Wednesday night’s debate saw fireworks early on as GOP presidential candidates Senator Tim Scott of South Carolina and businessman Vivek Ramaswamy traded shots over Ramaswamy’s comment during the first debate.
Scott tore into Ramaswamy during the debate, getting into a raucous back-and-forth with the businessman over his comments in August claiming the other candidates were “bought and paid for.”
“I’m the only person on this stage who isn’t bought and paid for,” Ramaswamy declared last month, which elicited boos.
Ramaswamy pushed back, calling Scott’s comments “nonsense” as the temperature between the two spiked amid the spat.
Ramaswamy praised all of his Republican opponents Wednesday by saying they were all “good people,” prompting Sen. Scott to use his quote from the previous debate against him. Scott then said he couldn’t imagine how Ramaswamy could say they were all “bought and paid for” when he was “just in business with Chinese Communist Party.”
“Excuse me, excuse me,” Ramaswamy said, talking over Scott’s continued jabs. “Thank you for speaking while I’m interrupting.”
“Literally, you said, ‘bought and paid for,'” Scott retorted as Ramaswamy continued to talk.
“Can we please focus on the issues that matter?” Florida Governor Ron DeSantis said amid the shouting match. “We know he’s done business in China, everybody knows that.”
“Let’s focus on holding Joe Biden accountable,” DeSantis said.
However, to some viewers, that exchange was reminiscent of one then-candidate Donald Trump had with former Florida Gov. Jeb Bush at a primary debate in February 2016.
Wednesday night saw seven GOP candidates take the stage as they push to be the Republican nominee on the 2024 White House ballot.
While seven candidates debated, though, the frontrunner of the GOP race — former President Trump — did not participate.
Trump’s absence marks the second debate the former president has not participated in for his party’s 2024 nomination.
Fox News Digital’s Joseph Wulfsohn contributed reporting.