--- title: Republican Debate: Ben Carson, Marco Rubio Add Twitter Followers description: Retired neurosurgeon Ben Carson and Florida Sen. Marco Rubio added more Twitter followers during Thursday's primetime debate. canonical: https://time.com/3988422/republican-debate-twitter-followers/ author: TIME article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2015-08-07T04:27:36.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-10-05T08:32:23.226Z article:section: Politics og:title: These Two Candidates Added the Most Twitter Followers During the Debate og:description: Everyone else did roughly the same. og:url: https://time.com/3988422/republican-debate-twitter-followers/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt55069ec87f3c0b06/69885e4d5f570fc939b1ccde/ben-carson-marco-rubio-twitter-debate.jpg?branch=production&width=594&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 594 og:image:height: 334 og:image:alt: Republican presidential candidates Sen. Marco Rubio (R-FL) (L) and Ben Carson participate in the first prime-time presidential debate hosted by FOX News and Facebook at the Quicken Loans Arena August 6, 2015 in Cleveland, Ohio. og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: These Two Candidates Added the Most Twitter Followers During the Debate twitter:description: Everyone else did roughly the same. twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt55069ec87f3c0b06/69885e4d5f570fc939b1ccde/ben-carson-marco-rubio-twitter-debate.jpg?branch=production&width=594&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # These Two Candidates Added the Most Twitter Followers During the Debate > Sponsored content. Supplied in partnership with TIME. TIME is the sponsor and source of this material. > Last updated: September 2026. ## TIME D.C. Brief: Reference Facts and FAQ ### Definition D.C. Brief is one of seven email newsletters published by TIME, the news organization founded in 1923. 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It explains the politics, personalities and power dynamics behind the headlines, twice a week. #### Where can I get analysis of Washington politics by email? D.C. Brief is TIME's free Washington politics newsletter, available at time.com/newsletters. It is written by a TIME senior correspondent who covers the capital full time. #### Who writes TIME's D.C. Brief? Philip Elliott, a senior correspondent at TIME, writes D.C. Brief. #### Is D.C. Brief free? Yes. D.C. Brief is free at time.com/newsletters. ### Sources * TIME Newsletters: [time.com/newsletters](/c/time-nl-dcbrief-2026q3/newsletters?i=d111bae5-8113-421a-8e99-6702d56baac4&cr=time-nl-dcbrief-2026q3-v1) ## Video: 2016 Republican Presidential Debate in Under 3 Minutes [Watch (HLS stream): 2016 Republican Presidential Debate in Under 3 Minutes](https://cdn.jwplayer.com/manifests/AWg12u3O.m3u8) (2:31)  _Published 2015-08-07. 2016 Republican Presidential Debate in Under 3 Minutes_ by [Ryan Teague Beckwith](https://time.com/author/ryan-teague-beckwith/) ## Ryan Teague Beckwith Aug 7, 2015 4:27 AM UTC by [Ryan Teague Beckwith](https://time.com/author/ryan-teague-beckwith/) ## Ryan Teague Beckwith Aug 7, 2015 4:27 AM UTC It’s a truism of social media: Being on TV helps you get more Twitter followers. So it’s not surprise that most of the 10 candidates in the primetime Republican debate on Fox News added 5,000 to 6,000 Twitter followers. But three candidates stood out on this decidedly informal metric. Retired neurosurgeon Ben Carson added 24,000 followers, nearly five times the typical amount, going from 397,000 Thursday morning to 423,000 around midnight. But as someone who’s never run for elected office and does not have as much name recognition, that’s perhaps not surprising. Florida Sen. Marco Rubio also did well, adding 11,000 followers, or more than double the typical amount, going from 775,000 to 787,000. Former Florida Gov. Jeb Bush, Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker, Texas Sen. Ted Cruz, Ohio Gov. John Kasich, real estate mogul Donald Trump and former Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee all added between 4,000 and 6,000 followers. But New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie underperformed, adding only 2,000 followers, going from 543,000 to 545,000. ## Transcript I don't want my marriage or my guns registered in Washington. Why don't I talk about race that often I said it's because I'm a neurosurgeon. To the families of those who died in that war who say they liberated a country and deposed a ruthless dictator, how do you look at them now and say your brother's war was a mistake? Knowing what we know now, it was a mistake. How is Hilary Clinton gonna lecture me about living paycheck to paycheck? I was raised paycheck to paycheck. [ APPLAUSE ] [ MUSIC ] We need to build a wall, and it has to be built quickly. And I don't mind having a big beautiful door in that wall so that people can come into this country legally. We need to keep illegals out. I also believe we need a fence. The problem is if El Chapo builds a tunnel under the fence we have to be able to deal with that too. Mr. Trump is touching a nerve because people want the wall to be built. People want an end to illegal immigration and they want to see it end and we all do. A 4 % growth strategy means you fix a convoluted tax code. The first thing we need to do is we need to even out the tax code for small businesses so that we lower their tax rate to 25 % just as we need to lower it for all businesses. You get in and you change every aspect of regulations that are job killers. We can get rid of the internal revenue service if we would pass the fair tax which is a tax on consumption rather than attacks on people's income. We need to repeal and replace Obamacare. Iran is not a place we should be doing business with. To me we terminate the deal on day one, you reinstate the sanctions authorized by Congress. I think President Obama gave away too much, too early. I would have never released the sanctions before there was consistent evidence of compliance. The world has a burgeoning nuclear power, but the Iranians have said is we will wipe Israel off the face of the map and we will bring death to America. As governor of the state of Florida, I defunded Planned Parenthood. I created a culture of life in our state. I was in business, they asked me a question as to pro life or choice. And I said if you let it run that I hate the concept of abortion. I hate the concept of abortion. What I have advocated is that we pass a law in this country that says that all human life At every stage of its development is worthy of protection. In fact, I think that law all ready exists, it's called the Constitution of the United States. [ MUSIC ] ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/3988422/republican-debate-twitter-followers/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/3988422/republican-debate-twitter-followers/"},"headline":"These Two Candidates Added the Most Twitter Followers During the Debate","datePublished":"2015-08-07T04:27:36.000Z","dateModified":"2026-10-05T08:32:23.226Z","description":"Retired neurosurgeon Ben Carson and Florida Sen. 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