Seven Republican presidential contenders took to the stage at the Ronald Reagan Presidential Library in Simi Valley, Calif., on Wednesday for the second GOP debate, sparring over their records in lively back-and-forths.
Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis, former U.N. Ambassador Nikki Haley, former Vice President Mike Pence, Sen. Tim Scott (S.C.), biotech entrepreneur Vivek Ramaswamy, former New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie and North Dakota Gov. Doug Burgum qualified for the second debate. Former President Trump skipped the second debate to talk to current and former union workers in addition to nonunion workers in Michigan.
The debate at times grew heated, often making it difficult for the moderators to control the discussion. It’s unclear if the second GOP debate will move the needle enough to narrow the gap between Trump and any of the candidates.
Here are five takeaways from the second GOP debate:
Trump’s shadow hangs over debate
The absence of Trump, the GOP field’s front-runner, was felt as his fellow competitors sparred on the debate stage, with some candidates calling him out on his lack of participation directly.
“Donald Trump is missing in action. He should be on this stage tonight,” DeSantis said.
Christie looked into the camera to send a message to the former president.
“I know you’re watching, okay? And you’re not here tonight not because of polls and not because of your indictments. You’re not here tonight because you’re afraid of being on this stage and defending your record,” Christie said to Trump.
“You’re ducking these things. And let me tell you what’s going to happen, you keep doing that, no one up here is going to call you Donald Trump anymore, we’re gonna call you Donald Duck,” Christie said.
Trump skipped the first debate in Milwaukee last month and passed on the second Simi Valley stage, opting instead to give remarks in Michigan as counterprogramming on Wednesday night.
He’s cited his significant lead in polls over the rest of the Republican field and what he says is a hostile relationship with Fox as reasons for forgoing the debates.
He’s campaigning amid multiple ongoing legal battles, including four criminal indictments, which haven’t seemed to impact his front-runner status — leaving his fellow competitors racing to catch up with him.
Moderators struggle to keep control
The moderators in the second debate struggled at times to control the seven Republican presidential candidates on stage, who often spoke over one another when responding to questions.
Several of those candidates — such as Scott and Burgum — faced pressure to interject themselves during the second debate after taking a more hands-off approach and relying on the moderators to call on them during the first GOP debate.
“We have all these questions, we’re gonna get to you, we’re gonna come back to you. There’s a lot of time,” Fox News’s Dana Perino told Burgum after the North Dakota governor tried to insert himself into the debate and talk about child care.
“You asked about child care; nobody answered the question,” Burgum responded as he sought to elaborate on his answer. After several moments, Perino interrupted him again, saying, “We will get you some questions, but you’re gonna have to let us move on.”
Later, Scott and Ramaswamy got into a back-and-forth over Ramaswamy’s ties to China.
“When we have the conversation about the things that are happening on this stage, we think about the fact that Vivek just said that we were all good people — and I appreciate that because last debate, he said we were all bought and paid for,” Scott said.
“And I thought about that for a little while, and said, you know, I can’t imagine how you could say that, knowing that you were just in business with the Chinese Communist Party, and the same people that funded Hunter Biden millions of dollars was a partner of yours as well,” he added before Ramaswamy hit back, saying, “nonsense.”
“These are good people who are tainted by a broken system,” Ramaswamy said before Scott interjected, leading to a back-and-forth between multiple candidates.
“Excuse me, excuse me,” Ramaswamy said as he tried to speak again, visibly annoyed.
Ramaswamy tries to reboot
The 38-year-old GOP millennial sought a more amicable approach during the second debate, including surprisingly praising some of his contenders — a departure during the first debate when he clashed with candidates like Pence, Haley and Christie.
“… Artificial division is unhelpful in our party. The real divide is not between the Republicans on this stage and in the Reagan Library; I want to say these are good people on this stage,” Ramaswamy said.
“The real divide is between the majority of us in this country who love the United States of America and share our founding ideals — free speech, meritocracy, the idea you get ahead in this country, not in the color of your skin, but in the content of your character — and the fringe minority in the Democrat Party that has a chokehold over that party — that’s the real divide,” he continued.
Yet Ramaswamy’s efforts were not reciprocated by some of his rivals. Haley ripped into Ramaswamy after he defended his decision to join TikTok despite previously having misgivings about the app.
“This is infuriating because TikTok is one of the most dangerous social media apps that we could have. And what you’ve got — I honestly every time I hear you, I feel a little bit dumber for what you say,” Haley fired at Ramaswamy.
Scott shakes off Mr. Nice Guy image
Scott has been running a largely positive bid for the presidency and maintained a Mr. Nice Guy image during the first debate last month.
But on the Simi Valley stage, the South Carolina senator assumed a more aggressive stance, after he faced calls following the first debate to try a more assertive approach to stake his place in the crowded field.
He and Pence went after Ramaswamy for his business ties to China and sparred with Haley over his fellow South Carolinian’s prior support for raising the gas tax as governor.
“Talk about someone who has never seen a federal dollar she doesn’t like,” he said.
Scott also knocked DeSantis for defending Florida curriculum standards on teaching slavery, stressing “there is no redeeming quality” to slavery and taking a swipe at DeSantis and Vice President Harris.
Nobody on stage wins
The second debate was seen as another critical opportunity for non-Trump candidates to catch up with the front-runner. But a clear winner didn’t emerge.
Some polling after the first debate indicated voters thought DeSantis and Ramaswamy performed best, while Haley saw a boost in support. Pence was also seen as a strong performer at the first debate, and Ramaswamy took up airtime as the target of some contentious exchanges.
But Trump, even in his absence, took center stage throughout the debate.
“It’s now obvious that if you all stay in the race, former President Donald Trump wins the nomination,” Fox News host Dana Perino said in the last question of the night, asking candidates to name a fellow competitor on stage who “should be voted off the island.”
DeSantis, Haley and others protested — and the question was left unanswered.
Christie said he’d vote Trump “off the island right now,” again calling the former president out for his decision not to take the stage.
DeSantis shook off Trump’s lead. “Polls don’t elect presidents; voters elect presidents,” he said.
Yet, candidates will face increasing pressure in the coming weeks to drop out and consolidate around a smaller number of candidates as the Iowa caucuses and New Hampshire primary steadily approach.