The second Republican debate was held Sept. 27 at the Ronald Reagan Presidential library in Simi Valley, California at 9 p.m. Approximately 1.5 million people listened to the debate whether that was in person or online either watching on Rumble, an official Republican National Committee partner, or on Fox News. 

Eight candidates qualified for the Sept. 27 debate. Former President Donald Trump chose not to attend as instead he went to Detroit to deliver a speech in front of auto workers during the major auto workers strike. 

The debate started off with Fox Moderator Stuart Varney introducing Dana Perino, and then stumbling over the pronunciation of the name of Perino’s co-host, Ilia Calderón. 

The structure of the debate allotted candidates one minute to respond to any questions asked by the moderators and 30 seconds for a candidate to respond when mentioned by name in another candidate’s response.

Some candidates expressed their concerns over keeping constituents satisfied. “I said in a finance committee hearing, when a widow came before the committee whose promised pensions from the unions was $4,000 a month, unfortunately it was cut to $1,000 a month,” said South Carolina Senator Tim Scott. “We must make sure that we honor the commitments we make and one of the ways that we do that [is] do [we should] not overpromise and then underdeliver.” 

During the debate, President Joe Biden’s participation in the picket lines of the autoworker’s strike on Sept. 26 was also discussed. “[Biden] shouldn’t be at the picket line — he should be on the southern border, working to close the southern border,” said Scott.

Former Vice President Mike Pence indicated similar concerns, saying that Biden’s economic policies have been the driving factor for American unemployment. “Joe Biden does not belong on the picket line he belongs on the unemployment line,” Pence said. “Bidenomics has failed. Wages are not keeping up with inflation. Auto workers and all American workers are feeling it, families are struggling in this economy.”

Co-host Ilia Calderón then posed the question of whether voters should blame Republican legislators in the case of a government shutdown. Former New Jersey Governor Chris Christie said that the blame should be attributed to Biden, and criticized Trump for his absence at such debates. “Voters should blame everybody who’s in Washington D.C. They get sent down there to do the job and they’ve been failing to do the job for a very long time… and yet we don’t get any answers because Joe Biden hides in his basement and won’t answer as to why he is raising the debt the way he’s done,” said Christie. “And Donald Trump hides behind the walls of his golf clubs and won’t show up here to answer questions like all the rest of us who are up here to answer. He put seven trillion on the debt. He should be [here] in this room and answer those questions.”

The discussion then turned to migration. Dana Perino asked Former South Carolina Governor Nikki Haley whether efforts to stop migration to the country were a waste of resources, and Haley responded by saying that Biden’s pro-migration attitudes have promoted such growth. “Well what happens is that when Joe Biden waved the green flag. It told everybody to come and know we see six million people cross the border. We have had more fentanyl that have killed Americans than in the Iraq, Vietnam or Afghan wars combined. We need to make sure we are a country of laws. The second we stop being a country of laws we give up everything this country was founded on,” said Haley.

When asked about the drug crisis in America, Florida Governor Ron Desantis said, “That is why as Commander in Chief. I’m going to use the U.S military to go after the Mexican drug cartels. They are killing our people… This border is going to be a day one issue for me as President. We’re going to declare a national emergency, yes we will build a wall, we’ll do remain in Mexico. But those Mexican drug cartels are going to be treated like the foreign terrorists they actually are. 

Dana Perino also asked entrepreneur Vivek Ramaswamy about his opinion on the passage and implementation of recent student-parental privacy bills. “I have to be very clear about this, Transgenderism especially in kids is a mental health disorder. We have to acknowledge the truth of that for what it is. Parents have the right to know. The hypocrisy of this is even New Hampshire failed to get passed a piece of legislation here,” he said. “The very people that say this increases the risk of suicide are also the ones saying that parents don’t have the right to know about that increased risk of suicide. And I’m sorry it is not compassionate to affirm a kid’s confusion. That is not compassion, that is cruelty.”

Dana Perino closed out the discussion by asking North Dakota Governor Doug Burgum about farm and food policy. “We need to talk about America’s farmers. Because there’s a foreign policy connection here. How would you as President protect American farmers and ranchers from foreign retaliation from a foreign government like China?” Governor Burgum said. “We’ve got the best farmers and ranchers in the world right here in America. If they have a level playing field they can outcompete anyone in the world. But this is part of a larger issue that we’re talking about here.”

The third republican debate will be held on Nov 8. Florida Governor Ron Desantis and California Governor Gavin Newsom agreed to have a debate in Georgia on Nov. 30