Republican debate: Trump attacked for being absent as reports say he will skip third one too – as it happened

Chris Christie, flanked by Doug Burgum and Nikki Haley, criticized Trump for being a no-show again. Photograph: Justin Sullivan/Getty Images

4.59am BST

Closing summary

For two hours, the seven Republican candidates gathered in California duked it out over everything from energy to immigration, all in the absence of Donald Trump, the far-and-away frontrunner for the GOP’s presidential nomination. We’ll see if anything that was said on the debate stage at the Ronald Reagan Presidential Library this evening changed the contours of the race, but one thing is now clear: none of these candidates will share the debate stage with Trump. He’s opted to skip the third debate set for Miami in November, and his campaign is calling for the Republican Party to cancel it altogether.

Here are some highlights from tonight’s event:

• Nikki Haley and Tim Scott squabbled over curtains.

• Mike Pence shared aspects of his marriage we never expected him to discuss.

• Chris Christie continued to goad Trump, who he says he will now refer to as “Donald Duck”.

• Haley jumped on entreprenneur Vivek Ramaswamy for joining controversial social media app TikTok. He argues its the best way to reach young voters.

• There was lots of cross-talk and chaos. One of the most prolific interrupters was North Dakota governor Doug Burgum, who complained the moderators weren’t calling on him.

4.47am BST

The reviews of the second Republican presidential debate are rolling in from political analysts and they are … not great.

Larry Sabato of the University of Virginia’s Center for Politics:

Truly awful. The whole thing. #GOPDebate

— Larry Sabato (@LarrySabato) September 28, 2023

Fernand R. Amandi of public opinion research firm Bendixen & Amandi:

The #GOPDebate tonight was the worst debate of any kind at any level I have ever seen in life.

— Fernand R. Amandi (@AmandiOnAir) September 28, 2023

GOP pollster Frank Luntz, who thought Nikki Haley and Tim Scott’s argument about curtains was a low point:

Fighting over curtains? Really?  That is embarrassing.

We're about to have a government shutdown and they're wasting time over curtains. Ridiculous.  #GOPDebate https://t.co/1wNGSPrZGs

— Frank Luntz (@FrankLuntz) September 28, 2023

But did think Chris Christie handled questions about abortion in a way other Republicans could learn from:

Chris Christie showed real pathos on the pro-life question.

He shows a way for Republicans to navigate the abortion issue. #GOPDebate https://t.co/xA59gukhQH

— Frank Luntz (@FrankLuntz) September 28, 2023