八名共和党总统候选人聚集在一起2024年的第一场初选辩论这是美国人第一次有机会开始权衡明年谁将成为共和党的旗手。

选民们得到的是两个小时的激烈争论从年龄到政策，当然还有前总统唐纳德·特朗普。

上台的有佛罗里达州州长罗恩·德桑蒂斯、企业家维韦克·拉马斯瓦米、前副总统迈克·彭斯、前南卡罗来纳州州长妮基·黑利、前新泽西州长克里斯·克里斯蒂、南卡罗来纳州参议员蒂姆·斯科特、前阿肯色州州长阿萨·哈钦森和北达科他州州长道格·伯根。

刀为拉马斯瓦米

38岁的拉马斯瓦米是舞台上比任何其他候选人都多的攻击目标，甚至还不算近。

从未担任过公职的拉马斯瓦米因其经历而受到彭斯和克里斯蒂的抨击，因其外交政策而受到海利的抨击。

“现在不是在职培训的时候，”彭斯说。“我们不需要引进新人。我们不需要引进没有经验的人。”

克里斯蒂后来指责语速快的拉马斯瓦米听起来“像ChatGPT”，指的是流行的数字工具，哈利在抨击他对援助乌克兰的怀疑态度以及为支持以色列设定时间表的评论后，指责他“没有外交政策经验，这是显而易见的”。

“拉马斯瓦米给人的感觉就像是高中时人人都想揍的那个人。事实上，我认为克里斯蒂会在某一点上击败他，”共和党策略师鲍勃·赫克曼说。

拉马斯瓦米多次试图回避，将他的局外人身份吹捧为一种荣誉，并因说美国应该投入更多资金保护自己的南部边境而不是海外国家的边境而赢得观众的掌声，这是指美国支持乌克兰抗击俄罗斯的入侵。

这些讽刺显然是试图打击拉马斯瓦米的一部分，但它们也是对他最近支持率和关注度飙升的认可，他的发言时间排名第二，仅次于彭斯。

选民在竞选过程中有机地向美国广播公司新闻(ABC News)提起了拉马斯瓦米，全国和州级调查显示他的支持率正在上升，FiveThirtyEight的平均民调显示他以超过5个百分点的优势排名第三，落后于德桑蒂斯和特朗普。

拉马斯瓦米的竞选团队吹捧他的表现，发言人特里西亚·麦克劳克林(Tricia McLaughlin)向美国广播公司新闻(ABC News)发短信说，“Vivek: 1共和党机构:0。”

“这是我第一次参加政治辩论。我对它的出现感到很激动。辩论结束后，拉马斯瓦米还在旋转室里吹嘘道:“我们已经超出了我的预期。

彭斯在离开时扮演了攻击犬的角色

彭斯是一位以稳重著称的经验丰富的政治家，相反，在周三晚上，他一反常态，扮演了攻击犬的角色。

他几乎把所有的愤怒都指向了拉马斯瓦米，尽管他确实向缺席的特朗普扔了一个手肘，他再次表示，特朗普无权要求他逆转2020年的选举结果。

除了针对拉马斯瓦米相对缺乏经验之外，彭斯还指责了他的外交政策立场，认为华盛顿必须在支持乌克兰或边境安全之间做出选择是一种侮辱。

“任何认为我们不能解决美国的问题并成为自由世界的领导者的人，对这个地球上最伟大的国家的看法都是非常狭隘的，”彭斯说。

彭斯还多次打断其他候选人和主持人，试图进入正在讨论的任何话题，促使主持人布雷特·拜尔在他提问时插嘴。

“副总统彭斯，这真的没有帮助，”拜尔说。

尽管彭斯作为众议院议员、州长和副总统的简历很长，但他一直难以在爱荷华州的全国民调和调查中突破个位数，他的竞选活动在很大程度上取决于爱荷华州，试图有一个突破时刻是提高民调的一条途径-尽管尚不清楚这是否奏效。

“彭斯今晚要大展拳脚，”赫克曼说。"知道他需要一路奋斗到最高层。"

