MIAMI — Law enforcement surrounded the Adrienne Arsht Center for the Performing Arts of Miami-Dade County on Wednesday hours before the third Republican debate.
Gov. Ron DeSantis and a group of four other Republican primary candidates who want to run for president in the 2024 elections are set to meet on stage at the center’s Knight Concert Hall.
Ahead of the debate, South Carolina Gov. Nikki Hailey launched an ad on social media attacking DeSantis for his position on off-shore drilling.
Former President Donald Trump, who recently testified during his civil fraud trial in New York and leads ahead of DeSantis in polls, won’t be participating in the debate. He will be in Miami-Dade and is scheduled to hold a dueling rally in Hialeah.
Sean Foreman, a Barry University political science professor, said Trump’s exclusion makes sense.
“It seems disrespectful for those who make the stage to say that they’re fighting for second place, but in reality, that’s what is going on,” Foreman said. “All of the polls show Trump strongly ahead, nationally and state by state.”
The other three Republican primary candidates aside from DeSantis and Hailey are former New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie, Ohio multimillionaire former biotech executive Vivek Ramaswamy, and South Carolina Sen. Tim Scott.
The debate’s organizers expect an in-person audience of about 1,700 people and traffic disruptions on a very busy Biscayne Boulevard.
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Traffic alert: Downtown Mami
Miami police officers’ planned road closures are from 1 p.m. to 1 a.m. and include Biscayne Boulevard from Northeast 11 to 15 streets and North Bayshore Drive from Northeast 13 to 15 streets.
For a live map of traffic reports, visit this page.
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