Second 2024 Republican presidential debate

Our live coverage of Wednesday's GOP debate and the 2024 race has moved here.

The second 2024 Republican presidential primary debate ended just as it began: with former President Donald Trump – who hasn’t yet appeared alongside his rivals onstage – as the party’s dominant front-runner.

The seven GOP contenders in Wednesday night’s showdown at the Ronald Reagan Presidential Library in California provided a handful of memorable moments, including former South Carolina Gov. Nikki Haley unloading what often seemed like the entire field’s pent-up frustration with entrepreneur Vivek Ramaswamy.

Two candidates criticized Trump’s absence, as well. Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis said he was “missing in action.” Former New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie called the former president “Donald Duck” and said he “hides behind his golf clubs” rather than defending his record on stage. The GOP field also took early shots at President Joe Biden.

However, what played out in the debate, hosted by Fox Business Network and Univision, is unlikely to change the trajectory of a GOP race in which Trump has remained dominant in national and early-state polling. And the frequently messy, hard-to-track crosstalk could have led many viewers to tune out entirely.

Here are some key takeaways from the second GOP primary debate:

Trump’s safe approach appears to pays off: Trump might be playing it safe by skipping the debates and taking a running-as-an-incumbent approach to the 2024 GOP primary. It’s hard to see, though, how he would pay a significant price in the eyes of primary voters for missing Wednesday night’s messy engagement. Trump’s rivals took a few shots at the former president. DeSantis knocked him for deficit spending. Christie mocked him, calling him “Donald Duck” for skipping the debate. But he largely escaped serious scrutiny of his four years in the Oval Office from a field of rivals courting voters who have largely positive views of Trump’s presidency.

A messy two hours: The second GOP primary debate was beset by interruptions, crosstalk and protracted squabbles between the candidates and moderators over speaking time. That’s tough for viewers trying to make sense of it all but even worse for these candidates as they attempted to stand out as viable alternatives to the absentee Trump. Further complicating the matter, some of the highest polling candidates after Trump – DeSantis and Haley – were among those least willing to dive into the muck, especially during the crucial first hour.

Candidates piled on Vivek Ramaswamy: Some of the candidates onstage didn’t want to have a repeat of the first debate, in which Ramaswamy managed to stand out as a formidable debater and showman. Other candidates still had clashes with him. South Carolina Sen. Tim Scott Scott went after the tech entrepreneur, saying his business record included ties to the Chinese Communist Party and money going to Hunter Biden. At another point after Ramaswamy had responded to a question about his use of TikTok, Haley jumped in, saying, “Every time I hear you, I feel a little bit dumber from what you say” and adding, “We can’t trust you.”

Palmetto pummeling: All night, Scott seemed like he was looking for a fight with somebody and he finally got that when he set his sights on fellow South Carolinian Haley. He began his line of attack – which Haley interjected with a “Bring it” – by accusing her of spending $50,000 on curtains in a $15 million subsidized location during her time as the US ambassador to the United Nations. What ensued was the two Republicans going back and forth about the curtains.

An uneven performance for DeSantis: Confronted by his Republican competitors for the first time in earnest, DeSantis delivered an uneven performance from the center of the stage – a spot that is considerably less secure than it was heading into the first debate in Milwaukee. Despite rules that allowed candidates to respond if they were invoked, DeSantis let Fox slip to commercial break when Pence seemed to blame the governor for a jury decision to award a life sentence, not the death penalty, to the mass murderer in the Parkland high school shooting. The Florida governor did manage to first speak Wednesday night just in the nick of time – 16 minutes into the debate. And when he finally spoke, he continued the sharper attacks on the GOP front-runner that he has previewed in recent weeks.

Read more debate takeaways.

Entrepreneur Vivek Ramaswamy led with over 12 minutes of speaking time in tonight’s debate, which saw candidates scrambling for airtime and talking over each other as they jockeyed for opportunities to distinguish themselves.

Gov. Doug Burgum of North Dakota had the least amount of time to get his message out, speaking just under eight minutes.

Here's how long the candidates spoke:

Following Wednesday night's Republican presidential primary debate, CNN's Gary Tuchman joined a group of voters in Nevada, Iowa, who weighed in and offered their opinions of the candidates.

The group consisted of 18 voters, 16 are undecided, Tuchman noted.

Asked about who they thought won the debate, nine voters raised their hand for Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis.

Former South Carolina Gov. Nikki Haley came in second with six people raising their hands, while one person raised their hand for Vivek Ramaswamy and one person for North Dakota Gov. Doug Burgum.

None were ready to caucus for former President Donald Trump.

Asked if it was disrespectful for Trump not to participate in the debate, there was a mixed response.

One voter said she didn't think it was disrespectful.

"I just think that, you know, it's his decision — it's personal decision. And I think he just feels like he has a lot of people that just knows what he's about. He's been here several times. He's done several rallies, he's done lots of interviews and so I think he probably feels like that kind of takes the place of him having to be on that debate stage," the voter said.

