5 key takeaways from the first Republican presidential debate of the 2024 race

Arizona observers of Wednesday’s Republican presidential debate said that while they liked what they heard from candidates, they expect little change in the election's trajectory based on what took place on the stage at Fiserv Forum, home to the Milwaukee Bucks NBA team.

Eight GOP candidates debated for two hours, while former President Donald Trump skipped the event and released a prerecorded interview online just before the live broadcast began. Trump previously said he didn’t need to participate in the formal debate because he leads significantly in polling.

Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis, U.S. Sen. Tim Scott of South Carolina, former U.N. Ambassador Nikki Haley, former Vice President Mike Pence, former New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie, North Dakota Gov. Doug Burgum, entrepreneur Vivek Ramaswamy and former Arkansas Gov. Asa Hutchinson participated in the event moderated by Fox News hosts Bret Baier and Martha MacCallum.

Here are five takeaways from the first debate of the 2024 presidential race.

Who won the Republican debate? What Arizona observers said

Arizona House of Representatives Speaker Ben Toma, R-Glendale, said that he has been leaning toward DeSantis and that the debate didn’t change that inclination.

“It’s hard to dispute his track record as governor,” said Toma, noting that — like Republicans in Arizona — Florida has enacted conservative education policies under DeSantis.

“I want to make sure whoever wins the primary has a good shot at winning the general,” Toma said. “While I have the utmost respect for, say, Vice President Pence, I don’t think he can do that for a number of reasons. I do think America can get behind DeSantis and I am leaning that way.”

Republican political consultant Constantin Querard said he was surprised by Pence’s strong showing, but overall didn’t think any candidate gained much.

“I’m not sure there were any moments people will be talking about four years from now,” he said. “At the end of the day, it’s Trump or DeSantis. There’s nobody who can crack into that group.”

He said Ramaswamy got more than his share of the spotlight, thanks to the other candidates attacking him.

“He probably feels good about the debate because he was involved a lot,” Querard said. “To a certain degree, I think Vivek may get some buzz from the first debate, but he’s kind of a fact checker’s dream candidate because there is an awful lot there that is a reverse of what he was saying recently.”

Ramaswamy has aligned himself with Trump recently, but after the Jan. 6, 2021, attack on the U.S. Capitol, he criticized Trump, including in a book he authored, Querard noted.

“It’s a book. It’s not an interpretation thing,” Querard said.

Mike Noble, of Noble Predictive Insights polling, agreed that the focus on Ramaswamy likely helped him.

“At the end of the day, he had everyone attacking him. You want that, especially with him not being as known,” Noble said.

But Toma didn’t think Ramaswamy handled the attention well.

“He came across as very idealistic and very shallow on policy issues. ... Not somebody trying to be serious and be a serious contender,” Toma said.

Noble said the division in the GOP is apparent, with candidates split over how and whether to criticize Trump.

“It’s Trump’s race to lose. I think he was smart, frankly, not to debate,” Noble said. “DeSantis did as well as he could have.”

He said the eight candidates who showed up to debate are simply “fracturing the non-Trump vote.”

“I just don’t think the GOP is going to align around one person,” Noble said.

Whether Trump’s decision to skip the event was the best move for the candidate is yet to be seen.

But Querard said that by not attending, Trump has put himself in a difficult position should he decide to attend a future debate.

“Can he ever allow himself to debate now?” Querard wondered. “It would be an admission he is getting close" in the polls.

Fact-checking the GOP debate: Claims on CRT, Hunter Biden, schools, Ukraine, COVID-19

Candidates make border, immigration key campaign issues

DeSantis told moderators that as president he would use all of the powers available to him as commander-in-chief and send troops to the U.S.-Mexico border to prevent fentanyl smuggling. He added that he would allow the use of deadly force and would consider sending special forces into Mexico to take out cartels by designating them as foreign terrorist organizations.

“We’re gonna use force, and we’re gonna leave them stone-cold dead,” he said.

His comments kicked off a section of the debate where the candidates staked their positions on immigration and border enforcement.

Scott mentioned his visit earlier this year to the Yuma area in describing his desire to dedicate more resources to the southern border. He called for the U.S. government to invest about $10 billion dollars to continue building barriers, and an additional $5 billion to invest in technology to stop drug smuggling.

“That should be the priority of this government, and as the president of the United States, I will make that border all complete,” Scott said.

Hutchinson touted his work in the George W. Bush administration to take on the Tijuana Cartel in cooperation with the Mexican military. He also said the U.S. must put economic pressure on the Mexican government to get it to cooperate in the fight against cartels, but said the use of the military had to be limited.

