Foreign policy and the Israel-Hamas war are expected to be prominent in Wednesday’s third Republican primary debate, as a narrowing field of candidates seeks to cut into Donald Trump’s lead without being able to challenge the former president in person.
Quick Read
- Foreign policy and the Israel-Hamas conflict to be key topics in the third GOP primary debate.
- Candidates are looking to challenge Trump’s lead as he opts out of the Miami debate.
- Voting begins in Iowa in January; Trump maintains a solid lead despite legal challenges.
- Trump’s campaign aims to overshadow DeSantis in Florida and secure early primary wins.
- DeSantis and Haley, seen as leading alternatives to Trump, are clashing on foreign policy and other issues.
- Both candidates have taken different stances on abortion in the wake of Roe v. Wade being overturned.
- DeSantis and Haley’s campaigns issue memos arguing their strength in Iowa against each other, not mentioning Trump’s lead.
- The debate will feature DeSantis, Haley, Sen. Tim Scott, Chris Christie, and Vivek Ramaswamy.
- Republican candidates express staunch support for Israel following the Hamas attack on October 7.
- DeSantis shows support for Israel through official actions as Florida’s governor.
- Haley highlights her foreign policy experience from her time as U.N. ambassador under Trump.
- Haley and DeSantis recently became more openly critical of Trump.
- DeSantis mocks Trump’s absence from the debate with a promotional golf balls sale.
- Ramaswamy campaigns on an “America First” platform, Christie focuses on New Hampshire, and Scott targets Iowa evangelicals.
- The debate will be moderated by NBC News and conservative commentator Hugh Hewitt.
- Trump, the front-runner, holds a rally in Hialeah, close to the debate location.
- Trump’s campaign calls for the RNC to cancel further debates in favor of backing his campaign.
- Trump advisors push debunked election fraud claims, suggesting debates are not addressing voter integrity concerns.
The Associated Press has the story:
3rd GOP debate to focus on Israel, foreign policy & who could beat Trump
Newslooks- MIAMI (AP)
Foreign policy and the Israel-Hamas war are expected to be prominent in Wednesday’s third Republican primary debate, as a narrowing field of candidates seeks to cut into Donald Trump’s lead without being able to challenge the former president in person.
Trump will again skip the debate in Miami, instead holding a rally in a nearby suburb. He says he won’t participate due to his large lead in national and early state polls.
With voting set to start in leadoff Iowa in January, no one has thus far been able to shake Trump’s dominance of the Republican primary. Many of the candidates have gone after each other hoping to break out as a viable alternative to the former president, emphasizing their differences on foreign policy but also ripping Trump for his criticisms of the Israeli prime minister and claims that a group attacking Israel was “very smart.”
Republican strategist David Kochel, who has advised several past presidential campaigns, said despite Trump’s absence from the stage, the debate offers a chance for someone like Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis or former United Nations Ambassador Nikki Haley to try to emerge.
“Even if he’s not on the stage and basically all these candidates are all kind of fighting for second, I think it’s worth it,” Kochel said. “Because if this race does get much more quickly down to a two-person race, who knows what the dynamic will be?”
Kochel said though Trump has a lot of strength, “You still have a lot of voters in Iowa and New Hampshire open to somebody else.”
So far, however, Trump has retained huge leads despite facing four criminal indictments and a civil fraud case against his businesses for which he testified in New York this week.
His campaign has worked to overpower DeSantis in their shared home state and publicly said it wants to score blowout wins in early primary states to seal the nomination.
The rivalry between DeSantis and Haley has ramped up in recent weeks, with Haley rising in a prominent Iowa poll and gaining new interest from donors and voters. Both campaigns and allied super PACs have hit each other over the war in Israel and the U.S. relationship with China as Republicans take an increasingly antagonistic view of Beijing.
Both candidates have also diverged on abortion rights, a political challenge for Republicans since the Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade. Supporters of abortion rights claimed new momentum Tuesday after elections in several states went in their favor.
