Third 2024 Republican presidential debate

Less than a day after voters in multiple states rebuked GOP leaders who would restrict abortion rights, five Republicans running for president ignored the issue for the first 99 minutes of their third primary debate on Wednesday night.

Unlike their last gathering, a chaotic scramble of interruptions and cross talk, the debate Wednesday night in Miami did hammer away at points of substance. The rub? Almost all of it was focused on foreign policy.

And while those questions were surely worth debating – even if the candidates largely agreed on top lines like supporting Israel and opposing Hamas, Iran and China – the effect was ultimately disorienting: If the GOP is going to take back the White House, why ignore the political hurdles standing in its way?

Considering the candidates’ narrow interests, it made some sense. None of their views on abortion, which came out 20 minutes before closing time, are particularly popular at the moment. Taken together, former South Carolina Gov. Nikki Haley’s plea for consensus on the issue and South Carolina Sen. Tim Scott’s insistence on a 15-week federal ban echoed the logic set forth by Virginia Gov. Glenn Youngkin in the days and weeks before his state GOP colleagues came up short in a high-stakes legislative contest.

Abortion wasn’t the only divisive topic that got short shrift in Miami. Former President Donald Trump, too, was an afterthought for most of the night after receiving a few measured jabs, in absentia, early on and only at the prodding of the moderators. Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis summed up the argument against Trump, saying he is a “different guy than he was in 2016” and, like Haley, suggesting Republicans not go chasing past glories.

The tensest moments on the stage stemmed from a puzzlingly protracted series of exchanges about TikTok, the Chinese-owned social media platform that the candidates are happy to spend time dissing.

Vivek Ramaswamy was the lone dissenter on that front, talking up his use of the app as a campaign tool while his rivals pledged to bury it, then effectively calling Haley a hypocrite because her daughter used it.

Understandably infuriated, Haley told Ramaswamy to “leave my daughter out of your voice,” before dismissing him as “scum.” (Ramaswamy appeared to do his best to avoid Haley after the debate when the candidates’ families joined them onstage).

Former New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie, Trump’s harshest critic on cable news, hardly registered, putting another dent in his reputation as a shrewd (and occasionally crude) public speaker.

Read six takeaways from the third GOP presidential primary debate.

Republican candidate Vivek Ramaswamy claimed in Wednesday’s debate that Ohio "passed a constitutional amendment that now effectively codifies a right to abortion all the way up to the time of birth without parental consent” because of a “Republican culture of losing.” 

Facts First: This is false.

The passage of ballot measure Issue 1 on Tuesday establishes a person’s right to an abortion in the Ohio state constitution. The measure does not explicitly say that abortion is allowed under any circumstance, nor does it change Ohio’s parental consent and notification law.  

Rather, the new amendment to the state constitution says that any kind of ban on the procedure pre-viability (typically at 23 to 24 weeks) is prohibited under state law. By the time a person is pregnant for 24 weeks, there is a good chance the child could survive outside the womb. After viability, the state can restrict a person’s access to an abortion unless the pregnant person’s health or life is at risk because of that pregnancy. An abortion late in pregnancy is exceptionally rare. 

In Ohio, a minor will still need a parent’s permission to get an abortion, or they must get an exception from a judge. 

Out of a group of 13 Iowa voters, four said Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis won Wednesday night's debate, while six others said former South Carolina Gov. Nikki Haley did and three said entrepreneur Vivek Ramaswamy was victorious.

None of the voters in the group interviewed by CNN's Gary Tuchman said neither South Carolina Sen. Tim Scott nor former New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie won the debate.

Another voter told Tuchman that he thinks DeSantis won because of his current position in office as governor.

"Everybody else says what they would do or what they did 10 years ago," the voter said. "DeSantis says what he's doing now and what he's going to be doing once he changes that position."

Another voter who chose Ramaswamy said they did so because "he wasn't afraid to speak his mind."

Twelve of the 13 voters said they voted for former President Donald Trump in 2016. But when asked Wednesday night how many of them would still caucus for Trump, only two said they would vote for him.

