Gov. Ron DeSantis and former U.S. Ambassador to the U.N. Nikki Haley are out to prove in the GOP presidential debate Wednesday that they are the strongest alternative to former President Donald Trump in the nomination race.
At the same time, Sen. Tim Scott of South Carolina, former New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie and biotech entrepreneur Vivek Ramaswamy will try to revive some buzz around their bids and show they are still a force with just over two months to go before the Iowa caucuses.
For the third straight time, Mr. Trump will not be around when the candidates hit the stage in Miami at 8 p.m.
Instead, Mr. Trump will steal some of the spotlight, delivering remarks an hour earlier at a campaign rally in nearby Hialeah.
There is a growing sense the non-Trump contenders are running out of time to put a serious dent in his armor.
“They are in a very challenging situation,” said Gibbs Knotts, dean of the School of Humanities and Social Sciences at the College of Charleston. “There hasn’t really been a clear challenge to Trump yet.”
Mr. DeSantis and Mrs. Haley are best positioned to seize that mantle, but Mr. Trump still leads them by about 30 points in Iowa and New Hampshire.
Buoyed by a strong reelection victory last year and a conservative record of success, Mr. DeSantis was at first considered Mr. Trump’s stiffest competition.
But Mrs. Haley, a former South Carolina governor, has been on the rise in polls and says she has the best shot against Mr. Trump.
The Haley campaign released an ad Tuesday saying Mr. DeSantis has been on the wrong side of the debate over fracking and off-shore drilling.
Mr. DeSantis, meanwhile, basked in the blow of the big endorsement he received Monday from Iowa Gov. Kim Reynolds. Mr. DeSantis has put a major emphasis on a strong showing in the Hawkeye State.
Mr. DeSantis and Mrs. Haley have both been trying to strike a balance between not alienating Trump supporters while warning the former president — who faces a slate of criminal charges and is deeply unpopular outside the base of the party — has too much baggage to defeat President Biden in the general election.
The message took a hit this week after a New York Times/ Siena College poll showed Mr. Trump leading Mr. Biden in five of the six traditional battleground states.
To qualify for the debate, candidates needed at least 70,000 unique donors and at least 4% of the vote in multiple polls.
• Seth McLaughlin can be reached at smclaughlin@washingtontimes.com.
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