DeSantis will be center stage at GOP presidential debate in Miami. Who will join him?
The third Republican primary debate of the 2024 presidential election season is set to air on NBC at 8 p.m. on Wednesday night, with five candidates participating.
The current front-runner for the GOP nomination, former President Donald Trump, opted not to attend the debate, which is sanctioned by the Republican National Committee. He will be holding his own event in Hialeah.
Here’s a look at the candidates who will be on stage:
Ron DeSantis
DeSantis, 45, is the current governor of Florida. He represented a northeast Florida congressional district for nearly six years before running for governor. He previously served in the Navy and graduated from Yale University and Harvard Law School. He’s serving a second term as Florida’s governor while running for president and trails Trump in national polls, fighting to hold onto the second-place spot in national polls for the Republican nomination.
Nikki Haley
Haley is the former governor of South Carolina and was United States ambassador to the United Nations during Trump’s presidency. Haley, 51, also served in the South Carolina House of Representatives before she became the first female governor of the state. She graduated from Clemson University and is the first Indian American to serve in a presidential cabinet.
Vivek Ramaswamy
Ramaswamy, 38, is an entrepreneur and first-time candidate for office. He founded and ran the biotech company Roivant for a handful of years and is the author of Woke Inc., a book about American politics and business. He graduated from Harvard University and Yale Law School. A RealClear Politics average of national polls places him fourth in the race for the Republican nomination.
Chris Christie
Christie, the former governor of New Jersey, is running for president for the second time. Before he became governor he was the U.S Attorney for New Jersey, a position to which he was appointed by then-President George W. Bush. Among candidates seeking the Republican nomination, Christie, 61, has been Trump’s harshest critic.
READ MORE: Christie on DeSantis: ‘People are really beginning to wonder what the hell he stands for’
Tim Scott
Scott is a U.S Senator from South Carolina and is the first African American to be elected as a Senator from the South since the Reconstruction era, according to USA Today. He was formerly a member of the U.S House of Representatives and served on the Charleston County Council. Scott, 58, graduated from Charleston Southern University with a degree in political science and previously worked as an insurance agent.
This story was originally published August 22, 2023 at 1:29 PM with the headline "DeSantis will be center stage at GOP presidential debate in Miami. Who will join him?."
