doug Burgum speaks during a campaign event on August 10, in Des Moines, Iowa.

North Dakota Gov. Doug Burgum suffered a high-grade tear of his Achilles tendon, requiring him to be on crutches, according to a source familiar with the situation.

He will attend the candidates’ walk-through of the event site this afternoon and then decide if he’s physically able to participate in tonight’s debate, the source told CNN.

Burgum is feeling focused on tonight’s first GOP primary debate and understands that as much as he’d like to debate, he would have to walk on stage and stand behind a podium for two hours, the source said.

Sen. Tim Scott and Vivek Ramaswamy posted on social media wishing the governor well.  Other candidates have privately reached out to ask how he’s doing, according to the source.

CNN first reported that Burgum was taken to a Milwaukee emergency room Tuesday after he was injured while playing a game of pick-up basketball with his staff.

Republican presidential candidate Chris Christie delivers remarks in Washington, DC, on June 23.

Donald Trump is not participating in the first GOP primary debate, but a senior adviser to Chris Christie’s campaign tells CNN any defense of him might as well transport the former president there.

“Who’s gonna be the first person to step up and defend Trump, because it’s gonna happen,” said Doug Mayer, a senior adviser to the Christie campaign.

“If you defend Trump, he’ll turn you into Trump,” said Mayer of Christie. “When you have to account for specific actions [Trump has] done and say whether you agree with him or not, that’s tough,” he added. 

Christie has not been on a GOP presidential debate stage in nearly a decade, but the former New Jersey governor is “feeling great” heading into this one, according to a senior Christie campaign official. 

A separate senior campaign official told CNN the former New Jersey governor is spending his pre-debate time “getting mentally ready” and hanging out with family. His last formal debate session was Monday, according to the official.

Heading into debate week Christie told CNN, “I don’t have one of these deep strategic approaches to debates.”

“I listen to the question, I try to answer it, and if somebody else says something on the stage that I think is really stupid I try to point it out, that’s the depth of our strategy,” he added.

Ahead of Wednesday’s debate, Mayer echoed those sentiments. 

President Joe Biden walks on the South Lawn of the White House on August 15. 

President Biden is taking “Dark Brandon” to Fox News. 

The Biden campaign is running digital ads featuring the online meme “Dark Brandon” on the Fox News homepage ahead of the network hosting the Republican presidential primary debate Wednesday night, a campaign official said.

“Get real Jack. I’m bringing Roe back,” the digital ad reads alongside the portrait of Biden with red lasers beaming from his eyes. 

The campaign has also installed the “Dark Brandon” ads on billboards across Milwaukee and will drive a mobile billboard featuring the images around the debate site today, a campaign official said.

“Dark Brandon” was spawned as a liberal play off the right’s “Let’s Go Brandon” chant used to bash President Biden.

The campaign has fully embraced “Dark Brandon,” creating merchandise and even having the president tape a promotional ad. “I like my coffee dark,” Biden said in a video as he sips from a “Dark Brandon” mug bearing his image. Dark Brandon products have made up 44% of all online store orders as of early August, the campaign official said.

The digital ad push is part of Democrats’ counter-programming heading into tonight’s GOP primary debate. They’ve also rolled out television ads on both the national level as well as in Wisconsin as part of a $25 million ad blitz extending over the next 16 weeks.

Polls of likely Republican voters nationally and of those in the early-voting states – Iowa, New Hampshire, South Carolina and Nevada – have consistently shown former President Donald Trump well ahead of his rivals at this stage of the race.

Trump held a clear lead over his rivals in a Des Moines Register/NBC News/Mediacom poll of likely Iowa GOP caucusgoers released Monday, though just over half say they are not locked in to their choice and could be persuaded to support someone else.

Overall, 42% say Trump is their first choice, followed by 19% supporting Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis. No other candidate reaches double digits. Behind them, 9% back South Carolina Sen. Tim Scott, 6% each back former South Carolina Gov. Nikki Haley and former Vice President Mike Pence, 5% support former New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie, 4% back entrepreneur Vivek Ramaswamy, 2% back North Dakota Gov. Doug Burgum, and 1% support former Texas Rep. Will Hurd, with the rest of the field tested landing below 1%.

About two-thirds say they have favorable impressions of DeSantis (66%) and Trump (65%), with majorities also expressing positive views of Scott (59%) and Haley (53%). Views of Christie (60% unfavorable to 28% favorable) and Pence (53% unfavorable to 42% favorable) break negative. Many of the other candidates have low name recognition, with four in 10 or more not sure about them.

