--- title: Republican Debate: The Full Transcript of Las Vegas Debate description: Nine candidates for the Republican nomination faced off in Las Vegas Tuesday night for a primetime debate on CNN. canonical: https://time.com/4150816/republican-debate-las-vegas-transcript/ author: Charlotte Alter article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2015-12-16T02:14:59.000Z article:modified_time: 2024-01-24T13:14:08.000Z article:section: Politics og:title: Read the Full Transcript of the Fifth Republican Debate og:description: Here's everything the candidates said on the stage in Las Vegas. og:url: https://time.com/4150816/republican-debate-las-vegas-transcript/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt64333c64ad4f510e/6988758c0a4a2216cd9c7864/republican-debate-gop-presidential-003.jpg?branch=production&width=3840&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 1200 og:image:height: 675 og:image:alt: John Kasich, Carly Fiorina, Marco Rubio, Ben Carson, Donald Trump, Ted Cruz, Jeb Bush, Chris Christie, Rand Paul og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: Read the Full Transcript of the Fifth Republican Debate twitter:description: Here's everything the candidates said on the stage in Las Vegas. twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt64333c64ad4f510e/6988758c0a4a2216cd9c7864/republican-debate-gop-presidential-003.jpg?branch=production&width=3840&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # Transcript: Read the Full Text of the Dec. 15 Republican Debate in Las Vegas  by [Charlotte Alter](https://time.com/author/charlotte-alter/)  ## Charlotte Alter Senior Correspondent Updated: Jan 24, 2024 1:14 PM UTCPublished: Dec 16, 2015 2:14 AM UTC  Republican presidential candidates, from left, John Kasich, Carly Fiorina, Marco Rubio, Ben Carson, Donald Trump, Ted Cruz, Jeb Bush, Chris Christie and Rand Paul take the stage during the Republican presidential debate at the Venetian Hotel & Casino on Tuesday, Dec. 15, 2015, in Las Vegas. Republican presidential candidates, from left, John Kasich, Carly Fiorina, Marco Rubio, Ben Carson, Donald Trump, Ted Cruz, Jeb Bush, Chris Christie and Rand Paul take the stage during the Republican presidential debate at the Venetian Hotel & Casino on Tuesday, Dec. 15, 2015, in Las Vegas.Mark J. Terrill—AP  by [Charlotte Alter](https://time.com/author/charlotte-alter/)  ## Charlotte Alter Senior Correspondent Updated: Jan 24, 2024 1:14 PM UTCPublished: Dec 16, 2015 2:14 AM UTC Nine candidates for the Republican nomination faced off in Las Vegas Tuesday night for a primetime debate on CNN, moderated by Wolf Blitzer, CNN Chief Political Correspondent Dana Bash, and Salem Radio Network talk show host Hugh Hewitt. Here’s a complete transcript of the event, courtesy of CNN. --- > “” --- ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/4150816/republican-debate-las-vegas-transcript/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/4150816/republican-debate-las-vegas-transcript/"},"headline":"Transcript: Read the Full Text of the Dec. 15 Republican Debate in Las Vegas","datePublished":"2015-12-16T02:14:59.000Z","dateModified":"2024-01-24T13:14:08.000Z","description":"Here's the full transcript of the night","url":"https://time.com/4150816/republican-debate-las-vegas-transcript/","keywords":["Debates","Sen. Marco Rubio","Rand Paul","Las Vegas","ted cruz","jeb bush","Donald Trump","Dr. Benjamin S. 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