Milwaukee’s largest indoor venue, the FiServ Forum, played host to the first of multiple Republican primary debates. While missing former President Donald Trump on the debate stage, viewers got to hear from the next eight highest polling candidates, who are as followed (in order of polling): Governor Ron Desantis (FL), businessman Vivek Rawaswamy (OH), former UN Ambassador Nikki Haley (SC), former Vice President Mike Pence (IN), Senator Tim Scott (SC), former Governor Chris Christie (NJ), and Governors Doug Burgum (ND) and Asa Hutchinson (AR). The most pivotal candidates not including Trump are easily Desantis and Rawaswamy, currently being hailed to be the future of the Republican party. “If this is the future then I am worried,” one student, who preferred to remain nameless, said. Both took center stage at the debate, drawing large amounts of attention from both the audience and the moderators.
Issues such as inflation, the war in Ukraine, the border and fentanyl crisis, and crime in major cities were all discussed. Almost every message by the candidates was the same: The Democrats messed up and I’m here to fix it. The one issue this really was not the case was the war in Ukraine. Only two candidates opposed continuing our support of Ukraine financially, being the two frontrunners not named Donald Trump, Desantis and Rawaswamy. In fact, a heated argument between Rawaswamy and Haley over the issue insured, with Haley receiving large praise for her handling of the situation. At the end of the debate, a very interesting and intriguing question was asked by the Fox News moderators. Would you still support Donald Trump if he were to be the candidate and found guilty in a court of law? Six of the eight raised their hands saying they would, while the two who didn’t came by no surprise. Hutchinson and Christie had already been running anti-Trump campaigns, but to many voters, seeing all but two of the major candidates say they will support a convicted criminal really sums up the state of America’s political world right now: America has little to no viable options for the job of president.
While the debate made it clear that Rawaswamy and Desantis were the most likely candidates to win besides Trump, Haley really stood out on the stage against the two favorites, and her campaign is already seeing funding and polling increases. As for the rest of the primaries, the next debate takes place just up the freeway in Simi Valley at the Reagan Presidential Library, where voters will have another chance to get to know the candidates.