Voters mentioned the many legal clouds hanging over the former president as a reason for why they shifted their support from him.

Republican presidential candidate Vivek Ramaswamy doubled down Wednesday night on mentioning South Carolina Gov. Nikki Haley’s daughter during the GOP debate in Miami.

The comment about her use of TikTok sparked a sharp rejoinder from Haley, who interjected: “Leave my daughter out of your voice." When Ramaswamy continued over an audible reaction from the crowd, Haley muttered “you’re just scum,” rolling her eyes in disgust.

The tech entrepreneur argued it wasn't “a sin” for him or Haley’s daughter to engage on the social video app TikTok, which is owned by a Chinese-based company, but said it reflects a “lack of self-awareness” in Haley given her previous criticism of Ramaswamy’s use of the app.

Ramaswamy told CNN’s Dana Bash he’s concerned about Republicans not engaging young voters on TikTok and said Republicans like Haley who want to restrict access to TikTok are “retreating” on the issue.

Ramaswamy said he didn’t feel it was wrong to bring up a member of Haley’s family during the debate, noting he wasn’t criticizing Haley’s daughter’s use of the app, but referencing her daughter to underline an argument about Haley’s leadership.

“I think the error is somebody sanctimoniously lecturing the rest of the country, about the perils of it, while actually failing to set an example of leadership a little closer to home,” he said.

Ramaswamy also defended his attack, at the start of the debate, on the Republican National Committee chairwoman Ronna McDaniel and his call for her to resign. He said the tactic was not meant to curry favor with any voters, but hoped his unvarnished rhetoric would communicate authenticity to voters that he hopes will translate to growing support.

Republican National Committee chair Ronna McDaniel stood by her decision to allow NBC News to host Wednesday night's debate despite criticism from GOP presidential candidate Vivek Ramaswamy.

During the debate, Ramaswamy also blamed McDaniel for the string of losses Republicans have suffered. The RNC chair told CNN she is not going to go after Republicans and instead "always going to focus on the Democrats." She added that "Republican on Republican infighting" is not helping the party.

McDaniel addressed the election losses Republicans faced Tuesday night in Kentucky, Virginia and Ohio.

"The RNC is a federal committee, so we are House, Senate, presidential — we are not as involved in the state races," she said.

But McDaniel did say, "Many of the candidates in those races were being pummeled with advertising, lying about their stance on abortion, and they did not respond. And if you do not respond, a lie becomes the truth. Our candidates need to be conversant and able to get on TV and articulate where they stand on abortion, and talk about other things."

She added, "Define yourself before the Democrats define you."

McDaniel also said that she does not expect former President Donald Trump to participate in any of the RNC primary debates.

Speaking about President Joe Biden’s response to Hamas’ attack on Israel, Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis said: “We had Floridians that were over there after the attack. He [Biden] left them stranded. They couldn't get flights out. So, I scrambled resources in Florida. I sent planes over to Israel and I brought back over 700 people to safety. There could have been more hostages had we not acted.”  

Facts First: DeSantis’ statement, which appears to say Biden failed to evacuate Americans out of Israel, is both untrue and needs context.  

National Security Council spokesperson John Kirby announced on October 12 that the US government would begin arranging charter flights for Americans seeking to leave Israel on October 13. The first US government flight out of Israel landed in Athens on October 13. On October 30, State Department spokesman Matt Miller said the agency was suspending charter flights due to a lack of demand. 

Separately, DeSantis declared a state of emergency in Florida on October 12, allowing him to access a $500 million fund that does not require legislative approval, to evacuate people from Israel to Tampa. He told reporters in New Hampshire in October that he anticipated the first evacuation flight would land in Florida on October 15.  

DeSantis’ claim that “there could have been more hostages” without his evacuation flights is a hypothetical; we can’t definitively fact check whether more hostages might be taken in the future. But it’s worth noting that no hostages have been taken from Israel since Hamas’ October 7 attack. DeSantis declared a state of emergency five days later to begin chartering flights, after Israeli forces had taken back control of the country. 

