Crowd Told to Stop Chanting 'Ron' at Republican Debate

Some members of the crowd watching the third Republican presidential primary debate in Miami, Florida, on Wednesday broke out in a chant for Florida Governor Ron DeSantis prior to the event.

Conservative commentator Benny Johnson posted on Twitter that guests were repeatedly chanting Trump's name. However, he later said the audience was chanting "Ron." After a short while, an NBC producer addressed those in attendance, telling them to not do that any more so the candidates on the stage could be heard.

The NBC producer, whom Newsweek was unable to identify, interrupted the chanting, telling the audience, "That was awesome you guys, but that's the last time we're going to do that."

"We really, really, really want to hear from these candidates, and they worked really hard for us tonight," the producer added.

Five GOP candidates are participating in the debate Wednesday: Florida Governor Ron DeSantis; former South Carolina Governor Nikki Haley; ex-New Jersey Governor Chris Christie; South Carolina Senator Tim Scott; and entrepreneur Vivek Ramaswamy. Moderators kicked off the night by asking the hopefuls to tell voters why they should choose them as the Republican nominee in lieu of Trump. As the runner-up in primary polls, DeSantis was allowed to answer first.

"If you look where we are now, it's a lot different than we were in 2016," the Florida leader said. "And Donald Trump's a lot different guy than he was in 2016. He owes it to you to be on this stage and explain why he should get another chance."

"He should explain why he didn't drain the swamp," DeSantis added. "And he said Republicans were going to get tired of winning. Well, we saw last night. I'm sick of Republicans losing."

DeSantis was referring to the disappointing election results for the GOP in several local and state elections Tuesday night, including losses on abortion.

Trump, who holds a comfortable lead in preliminary polling amid the race for the GOP presidential nomination, is not participating in Wednesday's debate. The former president also skipped the first two debates and has said that he sees no reason to participate the events, given his polling numbers.

Haley also separated herself from the former president during her response, stating first that she believed he was "the right president at the right time."

"I don't think he's the right president now," Haley continued. "I think he put us 8 trillion dollars in debt, and our children are never going to forgive us for that."

Newsweek reached out to Trump's campaign team via email for comment Wednesday night.

Update 11/08/23, 9:06 p.m. ET: This article was updated with additional information.

Correction 11/08/23, 10:29 p.m. ET: This article was updated to clarify that people were chanting "Ron" and not "Trump."