The 2016 Miami debate by Tim Scott and Vivek Ramaswamy in the Republican National Committee on Immigration and Natural Resources, with NBC News on air, streaming and on air
The candidates for the Republican presidential nomination will debate tonight in Miami. NBC News is hosting the debate at the at the Adrienne Arsht Center for the Performing Arts, which will air from 8pm to 10 pm ET,
Late Monday night, the Republican National Committee confirmed the names of the presidential candidates who will participate, but frontrunner, former President Donald Trump, is preparing to skip — for the third time.
Holt and Welker of NBC will moderate the debate. NBC News will carry the debate live on air, online and across its streaming platforms.
The debating candidates had to meet certain criteria set by the RNC, such as getting more votes than the last two debates and meeting Federal Election Committee deadlines. They also had to sign a pledge agreeing to support the eventual party nominee.
Gov. Ron DeSantis —Over the last several weeks, the Florida governor has retooled his campaign strategy. Immigration and inflation are issues that voters care about.
The polls in New Hampshire have shown that Haley, who served under Trump and was ambassador to the UN, has climbed up the polls. New Hampshire is among the early primary states and although Trump is still topping the polls, voters warn he shouldn’t take their votes for granted. In the first GOP debate she challenged the former president and in the second debated she sparred with others over energy policy.
Vivek Ramaswamy — He is among the younger GOP candidates and he has used platforms like TikTok and podcasts to gain notoriety among young voters, although that has drawn criticism from fellow candidates. The former tech and finance executive has been a prominent voice in conservative circles, arguing against the environmental, social and governance (ESG) movement and against “woke”-ism. The first GOP debate helped Ramaswamy’s case.
Tim Scott is a South Carolina Republican who brings a diverse background to the party. Over the last several months, Scott has turned to border policy as a key issue. He said that the issues at the border should be more important than the climate change, as he criticized President Biden for not visiting the border. During the first debate, Scott said he would complete the border wall, increase domestic job creation, and said states like California and New York can’t be allowed to “have abortions on demand” until birth.
Mike Pence meets at the debate in Miami tonight, without Trump once more: a short slate of candidates who haven’t been on stage in the last two debates
Trump skipped the first two presidential debates and held counter-programming, which included an interview with Tucker Carlson on X, formerly known as Twitter, and a rally with non-union autoworkers in Michigan.
This will be the smallest slate of candidates that have already been on stage. Just five candidates met the Republican National Committee’s qualifying rules this time around: former South Carolina Governor Nikki Haley, Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis, businessman Vivek Ramaswamy, U.S. Sen. Tim Scott and former New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie.
North Dakota Gov. Doug Burgum, who was in the first two debates, did not qualify this time around. Asa Hutchinson didn’t get into the last two events because he wasn’t in the first debate. Tonight will be the last time Mike Pence will be on a stage after he dropped out of the presidential race.
The former president has not qualified for any of the Republican debates so far, even though he has met the polling and fundraising thresholds. He doesn’t meet the standards of being a candidate who will support whoever wins the nomination. Trump has flat out refused to sign that pledge: he has also said that he doesn’t want to elevate his opponents by being on stage with them.
Like in the last two debates, Trump is planning some counter programming. He will hold a rally in nearby Hialeah, Fla., during the debate. Hialeah is a predominately Cuban American area — which is a subset of voters Trump has done very well with. Latino voters in South Florida supported Trump more than expected in 2020.
As far as possible alternatives to Trump, all eyes are on Haley. She is getting more and more support in the polls. Much of her momentum started with strong debate performances. There were high expectations that DeSantis would probably fill that role. His campaign has had a lot of trouble, and he has had some bad performances in the last few debates.
Source: GOP presidential hopefuls meet at the debate in Miami tonight, sans Trump once more
Israel’s response to the Hamas attack and the emergence of the resurgence of the Cold War: the RNC’s stance against Israel
The debate is the first since Israel was attacked by Hamas. The topic of Israel’s response and how President Biden is handling the crisis will surely come up. RNC chair Ronna McDaniel said in a statement that the party is teaming up with the Republican Jewish Coalition, and that she expects the candidates will reiterate their support for Israel on stage.