January 11 - 2024 campaign updates and highlights from GOP debate

Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis and former South Carolina Gov. Nikki Haley kicked off tonight's CNN debate by taking shots at each other when responding to the question of why voters looking for an alternative to former President Donald Trump should cast their ballots for them instead.

DeSantis said that Trump is running to pursue his issues and Haley is running to pursue “her donor’s issues," something he has repeated on the campaign trail.

He touted his record in Florida, saying he has “beaten the left” and pointed to things like his handling of the Covid-19 pandemic and crime.

In a pointed attack against Haley, DeSantis said America doesn’t “need another mealy-mouth politician."

“We don't need a candidate who is going to look down on middle America. We've had enough of that," he said.

Haley responded by arguing that the country needs a "new generational leader" and pitched her previous experience dealing with countries like China and Russia during her time as an ambassador to the United Nations.

She also claimed that DeSantis would lie about her on the debate stage and told voters to go to a website set up by her campaign.

"Rather than have him go and tell you all these lies, you can go to DeSantisLies.com, and look at all those... there's at least two dozen lies that he has told about me, and you can see where fact-checkers say exactly what's going to happen," Haley said, later adding that DeSantis' campaign is "exploding."

She also pushed back against DeSantis' comment that she is running to pursue donor issues, saying, "he is only mad about the donors because the donors used to be with him, but they're no longer with him now."

Wednesday night’s debate will be the last chance for GOP candidates Ron DeSantis and Nikki Haley to make an impression in front of a national audience before voting begins in the state on Monday.

We’re tracking how long each candidate speaks tonight. Follow along live here. Data will be updated every 5 seconds.

The final GOP debate has kicked off less than a week before the Iowa caucuses.

Ron DeSantis and Nikki Haley are facing off in a CNN debate in Des Moines, Iowa, tonight.

With just days until the state's pivotal caucuses DeSantis and Haley are battling to become the top alternative to former President Donald Trump, who continues to dominate the GOP primary while pushing for a definitive win in the caucuses.

Trump will again is skip the debate, making a solo appearance on Fox News rather than joining his rivals on stage.

Aaron Kall, Director of Debate at the University of Michigan, attends all the presidential debates and is one of the country’s top experts on the topic.

Here’s what he’s looking out for tonight in Iowa from each of the candidates:

Nikki Haley 

Ron DeSantis

The final Republican primary debate before the Iowa caucuses will be a one-on-one showdown between former South Carolina Gov. Nikki Haley and Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis.

Former President Donald Trump will again be elsewhere, making a solo appearance on Fox News rather than joining his rivals on stage at Drake University in Des Moines.

The debate, scheduled for 9 p.m. ET and hosted by CNN, will provide Haley and DeSantis one final chance to pitch themselves — and make the case against one another and Trump — before the first votes are cast next week.

Former New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie announced he is suspending his 2024 presidential campaign during an event in Windham, New Hampshire, on Wednesday.

Christie — along with entrepreneur Vivek Ramaswamy — also failed to make the stage under the heightened qualification threshold, a reflection of the increasingly broad margins separating the contenders from what began as a field of nearly 20 candidates.

Whether and how Haley and DeSantis go after Trump is, as it has been through months of debates, the defining question entering this debate.

Here's what to watch for:

Read more about what to watch for during Wednesday night's debate.

Sam Feist, CNN's Washington bureau chief and senior vice president, walks viewers through what tonight's debate stage looks like in Iowa.

Ron DeSantis and Nikki Haley will face off in a CNN debate in Des Moines, Iowa, at 9 p.m. ET.

Watch Feist's behind-the-scenes walk through from the candidates perspective:

In November, Americans will once again be filling out ballots to decide who will lead the country for the next four years. These ballots will have a single presidential candidate for each of the major parties, selected earlier in the year by a series of primary elections held in each state. On January 15, Iowa Republicans will kick off the season by holding their version of a primary election – the Iowa caucuses.

Can anyone go to a caucus? Just like with primary elections, some states allow voters to come regardless of party affiliation, some require you to have been a registered party member beforehand, and some use a mix of the two. Iowa Republicans, for example, allow you to sign up to become a party member on the night of the caucuses. Check with your state’s party organization to find out how it will work for you.

Is a caucus the same as a primary? Yes and no. A caucus is put on by a political party as part of the presidential nominating process, but it’s not exactly the same as a primary election. Primary elections are held throughout the day and always use a private ballot. While the form caucuses take varies from state to state, caucuses are typically held at a specific time and often give voters an opportunity to listen to prospective candidate representatives before registering support for their candidate of choice. In some states, voters organize themselves into groups supporting their candidate, thus making their selection known to others.

Why does Iowa matter? Iowa represents the first major test of a campaign’s ability to communicate with voters on the national stage. As the first state in each cycle to have their primary, it catches candidates while their campaign funds are full and their energy is fresh. As a small state, Iowa also pitches itself as an opportunity for less well-funded candidates to have success campaigning on the ground. Despite the spotlight, the results of the Iowa caucuses have not consistently predicted who will eventually become the party’s nominee.

What are Democrats doing? In past years, Iowa Democrats have held caucuses where voters physically split up into groups (sometimes multiple times) to indicate their support for a candidate. This year, Iowa Democrats will meet on January 15 to conduct party business; however, due to changes in the Democratic nominating calendar, they won’t vote for presidential candidates. Instead, that vote will take place by mail, ending on March 5.

See more — including illustrations — about how a caucus works.

CNN's Ethan Cohen contributed reporting to this post.

Chris Christie's campaign will be "going dark" for a few days after the former New Jersey governor announced that he is dropping out of the GOP presidential race on Wednesday, said senior adviser Maria Comella.

Any concerns Christie has about the state of the race were made clear in his speech at the event in New Hampshire, Comella said.

She wouldn't comment directly on remarks that appeared to be heard on a hot mic of the livestream of the town hall. Christie was heard saying: "She's gonna get smoked and you and I both know it. She's not up to this," which was an apparent reference to former South Carolina Gov. Nikki Haley.

No decision has been made on who Christie may or may not endorse in the near future.

Christie posted on X, formerly Twitter, shortly after suspending his campaign.

Make America Great Again Inc., the leading super PAC backing Donald Trump, released a statement on Chris Christie Wednesday after he announced he was suspending his presidential bid.

MAGA Inc. has recently poured millions of dollars into attacking GOP candidate and former South Carolina Gov. Nikki Haley in New Hampshire. 

A major question now is whether Christie's supporters in the state will now back Haley following the suspension of his campaign. If so, that could be problematic for Trump, who has also been escalating attacks on Haley in recent weeks in an effort to blunt her momentum in New Hampshire.

What other players in the race are saying: Haley, who said Christie has been a friend for many years, commended the former governor on a "hard-fought campaign."

“Voters have a clear choice in this election: the chaos and drama of the past or a new generation of conservative leadership. I will fight to earn every vote, so together we can build a strong and proud America,” she said in a statement.

GOP candidate and former Arkansas Gov. Asa Hutchinson on Wednesday commended Christie for speaking “the hard truth that some did not want to hear,” in reaction to him ending his presidential bid earlier today.

New Hampshire Gov. Chris Sununu, who has endorsed Haley, said Christie's decision to end his campaign is coming "at a critical time."

"Defeating Donald Trump requires a consolidated field and Nikki Haley has the momentum to do so," he said.

On Tuesday, Christie called Sununu a liar for suggesting that Christie’s steering committee was talking about him dropping out.

CNN's Kanneth Polson, Brian Rokus and Veronica Stracqualursi contributed reporting to this post.

This post has been updated with comments from Haley and Sununu.