Asked for an explanation of the claim, DeSantis campaign spokesperson Bryan Griffin said in an email during the debate: “Of course Hamas could've taken more hostages. Everyone Ron DeSantis brought home is 100% safe from that possibility.” 

Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis suggested Wednesday that President Joe Biden would use funds from his proposed $105 billion national security package to bring more undocumented immigrants into the US.  

Facts First: DeSantis’ assertion needs context. Some of the package’s $13.6 billion for border security would be used to add more asylum officers, processing personnel and immigration judges, all of whom help determine whether migrants are eligible to remain in the US. But other funds would be used to hire additional Border Patrol agents. 

Biden’s funding request, which he laid out in October, would funnel money into a wide variety of border operations, including efforts to counter fentanyl, support for states and localities that provide shelter and services to migrants and assistance to resettle eligible arrivals.  

The package calls for $1.6 billion to hire 1,300 Border Patrol agents, but money would also be used to add 1,600 asylum officers, as well as processing personnel, according to the White House. Plus, the request asks for $1.4 billion to hire 375 immigration judge teams to adjudicate and process immigration cases more quickly. 

In advocating for a 15-week federal limit on abortion, Sen. Tim Scott said during Wednesday’s GOP debate that he “would not allow states like California, Illinois or New York to have abortion up until the day of birth.” 

Facts First: This needs context. California, Illinois, and New York do not allow unrestricted abortion throughout a pregnancy. Each of these states prohibits abortion after a certain point, though they each allow some exceptions afterward to protect the health of the person who is pregnant. As far as infanticide, killing a child after a child’s birth is not allowed in any state.   

It’s possible that Scott was suggesting that, without a federal law to impose a nationwide limit on abortion, these Democratic-led states would remove all limits on abortion in the future. But his wording left open the impression that he was saying that these states have no limits today, and that’s not the case.   

California and Illinois both allow abortion until fetal “viability,” meaning when the fetus might be able to survive outside the womb with or without medical help — often viewed as around 23 or 24 weeks — and after that when abortion is needed to protect the “life or health” of the patient; their laws echo the language of the Supreme Court’s now-overturned Roe v. Wade decision, which required “life or health” exceptions after viability. New York specifies that abortion is illegal after 24 weeks except when the fetus is not viable or when abortion is necessary to protect the pregnant person’s “life or health;” under a 2019 New York state law, abortion is never treated as a crime.    

Some conservatives object to the presence of “life or health” exceptions in abortion laws, arguing that the “health” part of these exceptions is so broad that it essentially permits abortion at any time. But the claim about “abortion on demand” wrongly suggests that anyone can demand an abortion in these states at any time for any reason at all.      

It's also worth noting that a tiny percentage of abortions are performed at 24 weeks or later.

According to data published by the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, just 0.9% of reported abortions in 2020 occurred at 21 weeks or later. (Some of these abortions occur because of serious health risks or lethal fetal anomalies.) By contrast, 80.9% of reported abortions in 2020 were conducted before 10 weeks, 93.1% before 14 weeks and 95.8% before 16 weeks.  

There are some cases in which parents decide to use palliative care for some babies who are born with conditions that will kill them and give these babies just minutes, hours or days to live. That is simply not the same as killing the baby.  

Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis said the anti-abortion movement has been "caught flat-footed" when he was asked to weigh in on the victories for abortion rights supporters on ballot measures in Ohio and Virginia Tuesday night.

He claimed that a lot of the people voting for these measures are "Republicans who would vote for a Republican candidate, so you got to understand how to do that." 

At the last GOP debate in Simi Valley, California, DeSantis said he would support a national 15-week abortion ban when pressed by Sen. Tim Scott. DeSantis also said: “I reject this idea that pro-lifers are to blame for midterm defeats.”

Tonight, in Miami, and as he often does on the campaign trail, DeSantis said, "You got to work from the bottom up.” 

Turning the issue on Democrats, DeSantis claimed they have “taken a position they will not identify the point at which there should be any protection, all the way up until birth."

“That is wrong, and we cannot stand for that,” he said.