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Republican White House hopefuls took to the debate stage once again this week in the second GOP primary debate.
The 2024 presidential candidates went head-to-head on Wednesday night at the Ronald Reagan Presidential Library in Simi Valley, California. Kicking off at 9 p.m. ET, the two-hour debate aired live on Fox Business and Univision and live-streamed exclusively on Rumble, a conservative video-sharing platform that describes itself as being "immune to cancel culture."
The debate was moderated by Fox News' Stuart Varney and Dana Perino as well as Univision's Ilia Calderón. After the debate finished, Fox News made the full video of the debate available online.
Who Was At the Second Republican Primary Debate?
Seven GOP candidates have qualified for the second debate, according to spokespeople for their campaigns. The hopefuls are: Florida Governor Ron DeSantis; entrepreneur and political newcomer Vivek Ramaswamy; former South Carolina Governor Nikki Haley; ex-Vice President Mike Pence; Senator Tim Scott, former New Jersey Governor Chris Christie; and North Dakota Governor Doug Burgum.
Former President Donald Trump, who is the Republican front-runner, has also met the Republican National Committee's (RNC) threshold requirements, but he is expected to skip the event again. Last time, he refused to sign the RNC's pledge to support the eventual GOP nominee and counterprogrammed the debate by airing an interview with former Fox host Tucker Carlson.
Trump's absence dominated the stage at the last debate in Milwaukee, but it did open up opportunities for Ramaswamy and Haley to spar with their competitors and give the lesser-known candidates more household name recognition.
Who Is Winning the Republican Primary?
According to a primary tracker from FiveThirtyEight, Trump leads the crowded field with 55 percent support. DeSantis has the second-highest support with 13 percent, followed by Ramaswamy's 6 percent and Haley's 5 percent.
In order to participate in the second debate, candidates needed to reach at least 3 percent in two national polls or 3 percent in one national poll and in two polls from Iowa, New Hampshire, South Carolina or Nevada. They also need to have at least 50,000 unique campaign donations and sign a pledge to support the party's eventual nominee. Candidates had until Monday night to qualify 48 hours before the debate.
One other Republican who appeared at last month's event—former Arkansas Governor Asa Hutchinson—was unable to qualify under the updated requirements.
During the debate, candidates will get one minute to answer the questions asked by Varney, Perino and Calderón, as well as 30 seconds for follow-up questions. There will be no opening or closing statements from the candidates.
Trump counterprogrammed the debate again on Wednesday by speaking to Detroit autoworkers around the same time as the RNC event.
When Is the Next Republican Primary Debate?
The third debate will be held in Miami, Florida, in early November, but no details have been released by the RNC at this time.
About the writer
Katherine Fung is a Newsweek senior reporter based in New York City. She has covered U.S. politics and culture extensively. ... Read more