Another voter said disagreed.

"I think it's disrespectful that he didn't come to try to earn Iowans votes because so many people's votes are still up for grabs here in Iowa and so not coming to try to earn that with the other candidates I think is a sign of disrespect and I don't think he earned anyone's vote by not coming," she said.

Many said it was a bad night for Pence.

"I think he completely destroyed his credibility," one voter said. Noting that he didn't answer direct questions on his record. Another voter said that Pence comes across as "not very believable."

Former Vice President Pence claimed that “one of the signature accomplishments of our administration was in just a few short years, we achieved energy independence.”    

Facts First: This is misleading on a few counts. During brief periods prior to Trump’s presidency, the US exported more oil, gas and petroleum products than it imported. While 2019 did mark the first full year the country did so, that trend has continued through the Biden administration in 2021 and 2022. And by at least one measure, "energy independence" is actually at a record high under Biden. 

It’s misleading for Pence to suggest Biden “declared a war on energy” as US energy production continues to boom under his administration, contrary to frequent Republican claims. 

According to the Energy Information Administration, in 2022, US total energy exports were the highest on record, and also exceeded total energy imports by the largest margin on record. 

Domestic crude production in the first six months of 2023, the most recent data that is currently available, was the highest on record for the first six months of a year, and US crude oil production in 2022 was the second-highest on record, behind only Trump-era 2019.  

Natural gas production in the US has also continued to surge under Biden.  US production of dry natural gas set a new record in 2022 and even outpaced 2022 levels in the first five months of 2023. 

Additionally, it’s worth noting that “energy independence” is a political phrase, not a literal phrase, and it’s one that energy industry experts call ridiculous. 

Under Trump, the US still relied on imports of foreign oil and gas even though it met some of the common political definitions of “energy independence” — and the US continues to meet those definitions of “energy independence” under Biden.   

According to the EIA, net US energy exports increased from 3.48 quadrillion British thermal unit (Btus) — or “quads” — in 2019 to 3.62 quads in 2021, Biden’s first year in office. In 2022, US net energy exports set a new record at 5.94 quads, and the US produced 3.3% more energy than it consumed. 

On the Republican presidential primary debate stage Wednesday night, the candidates repeatedly invoked China as an antagonist to the United States, especially around economic and financial issues.

Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis called for "decoupling" the US economy from China. Entrepreneur Vivek Ramaswamy said, "we need to declare independence from China." And North Dakota Gov. Doug Burgum said the US is "in a cold war with China."

This year alone, a parade of US officials and CEOs have flocked to China, underscoring the ties between the two nations.

When Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen visited Beijing in July, she said the world was big enough for the US and China to thrive.

"The United States will, in certain circumstances, need to pursue targeted actions to protect its national security. And we may disagree in these instances," she said at the time. "However, we should not allow any disagreement to lead to misunderstandings that needlessly worsen our bilateral economic and financial relationship."

In August, US Commerce Secretary Gina Raimondo echoed Yellen's remarks on her own trip to China, telling Chinese officials that the United States was not seeking a decoupling.

"While we will never, of course, compromise in protecting our national security, I want to be clear that we do not seek to decouple or to hold China's economy back," Raimondo told officials.

South Carolina Sen. Tim Scott told CNN that while he was "surprised by the vitriol" from the other candidates during Wednesday night's debate, it was still "a really good night."

Scott said the exchanges during the night were more substantive, saying that “last time was just a food fight.”

He also said he thinks it's necessary to be “talking about the differences between the candidates.”

California Democratic Gov. Gavin Newsom defended his state after Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis used crime in Los Angeles and San Francisco to argue that the country is "decaying" during the second GOP presidential debate. 

During the debate, the Florida governor said he and his wife “have met three people who have been mugged on the streets” since they've been in southern California, where the debate was held.

“The crime in these cities is one of the strongest signs of the decaying of America,” DeSantis said. “We can’t be successful as a country if people aren't even safe to live in places like Los Angeles and San Francisco.”

When Newsom was asked by Bash if he’s saying that San Francisco is “in good shape,” the California governor said “crime is a real issue” but finds DeSantis to be hypocritical. 

“I find the hypocrisy, the unwillingness to be honest with the American people, and the unwillingness to take responsibility — Ron DeSantis take responsibility for his own crime rate in his own major cities, I find that curious, not surprising,” Newsom said. 

North Dakota Gov. Doug Burgum told CNN after Wednesday's debate that he felt frustrated about his lack of speaking time, despite having experience in many of the issues that were discussed.

He said he has experience in many of the issues discussed during the debate — business, job creation, border policies, energy policies and technology — but he didn't get to answer those questions.

"I'm the only tech guy on the stage who understands software and we're talking about TikTok, and I don't get a question. I don't get a question on the economy," he told CNN after the debate. "So of course, the frustration came across."

"I had to fight my way in. I mean literally, I think I got one or two questions in two hours," he said.