The first Republican presidential primary debate of the 2024 election cycle is in the books, and a number of Republican pundits, commentators, and lawmakers offered their perspectives on how they believe the eight candidates who took part in the event fared.

The debate – hosted by Fox News in Milwaukee, Wisconsin – featured eight Republicans who are seeking their party’s nomination for president.

Weighing in on the event featuring the GOP presidential hopefuls, Ohio Republican Sen. J.D. Vance, who won election to the upper chamber in the 2022 midterm elections, called for an end to the ‘charade’ of debates and for Republicans to back former President Donald Trump in 2024.

‘A lot of the people on stage are nice people but none of them is Trump and none will win the nomination,’ Vance wrote in a post on X, formerly known as Twitter. ‘Let’s end this charade and stop wasting Republican money attacking our inevitable nominee. Donald Trump for president.’

‘I think Nikki Haley was the best establishment candidate. … I think in the end, Christie is the best talker – he’s probably the best debater up on stage. But actually connecting with the Republican electorate it’s DeSantis and Vivek Ramaswamy,’ Laura Ingraham said during a post-debate appearance on Fox News Channel’s ‘Hannity.’

‘After the end of this whole debate, did any of them really, you know, make the case to the American people that they would be better than Trump to win the nomination? I think that’s a hard one. Having moments, that’s one thing. But actually having a record … the only one that comes close is DeSantis, and I think he got better as the night went on,’ she added.

Former White House press secretary Ari Fleischer responded to the debate and insisted that Trump wouldn’t like how well Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis performed.

‘Trump [can’t] like what a good night DeSantis is having,’ Fleischer wrote on X.

In a post shared on X, Monica Crowley, the former Assistant Secretary for Public Affairs for the U.S. Department of the Treasury under Trump, suggested that the eight candidates who took the stage in Milwaukee Wednesday evening are coming off as ‘desperate.’

‘All of these candidates are trying way too hard to show they’re a tough-guy,’ Crowley wrote. ‘They want to be Trump-esque fighters, but they can’t pull it off – and it’s coming off as woefully desperate.’

In a post shared to X, Ben Domenech, who co-founded The Federalist, a conservative online magazine, insisted that entrepreneur Vivek Ramaswamy was a ‘lightning rod’ in the first debate.

‘Vivek was the lightning rod in this debate. He’s so disliked by the other candidates, he took all the incoming fire,’ Domenech said. ‘DeSantis emerged not just unscathed, but solidly improved.’

Former ‘The View’ co-host Meghan McCain also weighed in following the debate, declaring former South Carolina Gov. Nikki Haley as the ‘winner.’

‘[Nikki Haley] is the debate winner tonight. Well done,’ McCain wrote on X.

Mollie Hemingway, who serves as editor-in-chief of The Federalist, took aim at Haley’s Ukraine support.

‘Sing-songy Nikki Halley says American taxpayers should stop complaining about US being the primary funder of the proxy war in Russia that has no strategy for success,’ Hemingway wrote on X.

Rich Lowry, the editor-in-chief of the National Review, also provided his take on the debate, saying on X that DeSantis was ‘solid’ and Haley ‘outshone’ South Carolina GOP Sen. Tim Scott.

‘DeSantis was solid, hit all his themes, and took no incoming fire—he helped himself. Vivek was preposterous, got swatted down by Haley, but won exchanges w/ Pence and Christie and had some tremendous answers—his moment will continue,’ Lowry said. ‘Nikki Haley was good and outshone Tim Scott.’

Conservatives took to social media on Wednesday night in droves to opine on who they believed won the first GOP primary debate and who struggled to establish themselves.

Following the conclusion of the Fox News Debate, conservatives on social media weighed in on who they thought won the debate with some praising entrepreneur Vivek Ramaswamy, others supporting former Ambassador Nikki Haley, and many throwing their support behind Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis. 

‘@NikkiHaley is the debate winner tonight,’ political commentator Meghan McCain posted on social media. ‘Well done.’

