GOP Debate: Race Remains the Same

For yesterday’s edition of National Review’s Horse Race newsletter — filling in for Brittany Bernstein — I spoke with several campaign advisers, many of whom predicted that their candidates would take the fight to former president Donald Trump during the second Republican presidential primary debate. As it turns out, those advisers’ candidates hewed pretty closely to their campaign staff’s advice.

Before the debate, a member of Chris Christie’s campaign told NR that the former New Jersey governor would “make sure the voters watching at home understand the governor is not afraid to take on Trump and tell the truth about him,” and take on Trump he did. As Noah Rothman writes, “The one-time Garden State governor never missed a chance to criticize Trump for failing to show the proper ‘respect’ for Republican voters by showing up to the debates to defend his record. He made that point at the debate’s outset, he included it in his closing statement, and he hammered the point throughout his remarks.”

About the Author

Zach Kessel

Zach Kessel was a William F. Buckley Jr. Fellow in Political Journalism and a recent graduate of Northwestern University.

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For yesterday’s edition of National Review’s Horse Race newsletter — filling in for Brittany Bernstein — I spoke with several campaign advisers, many of whom predicted that their candidates would take the fight to former president Donald Trump during the second Republican presidential primary debate. As it turns out, those advisers’ candidates hewed pretty closely to their campaign staff’s advice.

Before the debate, a member of Chris Christie’s campaign told NR that the former New Jersey governor would “make sure the voters watching at home understand the governor is not afraid to take on Trump and tell the truth about him,” and take on Trump he did. As Noah Rothman writes, “The one-time Garden State governor never missed a chance to criticize Trump for failing to show the proper ‘respect’ for Republican voters by showing up to the debates to defend his record. He made that point at the debate’s outset, he included it in his closing statement, and he hammered the point throughout his remarks.”