CLEVELAND (AP) — The first Republican debate of the 2016 campaign for president opened with an absolute bang as billionaire businessman Donald Trump refused to pledge his loyalty to the GOP.
Over the course of the next two hours, the 10 leading candidates for the Republican nomination argued about issues that included immigration, taxes, health care, individual rights and foreign policy.
And there were plenty of personality conflicts, too.
Here are five takeaways from Thursday’s debate.
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TRUMP AT CENTER STAGE
Trump may be leading his fellow GOP presidential candidates in many of the national polls, but he was the only candidate on stage who refused — in the very first moment of the debate — to commit to running only as a Republican.