Abortion is a thorny issue for candidatespublished at 03:28 British Summer Time 24 August 2023

03:28 BST 24 August 2023

Anthony Zurcher
BBC North America correspondent in Wisconsin

Abortion is a delicate issue for Republicans.

It is an issue that their evangelical base cares about deeply. They believe abortion is murder and should be eradicated across the country.

More politically practical Republicans, however, understand that the American public as a whole does not support stringent abortion bans – and the issue pushes moderate voters to back Democratic candidates and motivates Democrats to head to the polls.

That division within the party played out prominently on the Republican debate stage, as former vice-president Mike Pence – who is decidedly in the anti-abortion camp – clashed with former South Carolina Governor Nikki Haley, who emphasised that there is simply not support for any kind of national ban.

Haley’s position may play better in next year’s general election, but Pence is betting his campaign on the proposition that his outspokenness on abortion will win him evangelical support and give him a boost in the Republican primaries.

Image source, AFP via Getty Images

Kayla Epstein
Reporting from Georgia

There was a lot of debate on stage about the issue of abortion, and the young audience in Atlanta was listening intently. There was more ideological difference than you might expect.

Joanna Marinova and Megan Kim have listened raptly all night and have nuanced views of the issue.

Megan said she was not enthusiastic about the procedure but acknowledged women would still continue to have abortions.

“I thought everyone was kinda unqualified to talk about that,” Joanna said. “Because they’re not doctors.”

She said she did not support abortions later in a pregnancy but otherwise, “it’s up to the woman”.

Asa Hutchinson said he will not support somebody convicted of felony or who would be disbarred from the presidency under the Constitution.

Nikki Haley says three-quarters of Americans don't want a Trump-Biden rematch - especially when Trump is the most disliked politician, which would make it difficult for the GOP to win the general election she adds.

Ramaswamy chimes in saying he is the only one who has said he would pardon Trump.

To that, Pence says he would "give fair consideration to pardon requests" about Trump.

He says he tries not to focus on January 2021, but instead January 2017 - the month he was sworn in as vice-president.

Pence says he had hoped issues around the 2020 election would not come to criminal proceedings but "no one is above law".

While Trump is allowed the presumption of innocence, people deserve to know that Trump asked him to put loyalty to him above the Constitution.

Image source, Reuters

The candidates have now been asked whether Pence did the right thing on 6 January 2021 - the day of the US Capitol riots when he refused to try overturn the results of the 2020 election.

Scott said he did, while DeSantis pivoted away from the issue to "focus on your future" and the upcoming election, rather than the past.

"We've got to look forward," he said. Eventually, he acknowledged that "Mike did his duty. I've got no beef with him".

Hutchinson - who didn't raise his hand - repeated earlier statements that Trump's actions on that day disqualify him from becoming president again.

Christie said Pence "deserves our thanks as Americans" for his role on 6 January.

"The argument that we need to have in this party....is that we have to dispense with the person who said we need to suspend the constitution".

Haley agreed that Pence did the right thing, but said most Americans want a "new" Republican leader and that the party "can't win a general election" with Trump.

Mike Wendling
US reporter

While the candidates talk about the former president, let's go back over to X - formerly Twitter - where Donald Trump has returned to familiar ground in his sit-down with Tucker Carlson

He says that US elections should return to only paper ballots, mandatory voter identification and should eliminate early voting and mail-in ballots.

He finds no disagreement from Carlson who says: “Isn’t that the whole point of [mail-in ballots], to cheat?”

“Their policies are so bad that if they didn’t cheat, they couldn’t get elected,” Trump responds.

A little later - after railing against government agencies and environmental rules - Trump claims that in 2020 he won Wisconsin, a state that Joe Biden carried by about 20,000 votes.

The view count on the Trump-Carlson interview indicates the video now reached 75 million people, but be a little bit wary about that number – X counts someone watching for just a few seconds as a “view”.

Fox showed a live shot outside of the Fulton County jail in Georgia, mentioning the “elephant not in the room” - Donald Trump - who will be booked there tomorrow.

The candidates now have a chance to talk about the legal trials of Trump.

Question: If Donald Trump is convicted, would you still support him?

Most raised their hands.

Former New Jersey Governor Chris Christie said his actions are "beneath the office of the United States", which prompted boos from the crowd.

Ramaswamy came to the defense of Trump saying he was the "best president of 21st century", adding the US cannot set the precedent to indict political opponents.

Image source, A viewer watches the first Republican presidential debate live on Fox News and former President and candidate Donald Trump's interview by Tucker Carlson on the platform 'X'

We're just about at the halfway mark of the debate - which has covered topics including abortion, crime, climate change and the economy.

It's been lively - and tense - with the candidates seemingly happy to attack each other while also touting their own achievements in this areas. Pence and Ramaswamy in particular taken aim at each other on multiple occasions.

