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DES MOINES, Iowa — In the final debate before the first nominating contest of the 2024 Republican presidential race, Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis and former South Carolina Gov. Nikki Hayley battled viciously for the position of top alternative to former President Donald Trump, who is leading the Republican pack by 35 percentage points in Iowa.
The debate took place as Ms. Haley was suddenly edging out Mr. DeSantis for the No. 2 position in Iowa, threatening the future of his candidacy.
She took a pummeling from Mr. DeSantis, for whom an Iowa second-place win, which Ms. Haley is now threatening, is considered critical to his very political survival.
He repeatedly landed blows on Haley using her own words. He accused her of lying, attempting to raise taxes while governor, supporting Chinese businesses in her home state giving them land, and having fealty to her high-dollar donors.
Mr. DeSantis called Ms. Haley “another mealy-mouthed politician,” who “looks down on middle America.”
SEE ALSO: Haley says Trump has to ‘answer’ for Jan. 6
He zinged Ms. Haley for recently telling New Hampshire voters that they would “correct” the results of the Iowa caucuses that are poised to give Mr. Trump a first-place finish, and that “she caves,” when matters become difficult and won’t fight for Americans.
Ms. Haley hit back at Mr. DeSantis with an announcement of a campaign website dedicated entirely to detailing the lies she said Mr. DeSantis tells, mostly about her.
“He’s only mad about the donors, because the donors used to be with him, but they’re no longer with him now, and that’s because he’s upset about the fact that his campaign is imploding,” Ms. Haley said.
She said Mr. DeSantis is “desperate” and “throwing things on me” as his campaign stalls.
When the two weren’t bashing each other, some policy differences emerged. Ms Haley said she backs raising the retirement age to keep Social Security from running out of money. Mr. DeSantis rejected raising the age because life expectancy in the United States has been on the decline.
“I don’t see how you can raise the retirement age when our life expectancy is collapsing in this country,” Mr. DeSantis said. “We’ll work on something for the long-term strengthening, but I am not going to mess with seniors’ benefits in this high inflation environment.”
SEE ALSO: DeSantis warns Trump will ‘lose’ presidential immunity case
Mr. DeSantis took a shot at the front-running Mr. Trump on abortion, a key issue with the Evangelical base who likely will make up the bulk of caucus voters. Mr. Trump has rejected bans on abortion in early pregnancy and denounced Mr. DeSantis’s signature on a six-week ban in Florida.
“He’s given a gift to the left to weaponize that against pro-lifers, and that’s wrong,” Mr. DeSantis said.
Both Mr. DeSantis and Ms. Haley dodged questions about Mr. Trump’s character and fitness for office. Instead, they both knocked his lack of success on key policy issues during his one term in office.
And the former president can only serve four more years, Ms. Haley said.
Mr. Trump has maintained a solid lead over all of his GOP opponents and has never attended a primary debate. On Wednesday, he participated in a Fox News town hall that aired simultaneously to the Haley-DeSantis battle moderated by CNN.
Mr. Trump fielded questions from several supporters, as well as undecided voters and some who are backing his rivals.
Mr. Trump teased the idea of who he would name as his vice president, signaling he is open to the idea of tapping one of his rivals as his running mate.
He mocked the idea that Ms. Haley has a chance in the race and said Mr. DeSantis’ days as a candidate are numbered.
“When you look at Ron’s numbers he is practically out of the race,” Mr. Trump said. “In fact, a lot of people say he is leaving the race after Iowa because he is doing so poorly.”
On the debate stage, Ms. Haley said Mr. Trump should have shown up to face his rivals and that she considered him her true opponent, not Mr. DeSantis.
“He’s not defending the fact that he allowed us to have $8 trillion in debt over four years that our kids are never going to forgive us for the fact that he didn’t deal with China when it came to stealing intellectual property,” said Ms. Haley, who was Mr. Trump’s ambassador to the U.N.
Ms. Haley, 51, hopes a big win over Mr. DeSantis in Iowa will propel her into success in the Jan. 23 New Hampshire primary, where polls show she is not only solidly in second place. In some voter surveys, she is within striking distance of Mr. Trump.
Her chances were bolstered late Wednesday by the announcement that former New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie has suspended his campaign. The exit of Mr. Christie, who has campaigned almost exclusively in New Hampshire, could send his voters into Ms. Haley’s camp. He was polling at 12% in the granite state, running third to Mr. Trump’s 43% and Ms. Haley’s 29%.
Mr. DeSantis, 45, is still hoping to upend the race with a big win in Iowa, where he’s visited all 99 counties and won the coveted endorsement of popular Gov. Kim Reynolds. But his poll numbers have flagged. He is now statistically tied with Ms. Haley.
Mr. DeSantis went on the attack against Ms. Haley amid questions about whether his candidacy can survive if she beats him in the Iowa caucuses.
He attacked her on her past statements on illegal immigrants, a key voter concern and she clocked him for voting to raise the federal debt ceiling and supporting funding for Ukraine when he was a member of Congress, a reversal from his current stance.
He touted the success of Florida — its schools, low taxes, economic success and of thousands of people moving there from other states.
“Not only have I cut taxes big time where she didn’t as governor of South Carolina, we’ve paid down 25% of our state’s debt,” Mr. DeSantis said. “That’s how you manage the third largest state in this country. Just imagine if we could do that for the United States of America.”
Both candidates declared Mr. Biden a foreign policy failure who has put troops at risk overseas by dealing too lightly with Iran, and did not even know Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin was sidelined in a hospital intensive care unit for half of last week.
Mr. DeSantis used nearly every question to take a shot at Ms. Haley, telling the audience she would “cave to the woke mob every time.”
He faulted her for refusing to ban transgender surgeries, not blocking boys from using girls’ bathrooms, and inviting “woke” Disney into South Carolina. He accused her of extending an invitation to move their theme park to her state after Mr. DeSantis revoked their special tax status over their opposition to his bill banning LGBTQ lessons in elementary schools.
“Nikki Haley sided with Disney — she is representative of this corporatist element in this party,” he said.
Ms. Haley said she never supported allowing boys in girls’ bathrooms and backs protecting all-girls sports. Mr. DeSantis, she responded, “has blown $150 million and gone down in the polls because he spent more time trying to lie about me than he is about telling the truth about himself.”
Asked if he wants to implement Florida’s policies allowing parents to challenge book choices in school, which has led to the removal of LGBTQ books with graphic content, he said he would, as president, reject “a nationalized curriculum,” but promoted nationwide scholarships and school choice.
Ms. Haley repeatedly circled back to Mr. DeSantis’s campaign, which has been riddled with departures and funding problems despite initially enjoying massive funding that may soon dry up if he fails to beat Ms. Haley in Iowa.
“You’ve got $150 million and you’ve gone down in the polls in Iowa, you are invisible in New Hampshire, you’re invisible in South Carolina,” Ms. Haley said. “Why should we think you can manage or do anything in this country?”
• Susan Ferrechio reported from Jacksonville, Florida.
• Susan Ferrechio can be reached at sferrechio@washingtontimes.com.
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