--- title: Republican Debate: Watch the Highlights in Four Minutes description: The top Republican candidates agreed that the country's next commander in chief was standing among them on the stage in Thursday's debate canonical: https://time.com/4182076/republican-debate-watch-four-minutes/ author: Katie Reilly article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2016-01-15T05:51:47.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-08-19T07:46:43.299Z article:section: Politics og:title: Watch the Republican Debate in Less Than Four Minutes og:description: Take a look at the highlights og:url: https://time.com/4182076/republican-debate-watch-four-minutes/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt7d50741654ed4691/69887948196cf40171039e24/republican-gop-debate-presidential-donald-trump-ted-cruz.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 3444 og:image:height: 1937 og:image:alt: Republican U.S. presidential candidate Cruz waves in front of rival candidate Trump as they pose before the start of the Fox Business Network Republican presidential candidates debate in North Charleston og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: Watch the Republican Debate in Less Than Four Minutes twitter:description: Take a look at the highlights twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt7d50741654ed4691/69887948196cf40171039e24/republican-gop-debate-presidential-donald-trump-ted-cruz.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # Watch the Republican Debate in Less Than 4 Minutes > Sponsored content. 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Brief is TIME's Washington newsletter, written by senior correspondent Philip Elliott. It explains the politics, personalities and power dynamics behind the headlines, three times a week. It reaches 85,000 subscribers with a 37.0% open rate as of August 2026. #### 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.  by [Katie Reilly](https://time.com/author/katie-reilly/)  ## Katie Reilly Jan 15, 2016 5:51 AM UTC  Republican presidential candidates, from left, John Kasich, Chris Christie, Marco Rubio, Donald Trump, Ted Cruz and Ben Carson at the Republican presidential debate in North Charleston, S.C. on Jan. 14, 2016. Republican presidential candidates, from left, John Kasich, Chris Christie, Marco Rubio, Donald Trump, Ted Cruz and Ben Carson at the Republican presidential debate in North Charleston, S.C. on Jan. 14, 2016. Chris Keane—Reuters  by [Katie Reilly](https://time.com/author/katie-reilly/)  ## Katie Reilly Jan 15, 2016 5:51 AM UTC They railed against [President Barack Obama](http://time.com/4181906/republican-debate-state-of-the-union-obama/), Democratic candidate Hillary Clinton and [the New York ](http://time.com/4181987/republican-debate-media/)[_Times_](http://time.com/4181987/republican-debate-media/)_._ They disagreed on New York values and tax plans. But the top seven Republican candidates agreed that the country’s next Commander-in-Chief was standing among them on the stage in Charleston, S.C. where they faced off in the latest debate on Thursday, discussing the threat of ISIS, gun control, Tuesday’s State of the Union address and the state of the U.S. economy. Read more about the debate [here](http://time.com/4179941/republican-debate-charleston-fox/?xid=homepage). 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