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DES MOINES, IOWA – They’ve traded hearth from behind podiums on the Republican presidential debate stage.
However White Home rivals Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis, former ambassador and former South Carolina Gov. Nikki Haley, and biotech entrepreneur Vivek Ramaswamy sat down collectively on Friday across the identical desk for a really totally different dialogue in entrance of a giant crowd of social conservative voters in Iowa, the state whose caucuses kick off the 2024 GOP presidential nominating calendar.
All three candidates shared private and at instances emotional tales at a presidential Thanksgiving discussion board hosted by The Household Chief, a politically energetic and influential social conservative group in a state the place evangelical voters play an outsized position in Republican politics.
And every of the candidates spotlighted the difficulties they endured in having kids as they showcased their opposition to legalized abortion.
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Republican presidential candidate Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis, left, speaks in the course of the Household Chief’s Thanksgiving Household Discussion board as Republican presidential candidate businessman Vivek Ramaswamy, heart, and Republican presidential candidate former U.N. Ambassador and former South Carolina Gov. Nikki Haley, proper, look on, Friday, Nov. 17, 2023, in Des Moines, Iowa. (AP Photograph/Charlie Neibergall) (AP Photograph/Charlie Neibergall)
“I truly haven’t shared this story earlier than,” Ramaswamy stated as he described his spouse Apoorva’s first being pregnant.
“About three and a half months in… sooner or later she awakened, she was bleeding. She had a miscarriage. We misplaced our first youngster,” Ramaswamy shared.
Moments later, he signaled for his younger son to hitch him on stage.
DeSantis additionally famous his spouse Casey’s miscarriage, and shared publicly for the primary time how the 2 of them prayed for a kid throughout a visit to Israel quickly after their marriage.
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“We received again to america, and a bit of time later, we received pregnant,” DeSantis continued. “However sadly, we misplaced that first child.”
Haley additionally mentioned the difficulties she had in getting pregnant.
And Haley doubled down on feedback on her stance on abortion that she made final week on the third Republican presidential debate, during which she urged Individuals to seek out consensus in the case of limiting abortions.
Republican presidential candidates (from left to proper) Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis, biotech entrepreneur Vivek Ramawamy, and former ambassador to the United Nations and former South Carolina Gov. Nikki Haley, be part of The Household Chief president and CEO Bob Vander Plaats (proper) at a candidate discussion board in Des Moines, Iowa, on Nov. 17, 2023 (Fox Information – Paul Steinhausere)
Household Chief president and CEO Bob Vander Plaats famous that Haley’s debate feedback sounded “pro-choice” to some evangelicals and requested the presidential candidate to “guarantee them why that is not a pro-choice reply.”
Haley reiterated that she is “unapologetically pro-life” and emphasised that “our general purpose is how will we save as many infants as potential and assist as many mothers as we will.”
“I feel you’ll be able to have a look at my total file as governor. I fought for all times whether or not it was a pain-capable invoice, whether or not it was ensuring that ladies needed to wait to see an ultrasound earlier than they decided,” stated Haley stated as she pointed to her two-terms steering South Carolina.
And Haley, who served as ambassador to the United Nations throughout former President Donald Trump’s administration, touted that “they stated that I used to be essentially the most pro-life ambassador that they had ever had signify the U.S. on the United Nations as a result of we did every part we might to ensure our taxpayer {dollars} by no means went in the direction of something that might take that life away or abortion.”
When Vander Plaats pressed Haley on whether or not she would have signed a six-week abortion invoice into legislation when she was governor,” she shortly answered “Sure. Regardless of the individuals resolve, it is best to do.”
“I feel it is proper to be within the palms of the individuals. I feel that the individuals determined this was put within the states; that is the place it ought to be. Everyone can provide their voice to it.”
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Nicole Schlinger, a longtime Iowa-based strategist with shut ties to evangelicals, instructed Fox Information that “this was the reply that I feel Iowans had been ready for from Amb. Haley on life points… I feel that was very constructive.”
“Gov. DeSantis actually got here alive in the course of the second half of this discussion board,” added Schlinger, who’s impartial within the GOP presidential nomination race. “This was a really pro-DeSantis crowd. He received the largest applause.”
Whereas Haley and DeSantis have repeatedly clashed in latest weeks as they battle for second place within the polls behind Trump, who stays the commanding front-runner for the GOP presidential nomination, there have been no fireworks on Friday.
And the latest acrimony between Haley and Ramaswamy was additionally not evident on the discussion board.
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“I don’t wish to know what’s unhealthy concerning the different particular person,” Vander Plaats, who moderated the discussion board, stated as he defined the bottom guidelines. “I wish to have an grownup dialog about the way forward for this nation.”
Trump, who was invited to the discussion board, declined to attend. It was the second main presidential cattle name hosted by the Household Chief that Trump skipped this 12 months. The previous president will return to Iowa on Saturday, to headline a rally.
Republican presidential candidate and former President Donald Trump arrives for a “Commit To Caucus” rally on the Jackson County Fairgrounds on September 20, 2023 in Maquoketa, Iowa. (Scott Olson/Getty Pictures)
The discussion board was briefly interrupted by a local weather protester, who shouted, “Repent! Repent!”
“How are you going to guys discuss being pro-life when our youngsters’s future is on hearth? ” the protester stated earlier than being escorted out of the resort ballroom in downtown Des Moines the place the occasion was held.
Get the newest updates from the 2024 marketing campaign path, unique interviews and extra at our Fox Information Digital election hub.
Paul Steinhauser is a politics reporter based mostly in New Hampshire.
