Believe it or not, there are 16 other people other than Donald Trump currently in the running against for the Republican presidential nomination — and a handful of Democrats are running for office too.
The Donald may have had the prime spot in primetime for Thursday night’s Republican debate, but his filter-free comments weren’t the only memorable moments.
READ MORE: Trump drags Rosie O’Donnell into debate, calls Megyn Kelly a ‘bimbo’
Although he got the most amount of speaking time, whether it was from direct questions or rebutting comments from his rivals, here’s a look at some of the highlights from a rhetoric filled evening.
Carly Fiorina was the toast of the ‘happy hour’ debate
There were, in fact, two debates: the main event for the 10 most popular candidates, based on the most recent pre-debate polls, and the so-called “happy hour” debate earlier on for the seven remaining candidates.
Former Hewlett-Packard CEO Carly Fiorina is the only woman in the Republican race, which is as much a contest for the person best suited to beat presumed Democrat nominee Hillary Clinton as it is a search for the next Republican presidential candidate. As such, Fiorina went after both her potential Democratic foe and her Republican ones.
“2016 is going to be a fight. A fight between conservatism and a Democrat Party that is undermining the very character of our nation,” Fiorina said. “We need a nominee who is going to throw every punch, not pull punches, someone who cannot stumble before he even gets in the ring.”
READ MORE: As Canadian leaders debated, Trump stole spotlight on both sides of the border
And she even got kudos from Karl Rove, a former senior advisor to 43rd President of the United States — George W. Bush, the brother of Republican nominee hopeful Jeb Bush.
“Carly Fiorina walked in tonight, owned the stage, owned it big,” Politico reported Rove saying on Fox News.
Fiorina didn’t have the public support needed to get into the primetime debate — the highest-rated primetime television primary debate in American history.
Fiorina told CNN she hopes her performance will put her in a good position for the next debate, to be hosted on that news network in September.
Ben Carson’s ‘half-a-brain’ jab at Washington
Dr. Ben Carson, a pediatric neurosurgeon, may not have been the frontrunner. But in his closing remarks, he threw one of the most comical punches at everyone else on stage — and in Washington, D.C.
“I haven’t said anything about me being the only one to do anything, so let me try that. I’m the only one to separate Siamese twins; the only one to operate on babies while they were still in the mother’s womb; the only one to take out half of a brain, although you would think that if you go to Washington that someone had beat me to it.”
John Kasich opposes same-sex marriage but went to a gay wedding anyway
Moderator Megyn Kelly put the same-sex marriage question to Ohio Gov. John Kasich, asking if his son or daughter were gay or lesbian, how would he “explain his opposition to same-sex marriage.”
Kasich described himself as “old-fashioned” who believes in “traditional marriage” — in other words, in line with everyone else on the stage.
He then said, “the court has ruled… the court has ruled and I said I would accept it” — a comment that isn’t in line with many of the GOP hopefuls — and said he had just attended the wedding of a friend “who just happened to be gay.”
Kasich said he can still care about and love people who don’t agree with all of his views and if one of his daughters “happened to be that” he would still love and accept them for who they are.
“Because, you know, that’s what we’re taught when we have strong faith,” he said to a sizeable but not unanimous round of applause. “We need to give everyone a chance, treat everybody with respect and let them share in this great dream that we have… God gives me unconditional love, I’m gonna give it to my family and my friends and the people around me.”
Mike Huckabee said the military is ‘not a social experiment’ when asked about transgender individuals in the military
That was his response to a question about Defense Secretary Ashton Carter’s recent direction that the military should be prepared to soon accept transgender individuals to serve openly in the ranks.
“It’s not to transform the culture by trying out some ideas that people think would make us a different country and more diverse. The purpose is to protect America,” he said. “I’m not sure how paying for transgender surgery for soldiers, sailors, airmen, marines makes our country safer.”
He said the military had been “decimated” under the Obama administration and much of its equipment was older than him.
Huckabee’s “social experiment” comment was a throwback to earlier this year when he used the same words to describe gender-neutral washrooms and allowing transgender individuals to use public washrooms suited to the gender they identify. He made the remark back in February, but it resurfaced and caused a stir amid the attention swirling around Caitlyn Jenner.
The second-time the presidential hopeful not only said gender-neutral public washrooms were a “social experiment” that was being forced on little children across the United States.
READ MORE: Huckabee’s transgender comments cause stir after Caitlyn Jenner cover
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The abortion discussion we all knew was coming
Setting the scene for the always controversial pro-life/anti-abortion question: an anti-abortion group has in recent weeks released a series of undercover videos alleging Planned Parenthood has been selling the body parts of aborted fetuses for profit. You can read more about that here: 4 things to know about an anti-abortion group’s Planned Parenthood videos
While former Florida Gov. Jeb Bush was questioned about funding Planned Parenthood, it was Kelly’s question to Florida Sen. Marco Rubio* that raised the most eyebrows.
Rubio, who was seen as winning the primetime debate, said he had never said or advocated such an exception. He also said he believed “future generations will look back at this history of our country and call us barbarians for murdering millions of babies.”
*PLEASE NOTE: This post previously stated Marco Rubio is a former Florida senator; he has been in office since 2011.This error has been corrected.
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