Eight top Republican presidential contenders will take the stage in Milwaukee on Wednesday night in the first debate of the 2024 presidential primary election cycle. American voters and the rest of the world will be able to see the debate broadcast live from Fiserv Forum in downtown Milwaukee on Fox News at 9 p.m. local time, or 1:00 GMT on Thursday.
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The debate is taking place in the US state of Wisconsin, one of the most politically competitive states in the nation, and both Democrats and Republicans will be fighting hard to win there in the 2024 presidential election.
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Donald Trump won't be at the debate but his 4 criminal indictments will be on the table
(Photo: Reuters pool)
But right now all eyes are on the Republicans, who are set to hold their national convention there in roughly 11 months, where they will formally nominate a challenger to take on Democratic President Joe Biden.
All major Republican candidates will be present with one major exception: former President Donald Trump. Trump, who is leading the field by 34 points according to the latest Reuters/Ipsos poll, has opted to sit for an interview with conservative commentator Tucker Carlson instead, a decision that has been attacked by his competitors.
The eight participants are: Florida Governor Ron DeSantis, former Vice President Mike Pence, former biotechnology investor and executive Vivek Ramaswamy, former U.N. Ambassador Nikki Haley, U.S. Senator Tim Scott, Arkansas Governor Asa Hutchinson, former New Jersey Governor Chris Christie and North Dakota Governor Doug Burgum.
To qualify, candidates needed to have reached minimum thresholds in national or state-level polls and received donations from at least 40,000 unique donors. They are also required to sign a pledge certifying that they will support the eventual Republican nominee.
While the questions the candidates will be asked has not been publicly disclosed, Martha MacCallum, a Fox News host who will moderate the debate alongside colleague Bret Baier, indicated in an interview with Vanity Fair last week that abortion and Trump's criminal indictments will be on the table.
Both topics are tricky. While most Republicans favor strict abortion restrictions, many more moderate Republicans disagree, as do most independent voters, whose votes will be crucial in the general election.
On the issue of Trump's indictments, most Republicans view the charges he faces as politically motivated, making the topic a fraught one for his rivals.
The debates are considered important for the Republican hopefuls. In some cases, during previous primary campaigns, poor performances have sunk candidacies, while strong performances have launched minor candidates into the top tier. Moreover, the debate will draw millions of viewers, many of whom will be tuning into the election for the first time, campaign strategists say.
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Republican National Committee (RNC) Chair Ronna McDaniel holds the gavel at the winter meeting of the Republican National Committee in Dana Point
(Photo: REUTERS/Mike Blake)
The first debate generally marks the start of a more intense stage of the campaign in the months before the first nominating contest in Iowa.
The debate could be particularly crucial for DeSantis, who is second in the polls behind Trump, but whose standing has slid throughout the summer. Allies say the debate could be a crucial inflection point if he performs well. If he performs poorly, he could sink back into the pack.
DeSantis has a strong pro-Israel position and has expressed opposition to the establishment of a Palestinian state. He has also expressed support for Jerusalem as Israel’s capital and he supports settlements, having claimed in 2023 that the territory over the green line is “not occupied.”
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DeSantis, Ramaswamy and Pence
(Photo: Cheney Orr , Sergio FLORES / AFP רויטרס, AP Photo/Charlie Neibergall)
On Jewish life in America, DeSantis has taken a tough approach to dealing with white supremacists ensuring legislation was passed to curb the white supremacist flyering and harassment which was taking place in Florida, but he isn’t particularly popular with the Jewish community as he has been largely silent on neo-Nazi activity and flyers in the state of Florida during his tenure.
Two more debates are scheduled, with the next taking place in southern California in September. Several more are likely, with an October debate likely to occur in Alabama, according to a person familiar with the operations of the Republican National Committee.
Haley has a long track record of support for the US-Israel relationship and was a lone voice in the halls of the UN as the Ambassador for the US where she routinely defended Israel against unfair (and even antisemitic at times) bias. She supports Jerusalem as the capital of Israel, supports ending funding to UNRWA, calling it “among the most corrupt and counterproductive of all UN agencies,” as well as to the Palestinian Authority. At the UN, she voted against a resolution calling Israeli settlements illegal, and she has been vehemently against the Iran deal and any concessions to Iran that will pave the path to a nuclear weapon.
When Haley was governor of South Carolina, she ensured that a bill to ban BDS was passed, working across the aisle to do so, and she has long been an outspoken advocate against antisemitism in America. In 2022, she stated “We have to call out antisemitism every time we see it…It’s not okay. It will never be okay. We have to speak up every time we see it. We have to humiliate those that do it every time they do it. And we have to remind leaders to speak up.”
As the Vice President to Donald Trump, Pence has always been a strong supporter of the state of Israel from both his personal religious perspective as well as a policy that benefits the US. In 2002, he stated, “my support for Israel stems largely from my personal faith.” He support the decisions of Trump to recognize the Golan Heights as Israel, to recognize Jerusalem as the capital of Israel, to cut funding to UNRWA and the Palestinian Authority, and he generally supports settlements.
Regarding antisemitism in America, despite controversial views on social conservative issues such as abortion and LGBTQ, Pence has been extremely outspoken against antisemitism both from the far right with white supremacists and from the left, and he broke ranks with Trump over the January 6th insurrection incident. He also urged the President to walk back his “very fine people on both sides” comment in reference to the neo-Nazi rally in Charlottesville, Virginia in 2017. Despite this, Pence has been criticized for going too far with his Christian faith into his support for the Jewish community, invoking language that some deem offensive such as inviting a Messianic “Rabbi” to deliver a prayer at a memorial event.
Ramaswamy has taken a different approach to Israel than most of his GOP counterparts. He recently stated he would support ending US aid to Israel ($3.8 billion, the majority of which is reinvested in the US economy). However, his justification is that Israel’s relations are increasingly normalized with Arab neighbors. During the Presidential debate, he stated “Our relationship with Israel will never be stronger than by the end of my first term…but it’s not a client relationship, it is a friendship. And you know what friends do? Friends help each other stand on their own two feet.”
Ramaswamy also supports the Abraham Accords expansion with Oman and Indonesia. He also supports cutting or conditioning aid to Palestinians and defends a united Jerusalem as the capital of Israel.
On Jewish life and antisemitism, Ramaswamy has in fact criticized DenSantis for his legislation which criminalizes the distribution of antisemitic flyers on private property, viewing it as a form of censorship. He has also defended the rights of neo-Nazis to demonstrate in a Jewish area because of “free speech.”
In his personal life, he was in fact in a Jewish secret society during his time at Yale and has long standing relations with many prominent members of the society.