With large garage doors open to the sunshine and Huntington Harbour — and with barbecue, beer and wine flowing — about four dozen people raptly turned to several television screens Wednesday evening.
It was the GOP presidential debate, not baseball, that held their attention.
Nearly 30 miles inland from Surf City, a similar scene unfolded at the Richard Nixon Presidential Library in Yorba Linda. There, more than 150 people sat at round tables in the spacious East Room, eyes fixated on two huge screens flanked by portraits of George Washington and William McKinley.
“That’s what is great about the Republican Party,” said 34-year-old Pete Amundson. “You want to coalesce around who is going to win, but you want to give everyone who feels called to run for office the chance to speak.”
On Wednesday night, that included North Dakota Gov. Doug Burgum, former New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie, Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis, former U.N. Ambassador Nikki Haley, former Arkansas Gov. Asa Hutchinson, former Vice President Mike Pence, biotech entrepreneur Vivek Ramaswamy and South Carolina Sen. Tim Scott.
And even though he didn’t appear on stage, that also included former President Donald Trump for many watch party attendees in both Huntington Beach and Yorba Linda.
Trump opted to do a pre-recorded interview that aired during the debate on the social media platform formerly known as Twitter. Watch party attendees watched the Fox News-televised debate in Milwaukee, instead, Wednesday evening, but said his absence wasn’t felt too much.
In Yorba Linda, a giant red Trump 2024 flag brought by one supporter served as the backdrop for several photo ops ahead of the debate. In Huntington Beach, a couple of MAGA hats were worn or waved during the debate.
Several questions posed to the candidates alluded to the former president, his administration or his legal troubles. And Ramaswamy’s defense of Trump drew the largest applause from those gathered in both…
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