Republican debate live updates: DeSantis, Haley meet in Iowa | AP News

Published: January 10, 2024 03:56 PM

Haley says she was only joking when she told voters in New Hampshire that they would have the opportunity to “correct” the decision made by Iowa caucusgoers.

DeSantis reminded viewers on Wednesday night about her comments and called them insulting.

“She was in another state, and she said the people of Iowa need to be corrected,” DeSantis said. “We don’t need a candidate who is going to look down on middle America.”

“Iowans know when you’re telling a joke,” Haley replied.

Haley is pointing to her foreign policy experience pretty often in the opening minutes of the debate.

“I dealt with Russia, Iran, China every day,” she said of her time as U.N. ambassador. “No one ever said I caved. I defended America and I fought for America.”

At the very start of the debate, DeSantis and Haley are going after each other for lying and misrepresenting their positions.

Referencing Haley, DeSantis said, “We don’t need another mealy-mouthed politician who just tells you what she thinks you want to hear just to try to get your vote, then to get an office and to do her donors’ bidding.” He also mentioned her previous positive comments about drawing inspiration from Hillary Clinton, a point that he’s hit repeatedly during the GOP campaign.

Haley several times mentioned a new website called DeSantisLies.com that her campaign has stood up. She said that DeSantis’ campaign is “exploding” and that “he’s only mad about the donors, because the donors used to be with him, but they’re no longer with him now.”

Haley’s campaign also blasted out an email heralding the website as her “surprise gift” that would be “detailing and fact checking all of DeSantis’ lies.”

For all the attention on Haley and DeSantis, the commanding front-runner in the race will again be absent.

Donald Trump, who is aiming to quickly close in on securing his third consecutive GOP nomination, is skipping the debate hosted by CNN and instead appearing on Fox News for a live town hall at the Iowa Events Center in Des Moines.

He’ll be sitting down with Fox News hosts Bret Baier and Martha MacCallum. Trump rarely sits for interviews with mainstream hosts. His recent Fox town halls have been with his longtime friend Sean Hannity, though he did participate in a heated CNN town hall.

His last sit-down with Baier included pointed questions about his handling of classified information and other topics.

This is the final pre-caucus chance for DeSantis and Haley to make their arguments to Iowans that they’re the best choice as caucus-goers seeking an alternative to Trump, who has been the GOP frontrunner throughout the campaign.

Trump also qualified for the debate but is participating in a town hall of his own on Fox News, several miles from the debate site in Des Moines.

The debate comes just hours after Christie shuttered his campaign during a town hall in New Hampshire.

CNN is carrying the debate live on its broadcast network, as well as on CNN International, CNN en Español and CNN Max.

It’s the first debate of the 2024 election cycle that CNN is hosting. It’s being moderated by CNN’s Jake Tapper and Dana Bash.

Here’s our full guide for how to watch

Iowa often has a winnowing effect on the field, nudging underperforming candidates out of the race.

In the 2016 Republican caucuses, 2008 caucus winner Mike Huckabee and 2012 winner Rick Santorum both ended their campaigns shortly after their ninth and eleventh places finishes.

Read more about what to expect in the Iowa caucuses on Monday

Meet Griff II. His tie deserves a round of a-paws.

There will be two main agenda items at every Republican caucus site: holding a binding vote for the party’s presidential nominee and electing delegates to attend county conventions, which is the next step in the multi-tiered process of electing delegates to attend the Republican National Convention in Milwaukee this summer.

The binding presidential vote functions essentially like a party-run primary, only with very limited polling hours and no accommodation for absentee voting, except for a tiny handful of overseas and military voters.

There are speeches on behalf of various candidates before the voting and a variety of party business after the vote. Individual caucus chairs are allowed to exercise some discretion in how to conduct the vote, but the voting is done by secret ballot and there is no set list of candidates. Voters must be given the option to vote for any candidate they choose.

Check out the AP’s full guide on how the caucuses work

In style, if not substance, Wednesday’s one-on-one debate may offer the closest thing to a general election debate preview that we’ve seen. Only Haley and DeSantis will be on stage. There is no place to hide and no other candidates to get in the way.

Some of the most memorable moments in past debates have featured Haley feuding with Vivek Ramaswamy. That’s all in the past, given that Ramaswamy didn’t meet the polling threshold this time.

