State of the Race
The Political Team’s newsletter is a one-stop-shop for all your 2024 election news. Curated by the members of the Political team, it covers current politics affecting the election landscape, candidate announcements and profiles, and hot policy topics. We hope you’ll join us this election cycle!
Welcome
Welcome to the third edition of Mock Convention 2024’s State of the Race newsletter, where we will bring what’s happening in the race toward 2024 straight to your inbox. Our goal is to make something you can rely on to help you stay informed. You don’t have to read every poll and every news story to get the most accurate information. We’ve got you covered.
This is the first edition after a wildly successful Delegate’s Day, where over 1,400 students joined the Political Department. Welcome to the team!
I’m Foster Harris, the Political Chair for the 28th Mock Convention. We recently traveled to Milwaukee, Wisconsin, where we attended the first Republican Presidential Primary Debate. Here’s what we noticed.
Debate Rules Matter
The crowded field, (attempted) strict thirty second speaking time, and a right to respond mechanic posed serious challenges to the candidates. Simply put, candidates in attendance had to earn their speaking time, or risk taking on 15 minute spells without a chance to speak (with the possibility of getting hit with an unfortunate UFO question).
On this front, former U.N. Ambassador Nikki Haley, Vivek Ramaswamy, and former Vice President Mike Pence all stood out. By engaging in back and forths with each other, they all enhanced their exposure and made lasting impressions. Haley also received a strong boost from an enthusiastic audience, at one point receiving a standing ovation. Ramaswamy, meanwhile, was booed a few times, similar to President Trump’s debate crowd reception in the 2016 debates. Governor Chris Christie also used this strategy. Following his campaign’s anti-Trump approach, he delivered a few strong lines mostly attacked Ramaswamy. Pence was aggressive throughout the debate, mostly taking on Ramaswamy, and became the center of attention while January 6th was discussed.
Florida Governor Ron DeSantis and Senator Tim Scott both delivered strong performances… when they had the chance to speak. Both delivered strong lines and performed well, but might not have had the impact that feuding candidates could have gotten. DeSantis, however, still had substantial speaking time due to being fed more questions than any other candidate. Because of this leg up, DeSantis had the third most speaking time behind Pence and Ramaswamy. Scott did not have this advantage but received a loud applause for his strong closing statement.
Here are some photos taken by our team during the event. For more debate coverage, visit our instagram @mockconvention.
Issues of Conflict
The candidates sparred quite a bit, some through character attacks, and others on policy positions. Notably, candidates disagreed over the feasibility of a strict federal abortion ban, continued aid and support for Ukraine, and education policy.
Spotted
Aside from the candidates, attending candidates’ campaign staff, and members of the RNC’s 168, notable attendees we spotted included the folks from the Ruthless Variety Podcast, Trump campaign co-head Chris LaCivita, Donald Trump Jr., Kimberly Guilfoyle, Georgia Gov. Brian Kemp, Wisconsin Sen. Ron Johnson, North Carolina gubernatorial candidate Mark Robinson, former Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker, Trump surrogates Rep. Matt Gaetz (R-FL) and Rep. Byron Donalds (R-FL), Nikki Haley surrogate Rep. Ralph Norman (R-SC), Tim Scott surrogate Sen. John Thune (R-SD), and Ron DeSantis surrogate Rep. Chip Roy (R-TX).
Off the Stage
Each campaign, including those not on the stage, showed out in full force. In many ways, the race to the nomination is going to be shaped by an out-of-the-spotlight battle over delegate allocation rules. Nicknamed the “invisible primary,” Political Chair Foster Harris has a full breakdown here.
Debate Knockout, First Dropout
Miami Mayor Francis Suarez declared that any candidate who failed to make the first debate stage should drop out. Well, he ended up following his own advice and is now out of the race.