An intensifying rivalry between Ron DeSantis and Nikki Haley could dominate Wednesday's Republican debate as the two 2024 U.S. presidential hopefuls seek to present themselves as their party's best alternative to former President Donald Trump.
Haley, 51, in third place nationally, has grown stronger as she seeks to dislodge DeSantis, 45, from his distant second place in the Republican race after Trump. The debate, in Miami, begins at 8 p.m. ET.
In the two previous televised debates, Haley and DeSantis have been careful not to come down on Trump too hard for fear of alienating his supporters, whose backing they will need if they are to ultimately capture the Republican nomination in July.Aaron Kall, an expert on presidential debates at the University of Michigan, said none of the five candidates on stage on Wednesday can afford to shy away from criticizing Trump any longer.
With the month-old Israeli-Hamas conflict making headlines in the United States as elsewhere, the debate may afford an opportunity for Haley, with her U.N. experience, to flash her foreign policy credentials. In response, the DeSantis campaign released a memo asserting that he is the only one who can defeat Trump in Iowa and keep him from an unstoppable march toward the nomination.
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