‘Vivek #Ramaswamy was the clear winner of the @Foxnews debate,’ political commentator Carol Swain tweeted. ‘He would make a great vice-presidential choice for #DonaldJTrump or #RonDeSantis. None of the other candidates did themselves any good. I recommend they pack up and go home.’

GOP Congressman Chip Roy, who has endorsed Ron DeSantis, told Fox News he believes the Florida Governor won the debate.

Several political commentators weighed in on who they thought was uninspiring during the debate.

‘Hutchinson and Burgum won’t be at the next debate,’ conservative author Dana Loesch tweeted. ‘I don’t even know why they were at this one.’

‘Nikki and Tim met expectations but didn’t move the needle,’ Daily Wire’s Michael Knowles tweeted. ‘Hutchinson exceeded expectations inasmuch as he didn’t trans a child onstage. Doug Burgum is the worst candidate in the race by virtually every measure and somehow perhaps also the most likable.’

Wednesday’s debate represented the first time that GOP candidates debated together on a stage. The next debate will take place at the Ronald Reagan Presidential Library on Sept. 27 and will be hosted by Fox Business.

Republican candidates sparred on the billions of federal dollars going to Ukraine in their war with Russia.

The Ukraine War took center stage in Wednesday’s GOP presidential debate, with businessman Vivek Ramaswamy saying he would not continue the funding if elected.

‘I would not, and I think that this is disastrous, that we are protecting against an invasion across somebody else’s border when we should use those same military resources to prevent the invasion of our own southern border here in the United States of America,’ Ramaswamy said.

Former New Jersey Governor Chris Christie took a difference stance. He noted he ‘went to Ukraine’ to see for himself ‘what Vladimir Putin’s army was doing’ to Ukrainians.

‘This is the Vladimir Putin who Donald Trump called brilliant and a genius,’ Christie said. ‘If we don’t stand up against this type of autocratic killing, we in Washington, we will be next.’

The eight candidates met Wednesday night for the first GOP presidential debate of the 2024 cycle.

Florida Governor Ron DeSantis and tech entrepreneur Vivek Ramaswamy took the one and two spots on the debate stage as former President Trump refused to hop into the conversation.

North Dakota Governor Doug Burgum took the debate stage on crutches after tearing his ACL.

Meanwhile, Biden was declared the Democratic nominee by Democratic National Committee senior adviser Cedric Richmond.

Republican presidential candidate Nikki Haley argued in an interview with Fox News’ Sean Hannity on Wednesday that former President Donald Trump won’t be able to win the 2024 election due to his legal troubles.

Haley’s comments came after the first GOP presidential debate Wednesday evening in Milwaukee where she was among the only candidates to say the Republican Party couldn’t defeat President Biden with Trump as its nominee. While the former United Nations ambassador said she was mostly aligned with Trump on policies, his ongoing court cases would get in the way of his campaign next year.

‘What I do believe is you’re going to have Donald Trump spend more time in a courtroom next year — not through anything outside of they’re weaponizing government against him — but he’s going to spend more time in a courtroom than he is campaigning,’ Haley told Hannity during the interview.

‘I served with him, I was proud to serve with him, I agree with him on most issues and he’s my friend,’ Haley continued. ‘But the reality is we cannot afford Joe Biden.’

Hannity then noted the findings of Special Counsel John Durham’s recent report that the FBI mistreated Trump and that the infamous Steele dossier couldn’t be proven. He then asked Haley if she believed all charges against Trump are political and whether they were the result of the weaponization of the U.S. justice system.

‘It’s all political, it’s all weaponization — all of that,’ Haley said. ‘But the fact remains: he’s got five court cases next year. He’s going to start the first one in the early part of January. He’s got another one in March.’

‘It is why we have to win, because we have to make sure that this weaponization stops,’ she continued. ‘It’s why we have to clean the Department of Justice, it’s why we have to clean house in both our intelligence agencies, it’s why this matters. We will use Donald Trump as the reason we’ve got to clean up Washington.’ 

‘But you can’t clean up Washington if Donald Trump is fighting issues of the past. We need a young generational conservative that’s going to go and clean up what they’ve done to Donald Trump but also carry our country forward.’

