Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis and former United Nations Ambassador Nikki Haley appeared enthusiastic during Wednesday's one-on-one debate in Des Moines, just five days before the Iowa caucuses.
Haley repeatedly called DeSantis a “liar” and said he was repeating falsehoods because he was “just so desperate” to gain ground in the 2024 race.
Meanwhile, across town in West Des Moines, Donald Trump was attending a Fox News town hall event.
DeSantis said the ex-president should debate him on stage instead of Haley, claiming that the former South Carolina governor is “more liberal.” [California Gov. Gavin] Newsom.'
He also said that Haley had a case of “ballistic podiatry” and claimed that she repeatedly “shoots herself in the foot.”
Immediately after taking the stage, the two candidates were at each other's throats, with DeSantis calling Haley a “flour-mouthed politician” and her replying that his campaign was “exploding.”
Just hours before the CNN debate, former New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie held a town hall meeting in New Hampshire and announced he was suspending his campaign.
Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis (left) and former U.N. Ambassador Nikki Haley (right) met for the first individual debate at Drake University in Des Moines, Iowa, on Wednesday
Governor DeSantis is coming to the CNN debate on Wednesday evening. Florida First Lady Casey DeSantis and her five-year-old son Mason are seen arriving with the 2024 hopeful
Drake University's Olmsted Center is the site of the fifth Republican presidential debate. It began to snow in Des Moines as the contestants prepared to appear on stage
Biotech entrepreneur Vivek Ramaswamy, who failed to qualify for the debate on Wednesday for the first time this cycle, is also hosting a rival event.
Candidates are flocking to Iowa ahead of the Jan. 15 primary, and dozens of events are taking place between the debate and the primary.
Debate moderators Jake Tapper and Dana Bash had to juggle the two candidates while launching personal attacks and accusing each other of lying.
But instead of focusing on their own successes, the candidates went into attack mode from the start.
“He's just mad at the donors because the donors used to be with him but now they're not with him anymore, and that's because he's upset that his campaign is blowing up,” Haley said.
At the event at Drake University in Des Moines, Iowa, Haley warned students not to turn the debate into a “drinking game” because if DeSantis lies, “because they're going to be overwhelmed at the end of the night.”
She also promoted the website DeSantisLies.com several times.
During a back-and-forth over retirement age and Social Security benefits, DeSantis said Haley was repeatedly shooting herself in the foot.
“She recently said that the Social Security age is way too low. And I criticized that and then she was called on to do it,” DeSantis claimed. “And then she said she never said it. Of course she's lying.'
“So we can play this song and dance – she's got a record, she's making statements,” he added, earning a few laughs after saying, “And I think part of the problem with her candidacy is that now that she's under scrutiny, she has this ballistic podiatry problem – she shoots herself in the foot every other day, says things, and now she won't even take questions from people.”'
DeSantis also criticized Haley's position in the Trump administration when she was ambassador to the United Nations, a body that the Florida governor says he wants to completely withdraw U.S. funding from.
He said Haley is still just a stooge for the U.N. since she says she agrees with the U.S. supporting Ukraine in its war with Russia.
“Here’s the problem with what she says,” DeSantis said from the podium. “It doesn’t say how this is going to end,” he added, referring to continued aid to Ukraine and calls for the country to join NATO.
He said the piles of money the U.S. has sent to Ukraine should instead be used for domestic issues such as veteran homelessness.
“We have all these problems,” DeSantis lamented. “That’s the UN mindset, that somehow we’re globalists and we have unlimited resources.”
“You know, here’s the problem: you can remove the ambassador from the United Nations, but you can’t remove the United Nations from the ambassador.”
Florida First Lady Casey DeSantis is seen in the front row next to Iowa Gov. Kim Reynolds at Wednesday's debate
Former New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie held a town hall meeting in New Hampshire shortly before Wednesday's debate where he announced he was suspending his presidential bid
Trump is not taking part in the debate, instead opting for a town hall with Fox News to coincide with the showdown of his top rivals
Haley responded by criticizing DeSantis' huge spending on his campaign — likely drawing parallels to his criticism of U.S. spending on foreign wars.
“The best way to tell about a candidate is to see how he ran his campaign,” Haley said, noting that her opponent “wasted $150 million” in his bid for president.
“I don't know how you do that through his campaign.” “He has nothing to show for it,” Haley continued. “He spent more money on private planes than on commercials to get Iowans to vote for him.”
“If you can’t manage a campaign, how can you manage a country?”
Meanwhile, Trump refused to participate in any of the five Republican primary debates – even after they were approved by the Republican National Committee (RNC).
“I wish Donald Trump was up here on this stage,” DeSantis said at the start of the debate. “He’s the one I’m competing against.”
