Five presidential candidates have taken to the stage in Miami for the third Republican debate. But once again frontrunner Donald Trump is not in attendance.
The debate field has continued to narrow as the criteria to make the stage, as set by Republican Party leadership, gets tougher.
The candidates will be looking to solidify support before the first real contest in the Republican nomination process, the Iowa caucus, on 15 January.
Who’s on stage?
To qualify, candidates needed at least 4% support in two national polls, or 4% in one national poll as well in two polls from four of the earliest states in the nomination contest: Iowa, New Hampshire, Nevada and South Carolina.
Additionally they had to have 70,000 individual campaign donors geographically dispersed around the country and to sign a pledge promising to support the eventual Republican nominee.
The five candidates who the Republican party said met all the criteria are:
Florida Governor Ron DeSantis
Businessman Vivek Ramaswamy
Former South Carolina Governor Nikki Haley
South Carolina Senator Tim Scott
Former New Jersey Governor Chris Christie
Seven candidates were on stage for the last debate. Former Vice President Mike Pence has since dropped out, and North Dakota Governor Doug Burgum did not qualify this time around.
Mr Trump has consistently said he will not debate his rivals, and on Wednesday night he will engage in a little counter-programming, holding a rally at a football stadium about a half-hour drive away.
When and where is the debate?
The two-hour debate began at the Adrienne Arsht Center for the Performing Arts of Miami-Dade County. It’s being broadcast on US television by NBC and on radio by conservative Christian network Salem. Online the debate is being livestreamed by video site Rumble and translated into Spanish by Telemundo.
The moderators are NBC journalists Kristen Welker and Lester Holt, along with Salem radio host Hugh Hewitt.
The Republican Jewish Coalition is also one of the debate partners and the conflict in the Middle East is likely to be one of the subjects of discussion, along with the economy, immigration and of course Mr Trump himself.
BBC