During the debate earlier in the evening, Haley joined six of seven other candidates on stage in pledging to support Trump if he is the nominee and is convicted of wrongdoing.

Trump faces multiple cases nationwide in connection to his handling of classified documents and actions surrounding the 2020 election. He is expected to turn himself in Thursday in connection with the most recent case in Georgia.

Georgia’s secretary of state reportedly is to be subpoenaed to testify during a hearing to determine if former White House Chief of Staff Mark Meadows’ election interference case will be transferred to federal court next week. 

Meadows, meanwhile, had an emergency motion seeking to prevent his ‘imminent arrest’ in Fulton County denied Wednesday, a day before former President Donald Trump was set to turn himself in. Meadows had sought to stall his arrest pending the outcome of an evidentiary hearing over the possibility of his RICO charges be moved from state to federal court, FOX 5 Atlanta reported. 

A judge, however, ruled the state should continue for now unless the feds notify the court that they’re taking over jurisdiction. Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis set a deadline for noon Thursday for Meadows, Trump and allies to turn themselves in. 

‘While Meadows’s imminent arrest may present an actual injury, there are strong countervailing reasons to not enjoin the state criminal proceedings,’ the judge’s decision Wednesday said. ‘Thus, the Court determines that, the clear statutory language for removing a criminal prosecution, does not support an injunction or temporary stay prohibiting District Attorney Willis’s enforcement or execution of the arrest warrant against Meadows.’ 

The Atlanta Journal-Constitution, meanwhile, reported that Georgia Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger was notified that he will be subpoenaed to testify during the court hearing in which Meadows will argue the Fulton County case against him be transferred to federal court. The evidentiary hearing is scheduled for Monday. Willis wants the election interference case, which had Meadows facing two charges among 41 counts, to remain in Fulton Superior Court. 

Former New York City Mayor Rudy Giuliani, accused of spearheading Trump’s efforts to compel state lawmakers in Georgia and other closely contested states to appoint electoral college electors favorable to Trump, turned himself in on Wednesday, and his mugshot was released.  

With less than five months to go until the start of the GOP presidential nominating calendar, the Republican White House contenders will face off for the first time on the debate stage Wednesday night.

And with millions of viewers from coast to coast expected to watch the Fox News hosted showdown in Milwaukee, either on TV or online, the debate is a massive opportunity for the candidates on stage to make a major impression.

‘It means a lot for me and every other candidate. It’s going to be the biggest audience any of us have spoken before in a long time,’ former New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie, who’s making his second run for the White House, told Fox News Digital recently. ‘It’s important for people to get to know you, to know who you are, what you want to do for the party and for the country.’

Christie is one of eight candidates who will appear at the Republican National Committee organized debate.

The others are former Vice President Mike Pence, Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis, Sen. Tim Scott of South Carolina, former Ambassador and former South Carolina Gov. Nikki Haley, biotech entrepreneur and bestselling author Vivek Ramaswamy, former Arkansas Gov. Asa Hutchinson and North Dakota Gov. Doug Burgum.

‘It’s obviously an opportunity for us because… of the eight candidates who’ve made the stage, we’re the least well known. By definition that gives us the most upside,’ Burgum, who’s not well known outside North Dakota, highlighted in a recent Fox News Digital interview.

Even Pence, who enjoys strong name recognition among Americans thanks to his four years as vice president, said recently that ‘my hope in that debate is that people may be able to get to know me a little bit better.’

And DeSantis noted in a recent Fox News Radio interview that the debate will ‘give us an opportunity to be able to speak to a large audience of voters who have not yet paid attention to this primary. I mean, you could have 10, 15, 20 million viewers, most of whom have probably never seen any of us in action before.’ 

DeSantis, who’s second in most of the GOP presidential nomination polls, will stand center stage alongside Ramaswamy, a first-time candidate and culture wars crusader whose rise in public opinion surveys is one of the biggest surprises to date in the Republican race. 

