A growing rivalry between Ron DeSantis and Nikki Haley could dominate Wednesday’s Republican presidential debate, as the two candidates for the 2024 White House try to present themselves as the party’s best alternative to former President Donald Trump.
Haley, 51, who is in third place in national polls, is gaining strength in a bid to overtake DeSantis, 45, in second place in the Republican race, behind Trump. The debate, in Miami, will begin at 10pm (Brasilia time).
Just over two months before the first primaries, in Iowa, Haley, former governor of South Carolina and Trump’s ambassador to the United Nations (UN), and DeSantis, governor of Florida, are racing against time.
Trump, 77, did his best to deny them a direct target.
The debate will be the third that Trump will not participate in, a strategy that has not yet cost him support in opinion polls that show him as the leading Republican candidate to challenge President Joe Biden of the Democratic Party.
In the previous two televised debates, Haley and DeSantis were careful not to attack Trump too harshly for fear of alienating his supporters, whose support they will need if they hope to win the Republican nomination in July.
Aaron Kall, a presidential debate expert at the University of Michigan, said none of the five candidates on stage Wednesday can afford to avoid criticizing Trump for long.
“If they don’t try to overthrow Trump, they won’t be able to achieve their goal,” he said.
Trump will hold a rally a few miles away in the Hispanic-heavy city of Hialeah. Hispanics are a group of voters that both parties court heavily.
The Florida setting of the debate gives DeSantis an advantage over the other candidates on stage. There he will be able to talk about his successes as governor. But Trump, who lives in nearby Palm Beach, is also very popular in the state.
Haley will be coming off two strong debate performances and was the only Republican other than Trump to show recent momentum in early battleground states like Iowa and New Hampshire.
With the month-long conflict between Israel and Hamas making headlines in the United States and elsewhere, the debate could be an opportunity for Haley, with her United Nations experience, to showcase her foreign policy credentials.
The other three participants in the debate – former New Jersey governor Chris Christie, businessman Vivek Ramaswamy and Senator Tim Scott – will try to assert their relevance and find a way forward.
Source: Terra
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