Who won the first Republican presidential debate in Milwaukee? How NY Times, Washington Post, Politico see it.

National pundits are weighing in on winners and losers following the Republican presidential debate Wednesday evening at Fiserv Forum in Milwaukee.

Here's what they're saying:

Bice: Winners and losers from the Republican presidential debate in Milwaukee

New York Times opinion writers award Nikki Haley highest marks

Former South Carolina Gov. Nikki Haley cleared her competition among rankings from 10 New York Times opinion writers.

The writers scored all debate participants out of 10 points. Haley notched an average score of 6.3, a full point higher than runner-up Mike Pence and one of just two candidates to score over 5 points.

Writers overall praised Haley's realism as well as her comments on foreign policy and abortion, though some questioned whether her attempts at pragmatism would find an audience with Republican voters.

"Haley seems to understand that the Republican Party needs, at some point, to win a majority of the voting public, and that the only way to do that is to retain at least a tenuous link to reality and real problems," said Times columnist Jamelle Bouie.

Washington Post thought Vivek Ramaswamy succeeded despite attacks

Entrepreneur Vivek Ramaswamy found himself in the middle of many of Wednesday's tensest moments on the debate stage.

Ramaswamy sparred with Haley on foreign policy, was told by former New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie he sounded like AI language tool ChatGPT and took heat for fiercely defending Donald Trump as the former president's legal troubles over his actions following the 2020 election mount.

Still, Aaron Blake of the Post's The Fix thought Ramaswamy's responses made a positive impression.

"Ramaswamy also frequently cut in, gaming relatively lax enforcement of the debate rules to make himself the center of attention," Blake wrote.

POLITICO reporters see a much-needed win for Mike Pence

Nearly every candidate on stage Wednesday evening agreed former Vice President Mike Pence was right to certify the 2020 election results, something pundits largely saw as a win for Pence.

POLITICO columnists Sally Goldenberg and Adam Wren also felt Pence successfully capitalized on foreign policy and his political experience by attacking newcomer Ramaswamy's relative youth and inexperience while projecting strength and composure.

It's a much-needed win for Pence, who trails Ramaswamy and DeSantis in the polls so far, they said.

"He projected an adult-in-the-room presence that his campaign has been aiming at for months now," Wren wrote.

Ron DeSantis avoids fire but falls flat in The Hill analysis

Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis didn't slip up much Wednesday, and he avoided most of the night's fiercest exchanges, according to The Hill columnist Niall Stanage.

But that's bad news for a DeSantis campaign desperately searching for upward momentum, Stanage said.

He thought DeSantis' lack of highlight moments and reliance on rehearsed talking points was a missed opportunity.

"For long stretches, DeSantis faded into the background of the debate," Stanage wrote. "That is a big problem, since his whole campaign is predicated on being the sole alternative to Trump."

One of CNN's biggest winners wasn't on stage

Trump came into the debate with 30- and 40-point leads over the rest of the Republican field in the polls.

And CNN's David Axelrod, also a former advisor to President Barack Obama, didn't see anything that threatened Trump's lead despite taunts over his back-and-forth dance on debate attendance.

All the candidates, except for Christie and Arkansas Gov. Asa Hutchinson, raised their hands when asked if they would support Trump if he was the party's eventual nominee for president.

Axelrod also thought Trump's decision to skip reinforced a divided GOP field, something he thought reinforced Trump's frontrunner position.

"He chose his own audience and a solo taping with a friendly conservative commentator — Tucker Carlson — wagering that his opponents would vigorously spar among themselves. And spar they did," Axelrod said.

More: In competing events, Trump and his 8 challengers offer split-screen view of GOP's future

This article originally appeared on Milwaukee Journal Sentinel: Who won the Republican debate? Nikki Haley, Vivek Ramaswamy grade high