Read more

Former New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie was overheard on a hot mic saying that Nikki Haley is “going to get smoked” moments before announcing he is dropping out of the Republican presidential race on Wednesday.

By STEVE PEOPLES, THOMAS BEAUMONT

Voters, campaign operatives and even some of the candidates on the ground here overwhelmingly agree that the Republican former president is the prohibitive favorite heading into the Jan. 15 caucuses — whether they like it or not.

Just beneath all the perceived certainty about Trump’s victory, however, lies serious risks for the front-runner. Trump continues to fuel sky-high expectations, despite questions about the strength of his voter-turnout operation, a closing message clouded by lies about the 2020 election and stormy weather forecasts that could dissuade supporters from showing up.

Few believe such issues will lead to a straight-up loss next week in Iowa, but in the complicated world of presidential politics, a win is not always a win.

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For Republicans, there are usually two prizes in the Iowa caucuses: delegates and bragging rights.

Iowa Republican voters will indicate their picks for the party’s presidential nominee, and the results of that vote will determine how many of the state’s 40 convention delegates each candidate will receive. Candidates win national convention delegates in direct proportion to the percentage of the vote they receive. There is no minimum threshold required to qualify for delegates.

For Democrats, nothing is at stake, since the 2024 caucuses will have no bearing on the presidential race.

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An AP reporter driving from Des Moines to Davenport for a Trump campaign event spotted dozens of cars and trucks stranded along the side of Interstate 80, a major artery through Iowa.

A couple of trucks were on their side, while other vehicles had crashed into a barrier along the median.

Candidates were forced to cancel their events earlier in the week when heavy snow hit the leadoff caucus state. Vivek Ramaswamy said his car got stuck in a ditch while driving in snowy weather Monday night to Des Moines from northwest Iowa.

Read more

Trump and DeSantis don’t agree on much but do find common ground on one thing: Christie’s parting shot at Haley.

Trump said Wednesday that he might “even get to like” Christie again after the departing presidential candidate was caught on a hot mic saying that Haley was “going to get smoked” and was “not up to this.”

DeSantis’ sentiment in a post on X was similar: “I agree with Christie that Nikki Haley is ‘going to get smoked.’”

Haley, meanwhile, was gracious in her well wishes for Christie, calling her former fellow governor “a friend for many years” and commending him “on a hard-fought campaign.”

Christie’s announcement narrows the Republican primary field to five candidates:

• Former President Donald Trump
• Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis
• Former U.N. Ambassador Nikki Haley
• Biotech Entrepreneur Vivek Ramaswamy
• Former Arkansas Gov. Asa Hutchinson

But those aren’t the only names vying for a spot against President Joe Biden. Several candidates are still competing for the Democratic nomination, and there’s a few third-party contenders in the mix.

Read more

Former New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie said that he’s ending his Republican presidential bid just days before Iowa’s leadoff caucuses in a last-ditch effort to deny Donald Trump a glidepath to the nomination.

“I’ve always said that if there came a point in time in this race where I couldn’t see a path to accomplishing that goal, that I would get out,” he said. “And it’s clear to me tonight that there isn’t a path for me to win the nomination, which is why I’m suspending my campaign tonight for president of the United States.”

Former New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie was caught on a hot mic bashing rival Nikki Haley moments before he was expected to end his campaign at a New Hampshire town hall.

He also said that former Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis had called him, “petrified,” but the hot mic was cut before he finished speaking.

As his remarks got underway, Christie appeared to defend his performance in the race as former President Donald Trump continues to dominate.

“People don’t want to hear it. They don’t want to hear it. We know we’re right but they don’t want to hear it,” he said. “We couldn’t have been any clearer. We couldn’t have been any more direct or worked any harder.”

“We’re in this race to tell the truth. From the beginning, we’ve been in this race to tell the truth,” the former Gov. said to kick off a speech that could be his last as a presidential primary candidate.

Follow his remarks at a town hall in Windham, New Hampshire.

Christie had run as the race’s fiercest critic of the former president-turned-GOP front-runner. He warned voters against nominating a candidate who has been criminally indicted four times and could very well be a convicted felon by the November general election. And he argued Trump will lose in a rematch with President Joe Biden, the likely Democratic nominee.

