Seven candidates for the 2024 Republican presidential nomination will debate Wednesday night, but the proceedings will be dominated by two former GOP presidents:
Ronald Reagan, whose presidential library is the site of the second Republican presidential debate, and Donald Trump, who bypassed the event but is the heavy favorite to win the party’s nomination for the third consecutive election.
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Every candidate onstage in California on Wednesday night will be looking to escape from Trump’s shadow. And party leaders have been trying to ascend to Reagan’s level for decades.
It is in some ways symbolic, as the GOP looks to navigate changes in the party’s electoral coalition from the Reagan years to the Trump era.
Some candidates, led by former Vice President Mike Pence, are actively resisting that transition. Others, like fellow Trump administration alum and former U.N. Ambassador Nikki Haley, have argued for continuity.
Haley’s speech at the 2020 Republican National Convention was an extended tribute to Reagan’s U.N. ambassador Jeane Kirkpatrick and her speech at the 1984 convention.
“Joe Biden and the Democrats are still blaming America first,” Haley said. “Donald Trump has always put America first. He has earned four more years as president.”
Now Haley, like Pence, is runni …