About half, 52%, of likely caucusgoers say they could be persuaded to support someone other than their first choice candidate, while 40% say their minds are made up. Trump’s supporters are more likely to be locked in (66% say so), yet a third say they could be persuaded to back someone else (34%). Among those backing a candidate other than Trump, 69% say they could be persuaded to support someone else, and 31% say that their mind is made up.

The poll was conducted by Selzer and Co. August 13-17 among a random sample of 406 likely Republican caucusgoers in Iowa. It has a margin of sampling error of plus or minus 4.9 percentage points.

New Hampshire Gov. Chris Sununu, who considered his own presidential run before passing earlier this year, said Monday on CNN’s “Inside Politics” that the GOP primary field needs to narrow before the race reaches the Iowa caucuses and New Hampshire primary.

He said candidates who are mired in the low-single digits in the polls by early December should drop out.

“By New Hampshire you need three or four candidates in the race to really make it, you know, a real opportunity and an option for the Republican voter,” he said.

And Sununu dismissed Trump’s steady national polling leads, saying that his lead would fall “as we get around to Christmas,” while pointing to early state polls, where the former president still leads, though by a smaller margin.

North Dakota Gov. Doug Burgum speaks during a fundraising event in Cedar Rapids, Iowa, on August 6.

North Dakota Gov. Doug Burgum was taken to a Milwaukee emergency room Tuesday after suffering an injury while playing a game of pick-up basketball with his staff, a source familiar with the situation tells CNN.

It’s unclear whether the 67-year-old presidential candidate will be able to stand for the first GOP primary debate on Wednesday night, putting his attendance now in question, the source said.

Burgum is one of the eight candidates in the debate lineup. All candidates are scheduled to visit the event site on Wednesday afternoon for a walk-through, and it’s unclear whether the North Dakota governor will participate.

 The debate will air on Fox News at 9 p.m. ET.

The GOP governor, a wealthy former software executive, has described himself as the least-known contender on Wednesday night’s stage. He said Sunday on NBC that he’ll have succeeded in the debate “if we get a chance to explain who we are, what we’re about and why we’re running.”

You can read more about Burgum’s injury here.

Former President Donald Trump attends an event on August 4, in Montgomery, Alabama.

Former President Donald Trump confirmed Sunday he will not participate in the first Republican primary debate on Thursday.

Stating that the public already “knows who I am,” Trump wrote on his social media platform: “I will therefore not be doing the debates!”

It was not immediately clear whether Trump meant he will sit out all currently scheduled debates – there is a second GOP primary debate set for September – or any and all future debates.

A Trump adviser told CNN that the former president could still decide to participate in a later primary debate, despite his post.

Trump has told a number of allies that he does not want to debate at the Reagan Library, the location of the second debate, and complained in private conversations that he has never been invited to speak at the venue, blaming, in part, the chairman of the board of trustees, Fred Ryan. Ryan was the chief executive officer of the Washington Post.

Wednesday’s primary debate is the first of the 2024 cycle. For weeks the former president has privately and publicly floated skipping it, given his lead in the polls. Multiple sources familiar with Trump’s plans previously told CNN he is planning to sit for an interview with former Fox News Host Tucker Carlson instead.

Still, Republican officials had been publicly seeking to convince Trump to join the debate stage as recently as Sunday morning.

Hours before Trump posted, RNC chair Ronna McDaniel said she hoped he would debate. “I’m still holding out hope that President Trump will come. I think it’s so important that the American people hear from all the candidates,” McDaniel said on Fox News.

McDaniel and David Bossie, who is in charge of the RNC debate committee, visited Trump at his Bedminster, New Jersey, home in recent weeks to encourage him to participate, according to a Trump adviser. The former president was noncommittal on his plans during this meeting.

Fox News president Jay Wallace and the network’s chief executive, Suzanne Scott, had also encouraged Trump to participate in the debate.

The Republican National Committee logo is shown on the stage as crew members work at the North Charleston Coliseum, in January 2016 in North Charleston, South Carolina.

The Republican National Committee established three requirements for presidential hopefuls to qualify for the August 23 debate stage.

First, candidates must attract at least 40,000 unique donors, with at least 200 unique donors per state – a mark easy for the best-known figures in the race to hit, but one that lesser-known figures have used gift card offers, concert tickets and more to reach.

Second, candidates must reach at least 1% in three national polls that meet the RNC’s requirements or at least 1% in two national polls and in two polls from separate early voting states.

Finally, candidates must sign the RNC’s “Beat Biden pledge” – a commitment to back the eventual Republican nominee, no matter who wins the primary.