Des Moines — Republican rivals Ron DeSantis and Nikki Haley jockeyed on Wednesday to emerge as the clear alternative to front-runner Donald Trump just days before voting in the presidential primary race kicks off in Iowa.
Here are takeaways from their first head-to-head debate:
Candidates attack each other, but go easy on Trump
If there was any doubt that the current race for the Republican presidential nomination is a second-place fight between Haley and DeSantis behind Trump, the debate’s opening salvos dispelled them.
Invited to attack Trump, Haley and DeSantis tore into each other while landing only a few glancing blows on the race leader.
DeSantis, the governor of Florida, called Haley a “mealy mouthed” politician beholden to wealthy donors. Haley, the former governor of South Carolina, accused DeSantis of lying about her record and touted a new campaign website dedicated to knocking down those accusations.
“His campaign is exploding,” Haley said of the DeSantis bid.
DeSantis directed voters to his own website attacking Haley’s record.
“We don’t need a candidate who is going to look down on Middle America,” DeSantis said, comparing her to former Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Clinton.
The two candidates are virtually tied in Iowa, where the first-in-the-nation nominating contest will be held on Monday in the battle to take on Democratic President Joe Biden in November.
A different DeSantis — but maybe too late
In earlier debates on more crowded stages, DeSantis often struggled to land the knock-out punches he needed to distinguish himself as a candidate and gain ground on Trump.
A different DeSantis showed up on Wednesday night. Whether he arrived too late to make a difference remains to be seen.
DeSantis was animated and aggressive, much like he had been in his debate in late 2023 against Democratic California governor Gavin Newsom.
DeSantis came prepared to go toe-to-toe with Haley on their governing records and ready with retorts for the attack lines she threw at him.
He also fired off zingers of his own at Haley, who touts her record as a former accountant.
“We don’t need an accountant in the White House. We need a leader,” DeSantis said.
A clash over Ukraine
The candidates clashed over military aid to Ukraine, an issue where Haley’s hawkish foreign policy instincts stand in sharp contrast to DeSantis’ more isolationist positions.
Haley supports continuing US financial and military aid to Ukraine, in line with the policy of Democratic President Joe Biden, while DeSantis said the country’s war with Russia needed to end so the US could focus on problems at home.
Ukraine “is a pro-American, freedom-loving country. We better remember that you have to be a friend in order to get a friend,” Haley said.
“This is about preventing war — it’s always been about preventing war,” Haley added, saying she did not support putting US troops on the ground but wanted to avoid a broader global conflict.
DeSantis accused Haley of supporting a costly, unending conflict.
“This is going to go on maybe hundreds of billions more into the future,” DeSantis said, suggesting that Haley cares “more about Ukraine’s border than she does about our own southern border”.
Haley, in an oft-repeated refrain of the night, shot back that DeSantis was lying.
Reuters
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