DES MOINES — The fight for second place in the Iowa caucuses stole the spotlight on Wednesday as Nikki Haley and Ron DeSantis talked school choice policy and former President Donald Trump’s record during a Republican debate in Des Moines. 

Just five days before the Iowa caucuses, the debate, hosted by CNN at Drake University’s Sheslow Auditorium, gave caucusgoers a chance to hear DeSantis and Haley’s pitch.

Haley, DeSantis, and Trump qualified for the debate stage, however, Trump refused to attend all of the Republican primary debates.

The Iowa caucuses have been coined as the “race for second place” as former President Trump commands a large lead over his opponents in Iowa polls. 

The December Des Moines Register/NBC News/Mediacom Iowa Poll shows Trump commanding 51 percent of voters in the state, while DeSantis and Haley trail behind at 19 and 16 percent, respectively. 

Haley: “I think I hit a nerve” 

During a heated debate, Haley criticized DeSantis for his campaign operations pointing to his abnormally high expenditures. 

DeSantis’s campaign has had a shaky standing financially since its kickoff. After spending too quickly, the governor laid off almost one-third of his campaign staff in June. 

“I think I hit a nerve,” Haley said. “What I will tell you is, look, if you can’t manage a campaign, it’s been a revolving door of political people in and out of his campaign. You’ve heard of campaign people going to blows with each other because they can’t all agree.” 

DeSantis lashed back at Haley and said while she is focused on his campaign operations, voters are more interested in leadership. 

DeSantis: Haley is a “mealy-mouthed politician” and a “corporatist” 

DeSantis chastised Haley for her record during the two-hour-long debate. He said Haley failed to deliver on dozens of promises from delivering school choice to promising to never raise taxes. 

To draw contrast, he pointed to his record where he said he has delivered on 100 percent of his promises as Florida governor. According to a fact check by USA Today, DeSantis failed to deliver on all campaign promises, including delivering tax cuts. 

“We don’t need another mealy-mouthed politician who just tells you what she thinks you want to hear just to try to get your vote, then to get in office and to do her donors’ bidding,” DeSantis said. 

DeSantis said he is running to stand up to the “woke left” and Wall Street donors. 

“We need to run under the banner of bold colors that are putting the American people first,” DeSantis said. “We can’t run under a banner of pale pastels of the warmed-over corporatism the likes of which is practiced by Nikki Haley.”

School Choice record sticking point in duel between Haley, DeSantis

DeSantis rebuked Haley for her failure to sign school choice legislation that would provide state funding for students to attend private school, into law after promising to deliver school choice in 2014. 

“You know, [Haley] ran for governor saying she was going to do universal school choice, and she caved to the teachers union,” DeSanits said. “She didn’t deliver that.”

DeSantis expanded school choice in Florida this year. DeSantis also committed to seeing nationwide school choice legislation if he were to be elected president but declined to commit to a nationwide curriculum. 

Haley said school choice has always been a priority of hers but that the Republican-controlled legislature at the time did not want to pass school choice. 

“You know, I have fought for school choice in my entire career, because I think parents know their children best, and I think we should always do that,” Haley said. 

Haley, DeSantis dig at Trump for refusing debate 

Trump was noticeably absent from the debate stage on Wednesday. Haley and DeSantis took the opportunity to attack Trump for his repeated refusal to attend any of the five Republican primary debates so far. 

The former president held a rival town hall in Des Moines on Wednesday.

Haley said she’s running against Trump, not just DeSantis, and the former president needs to defend his record.

“[Trump] needs to be defending his record,” Haley said. “Right now, he’s not defending the fact that he allowed us to have $8 trillion in debt over four years that our kids are never going to forgive us for.” 

DeSantis said Trump owes it to Iowans to explain his record, pointing to his perceived failure to deliver results while president. 

“He owes it to you here in Iowa to explain this change he’s had in his positioning, to explain why he has a tough time saying whether a man can become a woman or not. To explain why he wants to build a billion-dollar-plus, big, beautiful new FBI building right in the heart of the swamp in Washington, D.C.,” DeSantis said. 

What voters are saying

Ray Gaesser, a farmer from Corning, Iowa, said he was looking forward to seeing Haley’s debate performance. He and his wife Elaine are planning to caucus for Haley on Jan. 15. 

Gaesser said he has followed Haley since she was the governor of South Carolina from 2011-17. 

Jim Wallace of the Des Moines area said he is mostly undecided but leaning toward Haley for the Iowa caucuses. 

“Iowa retail politics really work,” Wallace said. “I went to a Haley event … it’s really hard to not like her.”