The fourth debate had the smallest lineup of candidates yet. They were: Governor Ron DeSantis of Florida, Former UN ambassador Nikki Haley, Former New Jersey governor Chris Christie, and entrepreneur Vivek Ramaswami. This debate was held on Dec. 6th, 2023 in Tuscaloosa, Alabama.

DeSantis and Ramaswami were quick to begin attacking Haley, who is climbing to second place in the polls after former president Trump, by questioning Haley’s wealth after leaving government service. She was quick to retaliate by saying “Thanks for all the attention fellas.”    

Christie defended Haley from other’s insults. After Ramaswami said that Haley was not even able to name some of the Ukrainian provinces that she would send troops to aid with the war there. What Christie said was, “Ramaswami should shut his dumb a** mouth.” He went on to say that Ramaswami stop insulting this [Nikki Haley] self accomplished, intelligent woman.

One very important topic discussed was parental rights and gender-affirming healthcare. This topic showed a very clear division between Christie and DeSantis. Christie said that the government should have limited involvement in parents’ decisions about their children. But DeSantis said that the government should be involved in those matters, for example he passed a law in Florida banning mutilations of people under the age of 18.

After all this former president Donald Trump is still first in the polls with Haley as a near 2nd. But Christie is still in last place, but he says that he is not very worried about not making the Republican candidate.