Vivek Ramaswamy’s Breakthrough Night, Nikki Haley’s Outreach, and Other Debate Takeaways

That’s a wrap on the first debate. Here are a few takeaways:

Vivek Ramaswamy is not a nobody anymore: The other candidates have taken notice of Ramaswamy, and they don’t seem to like him very much. The 38-year-old outsider who started the race polling at 0% has moved up in polls for his unconventional ideas. Several of the candidates took a shot at him. Attacks included everything from his lack of political experience, the way he answered questions and his foreign policy views. Ramaswamy responded by slinging insults right back. It remains to be seen if his combative, unconventional style was effective, but he certainly took advantage of the spotlight. He was the most-searched candidate at the end of the debate.

Attacking Donald Trump is a losing game: While most candidates said Vice President Mike Pence was right to reject his boss’s efforts to block the election certification on Jan. 6, 2021, that’s about as far as they’d go. Almost all said they would support Trump even if he were convicted on criminal charges, and the crowd heartily booed former New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie—an outspoken Trump critic—for much of the night.