德桑蒂斯争取播出时间

德桑蒂斯在大多数全国和州级民调中仍居第二位，但拉马斯瓦米和斯科特等候选人最近的崛起引发了人们对他作为特朗普主要替代者的地位有多安全的质疑。

除了寻求抵御其他候选人的崛起，他还不得不抵御关于他的筹款、工作人员变动和长达一个月的竞选重启的负面头条新闻——这些头条新闻本可以通过强劲的表现来掩盖。

最终，德桑蒂斯没有像预期的那样受到攻击，但似乎也没有动摇，坚持自己的观点，并最终争取到了播出时间——发言时间第四长，排在彭斯、拉马斯瓦米和克里斯蒂之后。

这一赤字很大程度上是因为他没有参与许多辩论中的叫嚣比赛，而他的盟友试图吹捧这些比赛。

“我认为他今晚表现得很好，看起来是所有候选人中最有总统气质的。他的回答简洁明了，他能够介绍自己是一个有效的领导者，一个老兵，一个顾家的男人。我真的很欣赏他直接对选民说话，而不是像其他候选人那样大喊大叫，”佛罗里达州接近德桑蒂斯竞选活动的游说者尼克·阿罗斯西说。

2023年8月23日，前南卡罗莱纳州州长、联合国大使妮基·黑利在威斯康星州密尔沃基的Fiserv论坛上参加了第一场共和党总统初选辩论。

kamil Krzaczynski/法新社

海莉试图开辟自己的路

哈利似乎试图成为房间里的成年人，吹捧她的保守派诚意，丁池·拉马斯瓦米未能达到共和党的正统，并试图在一些激烈的交流中保持中立。

有一次，当克里斯蒂和拉马斯瓦米来回走动时，哈利试图阻止，同时指出她是舞台上唯一的女性。

“这就是为什么玛格丽特·撒切尔说，‘如果你想说些什么，去问一个人。“如果你想做点什么，去问女人，”哈利说。

她还试图在竞选中最困难的话题之一——堕胎——上找到一些安全的理由。

海利没有陷入堕胎应该允许多少周的辩论，而是寻求民意调查显示在更广泛的选民中获得更多支持的政策。

“难道我们不能一致同意禁止晚期堕胎吗?我们不能都同意我们应该鼓励收养吗?难道我们不能一致认为不相信堕胎的医生和护士不应该实施堕胎吗?我们不能都同意避孕应该是可行的吗?难道我们不能一致同意，如果一个女人堕胎，我们不会把她关进监狱或判她死刑吗?让我们像对待尊重问题一样对待它，”她说。

美国广播公司新闻采访的一些策略师说，他们认为海莉是这场辩论的赢家——鉴于她顽固的低民调和相对较低的预期，这一点更容易做到。

“妮基·黑利做了大量的准备工作，这对她自己帮助最大。我认为其他阵营会更认真地考虑需要做多少准备才能在一个每个人基本上都在说同一件事的舞台上取得突破，”曾为拉马斯瓦米的竞选团队工作的共和党策略师和总统竞选老手盖尔·吉乔(Gail Gitcho)说。

1月6日仍然有些不适

对于2021年1月6日的起义，似乎仍有一些不安，这是一个开创性的事件，预计总统乔·拜登将在大选中强调这一点。

当主持人问彭斯是否在1月6日履行了职责，没有推翻选举，要求同意的人举手时，德桑蒂斯介入，以防止候选人不得不这样做。

许多候选人最终同意彭斯那天遵守了他的宪法誓言，尽管哈钦森在他称那天的骚乱为“暴动”时引起了嘘声。

德桑蒂斯最终表示，他确实认为彭斯“尽了自己的职责”。

“我和他没有过节，”他说。

在堕胎问题上没有共识，在乌克兰问题上多一点

堕胎对候选人来说仍然是一个棘手的问题，并突显了2024年之前缺乏共识。

海莉不愿透露她支持哪种限制时间表，但表示联邦禁令是不现实的。Burgum还表示，尽管他已经在北达科他州签署了为期六周的禁令，但他不会签署全国性的禁令。

与此同时，彭斯坚持必须有一个最低的联邦标准，斯科特说，应该有一个全国15周的限制。

在乌克兰问题上，各方似乎达成了更多共识。

大多数候选人表示，他们将支持向基辅提供更多援助，尽管德桑蒂斯主要侧重于确保欧洲增加其支持份额。

与此同时，拉马斯瓦米是唯一一位表示不会支持为乌克兰对抗俄罗斯的战争提供更多援助的候选人。

特朗普获得的关注比预期的少，但没有从重大的游戏规则改变中受益

拜尔曾开玩笑说，尽管特朗普缺席，但他将在辩论中获得最大关注，一些最激烈的交流发生在如果他被判有罪，候选人是否会支持他作为被提名人的部分。

八个人中有六个人举手表示愿意。

克里斯蒂对他多次攻击前总统表示惊讶，拉马斯瓦米重申了他对特朗普的辩护。其他候选人采取了一种模糊的策略，敦促选民向前看。

尽管如此，特朗普没有像预期的那样被提及，总体而言，鉴于他在民调中的巨大领先优势，以及周三事件导致的该领域缺乏根本性变化，这位前总统可能被视为辩论的赢家。

前共和党全国委员会(Republican National Committee)工作人员、前众议院共和党领导层高级助理道格·叶禾(Doug Schmidt)说，“没有特朗普在场，所有‘谁会赢’的说法都是猜测。”。"这是在码头上重新摆放船上的躺椅."