At times, the Fox News hosts have also struggled to keep the candidates on topic. Several of them have pivoted during their answers to abruptly discuss other issues.

We're now hearing questions about Donald Trump - and we've yet to hear much with regards to foreign policy, immigration or solutions at the US-Mexico border.

Stay with us for more updates.

Sam Cabral
Reporting from Milwaukee

Vivek Ramaswamy is near the centre of the debate stage, and a woman in the crowd let out a guttural roar as he prepared to speak.

He pointed to his fellow candidates and referred to them as "professional politicians" who were not being honest with the people.

In what looked like a planned attack, Mike Pence quickly took him to task over his policy platform and called him a "rookie" who would need "on-the-job training" - unlike him.

Ramaswamy pushed back on the comment, alleging his rivals were puppets to outside donors and interest groups.

"Do you want a Super PAC puppet or a patriot who speaks the truth?" he asked to a loud crowd reaction.

Chris Christie also took a swing, calling his opponent an "amateur" who "sounds like chatGPT" and reminds him of Barack Obama.

Image source, Getty Images

The candidates have now been asked about abortion, which Fox News hosts predicted may be one of the "defining" issues of next year's election.

Haley - the only woman on the stage - said that while she's "unapologetically pro-life", the Republican party needs to stop "demonising" the issue and build "consensus" when it comes to a potential federal ban.

DeSantis, who signed a six-week abortion law in Florida, defended his record on the issue and argued that he won the party a "landslide victory" in the state even with his relatively hard-line stance on the issue.

"We can win," he said. "You got to do what you think is right. I believe in a culture of life."

Pence, an outspoken anti-abortion candidate, said he supports a 15-week national ban on abortion.

His views stand in stark contrast to Haley's, both of whom were members of the Trump administration. The two had a heated exchange on the issue.

Bergum said he stands against a federal ban, calling it unconstitutional.

Clearly, this is an issue that many of the candidates have focused on heavily in their preparation for this event.

Image source, EPA-EFE/REX/Shutterstock

Mike Wendling
BBC News

Taking a break from the Republican debate, the Donald Trump interview is still airing on X, formerly Twitter.

Trump’s meandering interview with former Fox host Tucker Carlson has gone from odd to downright bizarre.

He says he doubts that Joe Biden is going to be alive come November 2024.

“Every time you watch him talking, it’s like walking on eggs. You’re waiting for him to collapse and he always does,” the 77-year-old says of the 80-year-old president.

He repeats a claim that he’s made before – that he could easily end the war between Russia and Ukraine.

“If I were president, it would have never started,” he claims.

He then touts his friendship with North Korean dictator Kim Jong Un and claims there would have been a nuclear war if Hillary Clinton was elected in 2016.

For his part, Carlson again asks whether Trump thinks whether someone – exactly who isn’t specified – will try to kill him.

The pair then chat about China, the construction of the Panama Canal and voter identification.

The tone of the conversation is more a friendly chat than a hard-hitting interview.

Image source, Reuters

Moderator Martha MacCallum notes there are still 1,000 people unaccounted for in Maui after the wildfires there, and references California's recent storm. A voter asks the candidates what they will do about climate change.

DeSantis jumps into it and says “I’ll start”, saying Biden was on the beach while Hawaiians suffered - adding “are you kidding me?”

Nikki Haley references Margaret Thatcher's quote: "If you want something spoken about, ask a man. If you want something done, ask a woman".

She told the crowd the US needs to lower China's emissions, saying "we care about clean air, water".

Tim Scott also mentioned China, saying the US needs to bring home jobs from China if we want a better economy and environment.

Kayla Epstein
Reporting from Georgia

Not everyone at this Atlanta watch party is a die-hard politico.

Dunni Olowo and Erin Toms saw this as more of a social event. Neither had heard of the candidates other than Trump, who isn’t on stage.

“My grandma told me to show up” as a way to meet some eligible bachelors, Erin confessed.

Dunni said she really wanted to learn more about politics and assess “how the people can add to my life”. She’s open to hearing from the other candidates as the race progresses.

But Erin is more skeptical of politicians, who she believes are “all motivated by corruption”.

“I don’t necessarily lean one way or the other,” she said.

A number of candidates on stage have specifically mentioned US energy policy during their remarks.

Ramaswamy, for example, called on the US to "unleash" its energy, specifically mentioning nuclear power as something that he would promote heavily in office.

North Dakota Governor Doug Bergum, for his part, mentioned coal.

Notably, the promotion of fossil fuels has featured heavily in Republican politics this year, with House Republicans pushing a bill that would promote faster approvals of oil, gas and coal, in addition to clean energy.

Now back to the debate, where the crowd seems to be big fans of Vivek Ramaswamy. They cheered loudly for him during a spicy exchange with former vice-president Mike Pence.