In a memo the DeSantis campaign distributed this week to donors, the Florida governor’s top advisers argued that their candidate is best situated to deny Trump a runaway win in leadoff Iowa and that the other Republican rivals, including Haley, are at best, spoilers in that effort who could hand Trump the nomination.
Haley’s campaign, however, contended in a memo that DeSantis and Haley are in “a dead heat” in Iowa, without acknowledging Trump’s lead.
In addition to DeSantis and Haley, also appearing on stage Wednesday will be South Carolina Sen. Tim Scott, former New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie and biotech entrepreneur Vivek Ramaswamy.
The Republican candidates have been staunchly supportive of Israel in its offensive after Hamas’ Oct. 7 attack killing more than 1,400 people.
DeSantis has used his official role as governor to show support for Israel, winning praise from some of the state’s Democrats. He authorized the state to fly hundreds of Americans evacuated from Israel to the U.S., ordered state universities to disband chapters of a pro-Palestinian group, and arranged to help send weapons, ammunition and other supplies to Israel.
Haley, also the former governor of South Carolina, has leaned into her experience as Trump’s U.N. ambassador arguing in support of the Israeli government. She has forcefully scolded Ramaswamy, a first-time candidate who has challenged some traditional GOP foreign policy positions, as lacking experience and expertise.
Haley and DeSantis have also become more frequent and vocal critics of Trump in recent weeks.
Haley, in a speech last month to the Republican Jewish Coalition, slammed Trump’s compliments of foreign strongmen and described his style of “chaos, vendettas and drama” as dangerous.
DeSantis, who has more directly embraced many of Trump’s policies and sought to win over some of his key supporters, has in recent days been questioning if Trump “can summon the balls to show up to the debate.” His campaign quickly starting selling sets of two golf balls for $18 in a box that declares, “Ron DeSantis has a pair” and “He shows up.”
The three remaining candidates — Christie, Scott, and Ramaswamy — are all taking different paths.
Ramaswamy has run as a potential inheritor to Trump’s “America First” mantle. He said he wants the U.S. to avoid so-called “forever wars” and focus on China, while also telling the Republican Jewish Coalition that he would “love nothing more” than for Israel “to put the heads of the top 100 Hamas leaders on stakes and line them up on the Israel-Gaza border.”
Christie, the former New Jersey governor, has focused almost exclusively on New Hampshire’s primary and become the race’s most vocal critic of Trump.
And Scott is hoping for a strong finish in Iowa, where he’s courting the state’s white evangelical voters and spending millions on ads leading up to the Jan. 15 caucuses.
The two-hour debate will be moderated by NBC News anchors Lester Holt and Kristen Welker and conservative commentator Hugh Hewitt, who hosts a morning talk show for the Salem Radio Network.
The race’s overwhelming front-runner, meanwhile, will be in a stadium about 10 miles away from the debate in the heavily Latino city of Hialeah.
Trump’s campaign has suggested the Republican National Committee should stop having debates and instead focus on supporting his campaign.
Top advisers Susie Wiles and Chris LaCivita raised Trump’s debunked claims of election fraud and said that if the party does not cancel debates, it is “an admission to the grassroots that their concerns about voter integrity are not taken seriously and national Republicans are more concerned about helping Joe Biden than ensuring a safe and secure election.”
The RNC did not respond to a message seeking comment.
Want to tune in for the third GOP presidential debate? Here’s how to watch
Quick Read
- Republican Debate Time: The debate is scheduled to begin at 8 p.m. ET on Wednesday and will last for two hours.
- How to Watch: NBC is the main broadcaster, with the debate airing on television and streaming across NBC’s platforms, including NBCNews.com. Additionally, it will be livestreamed on Rumble.
- Location: The event will take place at the Adrienne Arsht Center for the Performing Arts of Miami-Dade County, Florida.
- Importance of Florida: The state is highlighted due to its growing significance for the Republican Party and its native candidates, Governor Ron DeSantis and former President Donald Trump.