“He's the one I wish was here. “He has to defend his record.”
It was the only attack against former President Trump, and it followed an attack against Haley, as the two remain locked in what many see as a race for second place.
After holding the first four Republican presidential primary debates of the cycle last year, the RNC dropped out of debate business in December.
That invalidated a pledge that candidates would only have to sign off on participating in RNC-sanctioned debates after reports emerged that Trump's team was pressuring Chairwoman Ronna McDaniel to stop the showdowns.
CNN immediately took the initiative and scheduled debates in both Iowa and New Hampshire.
Wednesday's debate is the first non-RNC debate of the cycle.
Although Wednesday's debate was the first head-to-head between primary candidates, DeSantis had some practice last year with a one-on-one debate with Gov. Newsom on Fox News, moderated by Sean Hannity.
But DeSantis claims Haley is even “more liberal” than California’s Democratic leader.
“I debated California Governor Gavin Newsom,” DeSantis said. “I thought he lied a lot.”
“Man, Nikki Haley gives him a run for her money, and she might even be more liberal than Gavin Newsom.”
DEBATE THRESHOLD AND WHO QUALIFIES
The qualifying window for the CNN debate in Iowa closed Tuesday.
By then, candidates had to get at least 10 percent in three different polls, either nationally or among Republican caucuses in Iowa — and at least one had to fall below the latter.
The polls had to be conducted after October 15 and by January 2 and could only be drawn from 14 of CNN's approved poll sources.
There were no donor-related criteria as in previous debates.
Trump, DeSantis and Haley all met the requirements. But the ex-president will once again not attend the primary debate, claiming the event is unnecessary because of his massive lead in the polls and his belief that he is already the de facto candidate.
Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis and U.N. Ambassador Nikki Haley will meet on stage at Drake University in Des Moines, Iowa, on Tuesday for a head-to-head debate — Donald Trump skipped and Vivek Ramaswamy and Chris Christie did not qualify
Ramaswamy, Christie and former Arkansas Gov. Asa Hutchinson did not meet the qualification requirements.
The voting thresholds for Wednesday's debate were higher than those of the previous four RNC debates, in which Ramaswamy and Christie qualified each time.
Wednesday's stage is the smallest yet – halving the December debate circuit in Tuscaloosa, Alabama – and will mark the first time there will be a head-to-head race between the candidates in what many see as a race for second place.
Haley attended a Fox News town hall in West Des Moines, Iowa, on Monday, followed by DeSantis, who attended the same event on Tuesday night after flying back from Tallahassee following his State of the State address.
DONALD TRUMP AND VIVEK RAMASWAMY'S ALTERNATIVE PLANS
Former President Trump joined Fox News anchors Martha McCallum and Bret Baier for the third time in the network's town hall series. The start time coincided exactly with the start of the debate at 9:00 p.m. Eastern Time.
It is the fifth time that Trump has decided to decline the debate over his primary rivals despite meeting the minimum requirements for the appearance.
DeSantis insists Trump is declining to appear because he doesn't want to take responsibility for his actions and instead wants to try to steal the spotlight from his competition.
Meanwhile, Ramaswamy hosted a “live audience show” with the Tim Pool Podcast at his campaign headquarters in Iowa – and hosted an after-party with conservative commentator Candace Owens.
Owens will remain in Iowa on Thursday to fight Ramaswamy all day.
While the show began with Pool at 6:30 p.m., the after-party conflicted with the debate between Haley and DeSantis.
Drake University's Olmsted Center is pictured during preparations Tuesday as a plow clears snow from the sidewalk after a winter storm moved through Des Moines just days before the caucuses
Biotech entrepreneur Vivek Ramaswamy did not qualify for the debate. Instead, he hosted a live audience show along with an afterparty at his campaign headquarters in Iowa with Tim Pool and Candace Owens (pictured).
According to a poll in New Hampshire on Tuesday, Nikki Haley is only seven points behind Donald Trump
POLL BEFORE THE DAY OF THE DEBATE
DeSantis is still in second place, dozens of points behind Trump.
The former president has more than 50 percent of the vote among Republicans in Iowa, according to a FiveThirtyEight polling average in the primary state.
With an average of 18.4 percent, DeSantis is a distant second place, after polls in the summer showed that he is only around 20 points away from Trump – instead of the current 32 percent.
Haley is in third place with 15.8 percent. She has gained more traction over time in the Hawkeye State and has been able to close the gap between her and DeSantis much smaller than the 20-point gap between the two last year.
The former South Carolina governor also moved into second place in New Hampshire, where the second primary takes place on January 23rd.
Haley trails Trump in New Hampshire by just four points in a poll released earlier this month and by 7 percent in a separate poll released Tuesday.