7 takeaways from the 1st GOP primary debate

Eight Republican presidential candidates gatheredfor the first primary debate of the 2024 cycle, offering Americans one of their first major chances to start weighing who will be the GOP standard bearer next year.

What voters got was two hours of sharp elbowsover everything from age to policy to, of course, former President Donald Trump.

On stage were Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis, entrepreneur Vivek Ramaswamy, former Vice President Mike Pence, former South Carolina Gov. Nikki Haley, former New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie, South Carolina Sen. Tim Scott, former Arkansas Gov. Asa Hutchinson and North Dakota Gov. Doug Burgum.

Knives out for Ramaswamy

The 38-year-old Ramaswamy was the target of more attacks than any other candidate on stage, and it wasn't even close.

Ramaswamy, who's never held office, took hits from Pence and Christie over his experience and Haley over his foreign policy.

"Now is not the time for on-the-job training," Pence said. "We don't need to bring in a rookie. We don't need to bring in people without experience."

Christie later accused the fast-spoken Ramaswamy of sounding "like ChatGPT," referring to the popular digital tool, and Haley, after hitting him over his skepticism of aid to Ukraine and comments putting a timetable on support for Israel, accused him of having "no foreign policy experience and it shows."

"Ramaswamy comes across like the guy in high school that everyone wanted to beat up. In fact, I thought Christie was going to slug him at one point," said GOP strategist Bob Heckman.

Ramaswamy repeatedly sought to parry, touting his outsider status as a badge of honor and drawing audience applause for saying the U.S. should invest more to protect its own southern border rather than borders of countries overseas, a reference to U.S. support for Ukraine's fight against Russia's invasion.

The barbs were clearly part of an attempt to knock Ramaswamy down a peg, but they also served as recognition of his recent surge in support and attention and he had the second-most speaking time, trailing only Pence.

Voters have organically brought up Ramaswamy to ABC News on the campaign trail, and national and statewide surveys have him rising, with FiveThirtyEight's polling average showing him in third place by over 5 points, behind DeSantis and Trump.

Ramaswamy's campaign touted his performance, with spokesperson Tricia McLaughlin texting ABC News, "Vivek: 1 GOP Establishment: 0."

"This is my first time in a political debate. And I am thrilled with how it came out. We've over-exceeded my expectations," Ramaswamy also boasted in the spin room after the debate.

Pence, in a departure, takes on attack-dog role

Pence, a seasoned politician known for his staid demeanor, instead, in a stark departure, took on the role of attack dog Wednesday night.

He directed almost all of his ire at Ramaswamy, though he did throw an elbow at the absent Trump, whom he once again said had no right to ask him to reverse the 2020 election results.

Beyond targeting Ramaswamy over his relative lack of experience, Pence also rebuked his foreign policy stances, arguing it was insulting to say that Washington had to choose between supporting Ukraine or border security.

"Anybody that thinks that we can't solve the problems here in the United States and be the leader the free world has a pretty small view of the greatest nation on Earth," Pence said.

Pence also repeatedly interrupted other candidates and the moderators to try to get in on whatever topic was being discussed, prompting moderator Bret Baier to interject while he was asking a question.

"Vice President Pence, it really doesn't help," Baier said.

Pence, despite his lengthy resume as a House member, governor and vice president, has struggled to break out of the single digits in national polling and surveys in Iowa, where he is hinging much of his campaign, and trying to have a breakout moment is one pathway to a polling boost -- though it's unclear if it worked.

"Pence was going for it big time tonight," Heckman said. "Knows he needs to slug his way into the top tier."

DeSantis fights for airtime

DeSantis still holds second place in most national and statewide polls, but recent rises by candidates like Ramaswamy and Scott have fueled questions over how safe his position as the main Trump alternative is.