Pence took credit for several of the immigration and border enforcement policies implemented while he was Trump's vice president. He said he played a critical role in budget negotiations to secure funding for barriers along the U.S.-Mexico border and negotiated the creation of the Migrant Protection Protocols, also known as the "Remain in Mexico" program. He agreed with Hutchinson about imposing economic pressure on Mexico, adding that when the Trump administration negotiated with Mexico, its government deployed troops to its northern and southern borders.

Christie called for the detention and deportation of undocumented immigrants living in the U.S. He said the government has to make sure not to reward migrants for entering the country without authorization.

Though he was not present on the debate stage, Trump also weighed in on using the U.S. military to take on drug smuggling organizations along the U.S.-Mexico border.

As candidates declared their positions onstage, Trump emailed his action plan to media outlets. It includes restoring his border enforcement policies, which have been largely discontinued or struck down by U.S. courts. But he said he would use the military to impose a naval embargo and use special forces to target cartel operations. Trump said he would also call for the death penalty for drug smugglers.

“When I am back in the White House, the drug kingpins and vicious traffickers will never sleep soundly again,” he said.

At the end of a roughly 45-minute recorded interview with Tucker Carlson that was released Wednesday evening on the social media site X, formerly called Twitter, Trump also said the border and immigration would be his top issues if reelected.

Christie stands out for opposition to Trump

An hour into the debate, the moderators asked who among the eight candidates would support former President Donald Trump if he's convicted in a court of law.

Christie said he would not support the former president.

“Someone’s got to stop normalizing this conduct,” Christie said of Trump, who is facing four criminal indictments.

“Whether or not you believe the criminal charges are right or wrong, the conduct is beneath the office of the president of the United States,” Christie continued, eliciting boos.

“Booing is allowed, but it doesn’t change the truth,” Christie said, to additional boos.

Ramaswamy then said Trump was the best president of the 21st century and that Christie’s entire campaign was “based on vengeance and grievance.”

That sparked an intense exchange between the two.

“You make me laugh,” Christie said before getting drowned out by boos, forcing the moderators to ask the crowd to limit such reactions.

Christie said Ramaswamy wrote less kind things about Trump in a book, which appeared to fluster Ramaswamy, who began shaking his finger as he argued with Christie.

No uniform message on abortion

Although the candidates touted they are “pro-life," no uniform standard for what that meant emerged during the debate, demonstrating the political challenge abortion has become for Republicans since the U.S. Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade last year.

Haley emphasized that Republicans need to “stop demonizing” the abortion issue and threatening things like imprisonment for women who seek abortions.

Because any federal legislation would require 60 votes in the Senate, she said, party leaders should be trying to find a consensus on abortion issues, such as banning later abortions and agreeing not to jail women who get them.

“Consensus is the opposite of leadership,” said Pence to Haley. The former vice president talked about giving his life over to Jesus Christ and said he has been an ardent “champion of life."

“It’s a moral issue," said Pence, who told the audience abortion is not one that should be left to the states.

But Haley shot back: “You have to be honest with the American people,” she said. “No Republican president can ban abortion any more than a Democrat president can ban all those state laws" prohibiting abortion.

Most of the GOP contenders talked about a 15-week national ban being the standard. Christie, though, said he doesn't support a federal prohibition at all, saying it should be left up to the states.

DeSantis, who signed a six-week abortion ban into law earlier this year, said that he was elected and that shows Republicans don’t need to seek the approval of moderates on the abortion issue.

“We’re better than what the Democrats are selling,” DeSantis said.

Six states have had reproductive rights questions on their ballot since the U.S. Supreme Court knocked down Roe v. Wade, and liberals have won all of them.

Republican candidates push to eliminate U.S. Department of Education

Candidates showed their support for eliminating the federal Department of Education and advocated for giving parents more options for where to send their kids to school, a movement that's far along in Arizona with public charter schools and vouchers that can be used for private school tuition.

“We need education in this country, not indoctrination in this country,” DeSantis said.

Ramaswamy agreed that the Department of Education should be shut down and said he supports parents choosing where they send their kids to schools. He said he believes high school students should have to pass a civics test, like individuals in the process of becoming American citizens.

Burgum, also in favor of removing the Department of Education, said the country forgets that education differs by state. He emphasized the need for schools to innovate.

Haley pushed for transparency in the classroom.

“There’s a lot of crazy, woke things happening in schools,” she said, later adding, “Parents need to be deciding which schools their kids go to because they know best.”

Reach the reporters at ryan.randazzo@arizonarepublic.com and rafael.carranza@arizonarepublic.com.

USA Today reporters Phillip M. Bailey, Maureen Groppe and Rachel Looker contributed to this article.

This article originally appeared on Arizona Republic: Republican debate highlights: Trump, abortion, education, border