Moving out to the left and right will be Pence and Haley, followed by Christie and Scott. Hutchinson and Burgum will be on the wings.

Former President Donald Trump, the commanding front-runner for the 2024 GOP nomination, on Sunday pointed to his large lead over his rivals in announcing that he would not take part in the debate.

A week earlier Trump said he wouldn’t sign the RNC pledge required for contenders to take the stage. The pledge states that candidates will support the GOP’s eventual presidential nominee — regardless of whom it is — and that they won’t take part in any debate not sanctioned by the national party committee.

Also, not on the stage at the first debate will be a handful of other candidates, including one-time CIA spy and former Rep. Will Hurd of Texas, Miami Mayor Francis Suarez, former nationally syndicated radio host and 2021 California gubernatorial recall election candidate Larry Elder and Michigan business leader and quality control expert Perry Johnson.

Popular Republican Gov. Chris Sununu of New Hampshire, who mulled his own presidential run before deciding against launching a campaign, emphasized that Wednesday’s showdown is ‘an awesome opportunity for all these candidates to stand up — not just to show that they deserve to be on the stage — but to show that they deserve to be the leader of the free world.’

‘That’s really the differentiator. People want someone that inspires them. Some charisma,’ said Sununu, who has debated over a dozen times as he won election and re-election to four two-year terms as New Hampshire governor since 2016. 

Longtime New Hampshire-based GOP consultant Jim Merrill, a veteran of numerous Republican presidential campaigns, emphasized that ‘this debate is enormously important, not only for the top-tier candidates, but for those who have yet to break through. This is the first national opportunity for a lot of these candidates to make an impression on voters.’

David Carney, another Republican consultant with decades of presidential campaign experience, noted that, for the candidates on the stage, ‘the pressure’s high.’

‘They need to think on their feet, look authentic and take the curveballs that come,’ Carney emphasized.

And Gail Gitcho, another veteran of GOP presidential campaigns, highlighted that for the candidates, ‘there’s no reason you should be on that stage and be on defense. You always need to be on offense. You need to anticipate the attacks and come up with a more powerful rejoinder.’

Wednesday’s debate is the first of monthly showdowns organized by the RNC. The next debate is a FOX Business-hosted event at the Ronald Reagan Presidential Library in Simi Valley, California, on Sept. 27.

Rep. Ronny Jackson, R-Texas, warned that Speaker Kevin McCarthy, R-Calif., could lose his gavel if he does not take demands from the right-wing flank of his House majority seriously as Congress faces a showdown over next year’s government spending priorities.

‘McCarthy’s going to have to listen to the people on the right, or else he’s going to have to rely on the Democrats to pass this. And you know, they could do that, they did that… with the debt ceiling — more Democrats voted for the debt ceiling than Republicans — they could go down that path again,’ Jackson told Steve Bannon on his ‘War Room’ podcast this week.

‘But I’m telling you, if that happens… it’s going to be detrimental to leadership in the House, if they blow off the concerns of people like myself and the Freedom Caucus, and some of the other people on the right that are making reasonable demands in this process, it’s going to be a problem.’

If the situation plays out like Jackson described, he said it would be ‘inevitable’ for someone to call for McCarthy’s removal via a process called a motion to vacate the chair. It would trigger a House-wide vote for a new speaker.

A spokesperson for McCarthy said the speaker would not allow a ‘play’ for Senate Democrats to ‘gain leverage,’ but maintained a short-term continuing resolution is necessary to buy more time for House Republicans to achieve their goals.

‘As the Speaker told the Conference last week, we don’t support any kind of play to jam against the holidays that would allow Senate Democrats to gain leverage, an omnibus, or a long-term continuing resolution that would lock in Democrat priorities,’ the spokesperson told Fox News Digital.

‘Any short-term CR would only be necessary as a way to continue working through regular order on bills that include Republican priorities to lower spending in the bureaucracy and bring necessary changes to federal policy, and refocus our military to war-fighting capabilities and defense of our nation.’

Under terms McCarthy agreed to when he won the speaker’s gavel earlier this year, it just takes one member to call for a motion to vacate.

