The third Republican debate took place on Nov. 8 at the Adrienne Arsht Center for the Performing Arts in Miami. Roughly 500,000 people, both online and in-person, watched the debate. 

The moderators at this debate were Lester Holt, Kristen Welker and Hugh Hewitt. Lester Holt moderated the 2016 presidential debate, Kristen is NBCs White House Correspondent and Hugh Hewitt was former Deputy Director of the Office of Personnel Management under President Ronald Reagan.

Of the eight candidates who attended the Aug. 23 debate, only five candidates participated in the Nov. 8 debate: Florida Governor Ron DeSantis, former United Nations Ambassador. Nikki Haley, former Governor of New Jersey Chris Christie, South Carolina Senator Tim Scott and biotechnology entrepreneur Vivek Ramaswamy. 

Former Vice President Mike Pence announced on Oct. 28 that he is suspending his campaign for presidency due to lower poll ratings and funding struggles on Oct. 28. 

Debate arises surrounding Trump’s participation 

Former President Donald Trump was again absent as he held a rally 12 miles Northwest of Miami during the debate, prompting moderator Holt to ask candidates why they thought they were more capable of being the Republican nominee, rather than the former President. 

The candidates’ responses focused on the President’s previous behavior in the past two years. 

“If you look at where we are now, it’s a lot different then [where] we were in 2016 and Donald Trump is a lot different guy [than he was] in 2016. He owes it to you to be on this stage and explain” Governor DeSantis said.

Governor Christie agreed with this sentiment. “I’ll say this about Donald Trump: anybody who is going to be spending the next year and a half of their life focusing on keeping themselves out of jail and courtrooms cannot lead this party or this country and this needs to be said plainly”, former Governor Christie said.

Inflation concerns grow among American public 

As inflation and national debt grows, many see it as a critical issue to be addressed. The candidates expressed their frustration regarding the inaction towards this subject. 

“We’re almost 34 trillion dollars in debt, 60% of Americans are living paycheck to paycheck, 50% of American families can’t afford diapers, 1 in 6 American families can’t pay their utility bills” former United Nations Ambassador Haley said. 

“I think there’s something deeper going on in the Republican party here. And I’m upset about what happened last night [November 7]. We’ve become a party of losers at the end of the day. It’s a cancer to the republican establishment” Mr. Ramaswamy said. 

Russo-Ukrainian Conflict

Russia invaded Ukraine back in 2014 when they sought to occupy Crimea and then successfully annexed Crimea. In February 2022 Russia invaded Ukraine as an attempt to make Ukraine part of Russia. Since then the United States has spent almost 50 billion dollars in funding Ukraine. 

Moderator Welker asked the candidates whether or not they support providing more funding to Ukraine. The candidates shared a generally unfavorable view of such a course of action. 

“I believe that ultimately we should make sure that the President of the United States States what is America’s national vital interest in Ukraine. It is actually degrading the Russian military. We have been very effective using our resources and our weaponry and the incredibly high price of Ukrainian blood to achieve that objective” Senator Scott said.

“I am absolutely unpersuaded and I’m actually enjoying watching the Ukraine hawks quietly delicately tip toe back from their position. As this thing has unwound into a disaster the first half of this race I was the only person standing for it. Now they are actually quietly coming around to being more cautious as they should level with the American people here” Ramaswamy said. 

TikTok Ban

Social media usage was also a contentious issue. Moderator Hewitt asked the candidates whether or not they would ban the short-video app TikTok. 

“China is the top threat we face. They have been very effective at infiltrating different parts of our society. So my policy on the Chinese Communist Party is that we win and they lose and in order to do that it’s not just military, it is economic and cultural” said Governor Desantis. 

Senator Scott, however, expressed privacy concerns regarding the app. 

“We saw under former President Trump [try] to ban TikTok twice and was struck down by our federal courts. If you can’t ban TikTok you should at least eliminate the Chinese presence on the app period … I think it’s incredibly important for us as Americans to take back control of the information, especially of our kids” Senator Scott said.

On Nov. 30, California Governor Gavin Newsom (D) and Florida Governor Ron DeSantis (R) are scheduled to debate in Georgia, which Fox News has entitled “The Red v. Blue State Debate.” Fox Anchor Sean Hannity is set to moderate this debate.