- Sponsor: The Republican Jewish Coalition is sponsoring the debate, focusing on issues like the support for Israel, especially amidst the Israel-Hamas conflict.
- Candidates Participating: The stage will feature Governor Ron DeSantis, Vivek Ramaswamy, Senator Tim Scott, Nikki Haley, and Chris Christie.
- Candidates Not Participating: North Dakota Governor Doug Burgum and former Arkansas Governor Asa Hutchinson did not meet the qualifications for this debate, and former Vice President Mike Pence has dropped out of the race.
- Donald Trump’s Strategy: Trump is not participating in the debate, holding a campaign rally in Hialeah, Florida, and opting for other forms of engagement like interviews and meetings related to labor disputes in Michigan.
The Associated Press has the story:
Want to tune in for the third GOP presidential debate? Here’s how to watch
It’s time for the third Republican presidential debate, and there’s going to be an even smaller lineup onstage than the last gathering.
Here’s all of the information on how to watch:What time is the Republican debate?
The two-hour debate will start at 8 p.m. ET on Wednesday. It’s being moderated by NBC’s Lester Holt and Kristen Welker, as well as nationally syndicated Salem Radio Network talk show host Hugh Hewitt.What channel is the Republican debate on?
NBC says the event will air on its television, streaming and digital platforms, including streaming on NBCNews.com.
As with the other two debates, the Republican National Committee has partnered with Rumble — a video-sharing platform popular with some conservatives — to livestream this one, in lieu of the network’s YouTube channel. RNC Chair Ronna McDaniel said earlier this year this was a decision aimed toward “getting away from Big Tech.”Where is the Republican debate?
The setting for the third GOP debate is the Adrienne Arsht Center for the Performing Arts of Miami-Dade County.
The selection of Florida as a debate site highlights not only the state’s importance to the election writ large but also its two native candidates. Gov. Ron DeSantis last year was reelected to his second term leading the state, which former President Donald Trump has also called home since leaving the White House.
Once the swingiest of swing states, Florida has been growing redder and redder in recent election cycles. In 2016, Democrats had about 327,000 more registered voters in the state. Now, the GOP has about 626,000 more registered voters.
The debate is sponsored by the Republican Jewish Coalition, which recently hosted its summit that for years has been a key stop for GOP candidates seeking not only to court Jewish voters but also to present themselves as stalwart allies of Israel, a key priority for many in the party’s base, particularly Christian evangelicals.
That effort is even more prominent now given the ongoing Israel-Hamas war. About 43% of Florida’s Jewish voters supported Trump in the 2020 presidential election, compared with 30% of Jewish voters who supported him nationwide, according to AP VoteCast, a survey of the electorate. DeSantis won 45% of Jewish voters in his reelection, when he flipped traditionally Democratic Miami-Dade County while winning a majority of Latino voters statewide.Which candidates will be on stage?
Five Republicans will be on the debate stage, the smallest field yet as polling and donor benchmarks for qualification rise.
DeSantis, biotech entrepreneur Vivek Ramaswamy, Sen. Tim Scott of South Carolina, former United Nations Ambassador Nikki Haley and former New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie will participate in the Miami event.
That means North Dakota Gov. Doug Burgum, who barely made the second debate, won’t be on stage. Neither will former Arkansas Gov. Asa Hutchinson, who participated in the first debate but missed the cut for the subsequent two. Former Vice President Mike Pence, who participated in the first two debates, has since dropped out of the race.
Trump is yet again skipping the debate, having decided there is little upside in joining his lower-polling rivals on stage, given his commanding early lead in polls. Marking the third time he’s scheduled an event of his own instead of joining his rivals, Trump on Wednesday night will hold a campaign rally in Hialeah, Florida, a half-hour away from the Miami debate site.
Instead of making debate appearances, Trump thus far has participated in a pre-taped interview with former Fox News host Tucker Carlson and met with current and former union workers amid a labor dispute in Michigan.