Jackson was one of several conservatives who expressed opposition to a stopgap spending patch, known as a continuing resolution, to extend the last year’s priorities for several weeks while lawmakers cobbled together a deal for fiscal year 2024. 

Most argued that it would be an endorsement of the omnibus bill passed under the previous Democrat-controlled Congress, which nearly all Republicans were against. 

The Freedom Caucus recently came out against a ‘clean’ continuing resolution. They insisted several conservative riders be added to any deal struck, including measures to stop ‘weaponization’ of the Justice Department and FBI, rolling back ‘woke’ military policies and passing the House GOP’s border security bill. 

They’re also opposed to any further aid to Ukraine in a supplemental funding bill. President Biden recently requested $13 billion in emergency defense funding and $8 billion in humanitarian aid for Ukraine as it continues to fight Russia’s invasion. 

It was part of a $40 billion supplemental funding request that also included money aimed at replenishing U.S. disaster relief funds and beefing up enforcement at the southern border.

North Dakota Gov. Doug Burgum says he will participate in Wednesday night’s Republican presidential primary debate after suffering a leg injury. 

Burgum is one of eight presidential hopefuls set to appear tonight in the first Republican presidential primary debate hosted by Fox News at 9 p.m. ET.

Burgum suffered a leg injury in Milwaukee, Wisconsin Tuesday night while playing a game of pick-up basketball with his staff, Fox News has confirmed Wednesday.

His campaign said earlier that Burgum would decide whether to participate in the debate after visiting a doctor. 

‘Think of law enforcement, think of military, what they do for all of us,’ Burgum told a reporter. ‘I mean, if you’re going to lead this country, you ought to be able to stand on one leg for 2 hours. You know, it’s not Dancing with the Stars. I mean, come on.’ 

Asked whether he would be on the debate stage tonight, Burgum said he would find out after seeing a doctor. 

‘You know, all I saw last night was an emergency room doc,’ Burgum said. 

The injury Tuesday night forced Burgum to be sent to a local hospital’s emergency room. As of Wednesday, he has been discharged, his campaign says.

Burgum is a dark horse in the race, lacking the name recognition that other candidates enjoy. He qualified for the debate by earning 3% support in the Fox News Iowa poll but has otherwise remained a relatively obscure figure in national politics.

Wednesday night’s debate is an opportunity for Burgum – who’s not well known outside his home state – to grab more attention from GOP primary voters. 

‘It’s obviously an opportunity for us because…of the eight candidates who’ve made the stage, we’re the least well known. By definition that gives us the most upside,’ Burgum emphasized in a Fox News Digital interview a week and a half ago at the Iowa State Fair.

The billionaire software entrepreneur has poured more than $10 million into the race from his own bank account and spent $8 million in the last quarter alone.

Up to $760,000 of that spend went to donors who accepted his offer to send a $20 gift card to any $1+ donor, a ploy that saw him reach the fundraising threshold for the first debate in record time this cycle.

Before becoming the 33rd governor of North Dakota, Doug Burgum established himself as a successful businessman in the software industry. 

Burgum, 67, steered his one-time small business, Great Plains Software, into a $1 billion software company. His business – and its North Dakota-based workers – were eventually acquired by Microsoft, and Burgum stayed on board as a senior vice president.

In 2016, the then first-time candidate and long shot convincingly topped a favored GOP establishment contender to secure the Republican nomination in North Dakota before going on to a landslide victory in the gubernatorial general election in the solidly red state. Burgum was overwhelmingly re-elected in 2020 to a second term as governor.

‘Governor Burgum is looking forward to sharing his focus on the economy, energy and national security at the August debate,’ Burgum campaign spokesman Lance Trover said last month. ‘In less than 7 weeks, Governor Burgum has exceeded all the requirements for the debate. As a Governor and business leader Doug knows how to fix the economy, unleash American energy and win the Cold War with China.’  

Fox News’ Chris Pandolfo, Rémy Numa, and Bradford Betz contributed to this report.