While his anti-Trump message attracted much media attention and helped bring in waves of small-dollar donations that kept him in the race — and on the debate stage — far longer than many expected, Christie was plagued by high unfavorability ratings in a party that remains deeply loyal to Trump.

He also remained mired in the single digits in national polling.

Nonetheless, Christie managed to outlast far better-known and better-funded candidates, including former Vice President Mike Pence and Sen. Tim Scott of South Carolina, in part because he ran a frugal campaign.

Instead of flying by private jet and hiring a litany of expensive consultants, he relied on a tight-knit staff of just over a dozen people and had a far lower “burn rate” than rivals like DeSantis, spending far less per day.

Allies of Nikki Haley, including New Hampshire Gov. Chris Sununu and other anti-Trump Republicans, had been urging Christie to exit, hoping a large portion of his supporters would flock to Haley, giving her a chance to turn the race into a two-candidate contest with Trump, the overwhelming favorite for the nomination.

The New Hampshire poll — which showed Christie at 12% — found about two-thirds of his supporters would select Haley as their second choice.

Former New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie is planning to announce he’s dropping his Republican presidential bid at his New Hampshire town hall on Wednesday night.

That’s according to a person with direct knowledge of the former New Jersey governor’s plans who spoke to The Associated Press on condition of anonymity to disclose private discussions.

The news comes as a surprise, given that Christie had staked the success of his campaign on New Hampshire’s first-in-the-nation primary, which is less than two weeks away. He had insisted as recently as Tuesday night that he had no plans to leave the race, rebuffing growing calls for him to step aside as he continued to cast himself as the only candidate willing to directly take on the former president.

“I would be happy to get out of the way for someone who is actually running against Donald Trump,” he said at a town hall in Rochester, New Hampshire, while arguing that none of his rivals had stepped up to the plate.

“I’m famous enough. … I’ve got plenty of titles. … The only reason to do this is to win,” he added. “So I’d be happy to get out of the way for somebody if they actually were going against Donald Trump.”

But Christie faced a stark reality: While recent polls showed him reaching the double digits in New Hampshire, Haley shows signs of momentum. A CNN/UNH poll conducted in the state this week found Trump’s lead down to the single digits, with 4 in 10 likely Republican primary voters choosing Trump and about one-third now choosing Haley.

Republican presidential contender Chris Christie has notified key allies that he plans to make a major announcement at a campaign stop Wednesday evening in New Hampshire.

That’s according to a person with direct knowledge of the former New Jersey governor’s plans who spoke to The Associated Press on condition of anonymity to disclose private discussions.

It’s unclear what the announcement might be, but Christie has been under intense pressure to exit the Republican presidential primary race as critics of Donald Trump work to unify behind a viable alternative to the former president.

Christie is scheduled to host a town hall meeting in Windham at 5 p.m.

Haley and DeSantis have spent much of the Republican presidential primary flanked by lower-polling rivals, so the stakes are high for the former U.N. ambassador and the Florida governor at Wednesday’s debate.

The moment is especially important for Haley, a politician long known for her disciplined approach to messaging but who has recently suffered a series of gaffes.

DES MOINES, Iowa (AP) — Just two Republican presidential candidates, former U.N. Ambassador Nikki Haley and Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis, will meet on the debate stage Wednesday night. With just five days before the Iowa caucuses, the debate may be their last, best chance to change the trajectory of the race before voting begins.

The big front-runner, Donald Trump, was the only other candidate to meet the 10% polling threshold to participate. But as he has six times before, the Republican former president is declining to show up given his overwhelming lead in the polls.

Here’s what we’re watching heading into the 9 p.m. EST event that will be hosted by CNN.

This is an excerpt from a full story

Continue reading here

DeSantis left an important item in Florida when he flew back to Iowa after delivering his State of the State address Tuesday.

“I actually do have a winter coat,” DeSantis told a construction contractors convention in Des Moines on Wednesday. “And I forgot it. I left it at home.”

The temperatures for Iowa were below freezing and headed to below zero through Monday’s caucuses. DeSantis told the crowd that his staff was hustling his coat from Tallahassee before he headed up to even-chillier northwest Iowa on Thursday.

“I think I’ll need much more than that,” he said. “I think I’m going to need the earmuffs and all that stuff.”