The crowd also applauded loudly as he rattled off a list of proposed policy changes, and laughed as he sniped at what he termed Pence's "memorised" slogans.

"Do you want incremental reform, or do you want revolution?" he asked.

Ramaswamy and Pence have had the most animated, heated exchanges of the debate so far - prompting the debate hosts to reign in the candidates and note they need "to take back control" of the event.

Image source, Reuters

Image source, X/Tucker Carlson

While the debate goes on, let's check in on the Donald Trump interview which is airing at the same time.

After a digression about the state of network television ratings, Tucker Carlson asks Trump who shouldn’t be running for president.

Trump gives two names: Asa Hutchinson, the former governor of Arkansas, and Chris Christie, the former New Jersey governor who had a very public falling out with the former president.

He doesn’t hold back, calling Hutchinson “weak and pathetic” and Christie “a savage maniac, a lunatic.”

Carlson then brings up the death of Jeffrey Epstein and they debate the circumstances of his death. Carlson is adamant that Epstein did not take his own life in a jail cell, while Trump says: “I think he probably committed suicide.”

“Are you worried they’re going to try to kill you?” Carlson asks next, referring to Trump’s political opponents.

Trump answers: “They’re savage animals, they are people who are sick, really sick. You have great people in the Democrat Party, you have great people who are Democrats… but I’ve seen what they do, I’ve seen the lengths that they go to.”

The debate has started with the candidates attacking Biden's economic policies.

A few common themes have emerged: inflation, and an opposition to spending packages.

Scott, for example, argued that Biden's economic policies have led "to the loss of $10,000 of spending power for the average family".

Ramaswamy, for his part, said that he believes that "a new generation" needs to step up. He also used the opportunity to promote his position as an "outsider" to US politics, a relative newcomer and unknown quantity for many voters.

He also called on the US to "unleash" its energy resources and reform fiscal policy.

Pence, the former vice-president, defended the Trump's administration's handling of the economy, claiming that his experiences in the "Trump-Pence" administration make him the most qualified for the role of president.

"I'm the most proven conservative in this race," he said. "I will put our nation back on the path to growth".

Kayla Epstein
Reporting from Georgia

We have a pretty energetic scene here at the Atlanta Young Republican watch party in Atlanta. Organisers are blasting Fox News at a large outdoor patio area, while attendees grab drinks and settle into lawn chairs. While a lot of folks are wearing Republican red, I haven’t seen a MAGA hat yet. There is, however, a guy wearing a vintage “Bush/Cheney" campaign T-shirt. There’s a smattering of excited applause for DeSantis and Haley as the debate gets underway - and a few boos for Pence and Christie.

Now back to the debate, where Fox News host Martha MacCallum opens by asking why a popular country song "Rich men north of Richmond" is resonating with Americans. The song's lyrics take aim at politicians.

They played a clip of Joe Biden praising the effects of "Bidenomics" and a video of people referencing the tough economic times.

MacCallum asks: Why is this song striking such a nerve in this country right now?

Candidates get one minute to answer.

Image source, Reuters

Mike Wendling
BBC News

Donald Trump’s pre-recorded interview, external with Tucker Carlson has just landed on X.

It’s just over 46 minutes long and begins with Carlson asking Trump why he’s not at the debate.

“The polls have come out and I’m leading by 50 and 60 points, and some of them are at one and zero and two,” the former president said. “Do I sit there for an hour or two hours or whatever it’s going to be and get harassed by people who shouldn’t even be running for president… and a network that isn’t particularly friendly to me.”

“I just felt it would be more appropriate not to do the debate,” he said. “So I’ve taken a pass.”

His poll figures are a slight exaggeration - but just a slight one. He's well ahead of those on the debate stage.

We’ll be reporting on key moments from the interview as most of the rest of the Republican field squares off in Milwaukee.

Anthony Zurcher
BBC North America correspondent in Wisconsin

With Donald Trump opting to stay away, tonight’s Republican primary debate feels a bit like a battle for second-place.

Of course, second place with five months before the Republican nomination contests kick off could be a valuable place to be.

While Trump is in a historically dominant position at the moment, the unknown and unpredictable can always happen – and being the candidate next in line behind Trump could go from consolation prize to a ticket to the general election next autumn if the political grounds shift dramatically.

With that in mind, the “winner” of tonight’s Republican debate will be any candidate who can use the opportunity to separate from the pack – either by knocking down a candidate above them or pushing down those nipping at their heels.

Polls show that Trump has the backing of more than half of Republican voters, but there are indications that some of that support is soft.

A winning candidate tonight might be the one who is able to start peeling away some of those Trump supporters – or, at least, become their clear second choice.

It’s a tall task. And if none of the candidates can pull it off, and the race stays on its current trajectory, then the real winner of tonight’s debate will be Donald Trump.