Besides seeking to fend off other candidates' rises, he's also had to fend off negative headlines over his fundraising, staff changes and a monthslong campaign reboot -- headlines that could have been put to bed by a strong performance.

In the end, DeSantis wasn't attacked as much as expected but didn’t appear to falter, sticking to his talking points and ended up fighting for airtime -- speaking for the fourth-longest amount of time, behind Pence, Ramaswamy and Christie.

That deficit is largely because he did not engage in many of the debate's shouting matches, which his allies sought to tout.

"I think he did very well tonight and looked the most presidential of all the candidates. His answers were clear and concise, and he was able to introduce himself as an effective leader, a veteran, and family man. I really appreciate that he spoke directly to the voters instead of engaging in shouting matches like the other candidates," said Nick Iarossi, a Florida lobbyist close to DeSantis' campaign.

Haley tries to carve out her own lane

Haley seemingly sought to be the adult in the room, touting her conservative bona fides, chiding Ramaswamy for failing to live up to GOP orthodoxy and trying to remain above the fray during some of the sharper exchanges.

At one point, when Christie and Ramaswamy were going back and forth, Haley tried to put a stop to it while at the same time pointing out that she was the only woman on stage.

"This is exactly why Margaret Thatcher said, 'If you want something said, ask a man. If you want something done, ask a woman,'" Haley said.

She also sought to find some safe ground on one of the most difficult topics of the race: abortion.

Rather than get mired in the debate over how many weeks abortion should be allowed for, Haley instead reached for policies that polls show have more support among the broader electorate.

"Can't we all agree that we should ban late term abortions? Can't we all agree that we should encourage adoptions? Can't we all agree that doctors and nurses who don't believe in abortion shouldn't have to perform them? Can't we all agree that contraception should be available? And can't we all agree that we are not going to put a woman in jail or give her the death penalty if she gets an abortion? Let's treat this like the respectful issue that it is," she said.

Some strategists ABC News spoke to said they viewed Haley as a winner in the debate -- something that was easier given her stubbornly low polling and relatedly low expectations.

"Nikki Haley helped herself the most by the impressive amount of prep she did. I think other camps will take more seriously how much prep is needed to break through on a stage where everyone is basically saying the same thing all the time," said Gail Gitcho, a GOP strategist and veteran of presidential campaigns who used to work for Ramaswamy's campaign.

Still some discomfort over Jan. 6

There still appeared to be some discomfort over the Jan. 6, 2021, insurrection, a seminal event that President Joe Biden is expected to highlight in the general election.

When the moderators asked if Pence had done his duty on Jan. 6 by not overturning the election, requesting that those who agreed raise their hands, DeSantis stepped in to prevent the candidates from having to do so.

Many of the candidates ultimately agreed that Pence obeyed his constitutional oath that day, though Hutchinson did draw boos when he called the riot that day an "insurrection."

DeSantis ultimately said he did think Pence "did his duty."

"I got no beef with him," he said.

No consensus on abortion, a little more on Ukraine

Abortion remained a sticky subject for the candidates and underscored the lack of consensus heading into 2024.

Haley wouldn't say what kind of timetable on restrictions she would support -- but said a federal ban was unrealistic. Burgum also said he wouldn't sign a national ban despite having signed a six-week ban into law in North Dakota.

Pence, meanwhile insisted that there must be a minimum federal standard, and Scott said there should be a national 15-week limit.

On Ukraine, there appeared to be more agreement.

Most of the candidates said they would support more aid to Kyiv, though DeSantis focused mostly on making sure Europe beefs up its share of the support.

Ramaswamy, meanwhile, was the only candidate who said he wouldn't support more aid for Ukraine in its war against Russia.

Trump gets less focus than anticipated but benefits from no major game-changers

Baier had teased that Trump would get top billing in the debate, despite his absence, and some of the fieriest exchanges occurred during the section over whether the candidates would support him as the nominee if he were convicted of a crime.

Six of the eight raised their hands to say they would.

Christie raised eyebrows over his repeated attacks against the former president, and Ramaswamy reiterated his defense of Trump. Other candidates took a vaguer tact of urging voters to look forward.

Still, Trump was not spoken of nearly as much as was anticipated, and overall, the former president could be viewed as a winner of the debate given his hefty polling lead and lack of a fundamental change in the field stemming from the Wednesday event.

"All of the 'who won' talk is conjecture without Trump there," said Doug Heye, a former Republican National Committee staffer and former top aide to House GOP leadership. "This is rearranging the deck chairs on a boat that’s tied to the dock."