5 Republican candidates spar at debate, while Trump holds a rally nearby. Follow live updates

Five candidates sparred with one another at a whittled-down third Republican presidential debate in Miami while front-runner Donald Trump held his own event a short drive away.

What to know

What to watch during the Republican debate

Trump looks to upstage the debate with a rally targeting South Florida’s Cuban community

GOP presidential candidates unified on Israel but divided on China

Ramaswamy hints at conspiracy theory when talking about Biden

Ramaswamy’s final comments onstage at the third presidential debate hinted at far-flung conspiracy theories believed by some far-right Americans, including the idea that Joe Biden isn’t the real president.

“End this farce that Joe Biden is going to be your nominee. We know he’s not even the president of the United States,” he said.

He went on to suggest that Biden is a placeholder for Democrats to put someone else into the candidacy, mentioning former first lady Michelle Obama and California Gov. Gavin Newsom.

Fact check on Ohio's new abortion amendment

Ramaswamy’s claim that Ohio’s new abortion amendment “effectively codifies abortion all the way up until the moment of birth without parental consent” needs context.

The language Ohioans voted for in Tuesday’s election doesn’t change Ohio’s existing parental notification and consent law, which requires minors to have parental permission — or a judicial exception in extreme cases — to get an abortion.

To be overturned, that law would have to be challenged in court and struck down by the state Supreme Court, whose conservative majority would likely vote to protect it.

Medical experts also dispute the idea of abortions “until the moment of birth” that Ramaswamy and other candidates on stage are using. Terminations later in pregnancy — which are exceedingly rare — involve medication that induces birth early, which is different from a surgical abortion.

Republicans play up threat of terrorists crossing US border

Ron DeSantis said that “terrorists have come in through our southern border” and that he is going to “shut it down.” Vivek Ramaswamy vowed to “smoke the terrorists” out of the U.S. southern border.

What terrorists?

Alex Nowrasteh of the pro-immigration Cato Institute documented nine foreign-born terrorists who entered the United States illegally from 1975 through last year. Three entered Mexico in 1984 when they were 5 years old or younger and were convicted of plotting to attack Fort Dix, New Jersey, in 2007. The other six entered through Canada.

That’s not to say it can’t happen. The Homeland Security Department said in a national “threat assessment” this year that people with “potential terrorism connections” continue to attempt to enter the country.

Republicans have seized on arrests of people who crossed illegally from Mexico and are on the Terrorist Screening Dataset, known as the “terrorist watchlist,” a compilation of names that have aroused suspicion for any number of reasons. It doesn’t mean they are terrorists. The number jumped to 172 in the government’s budget year ended Sept. 30 from 98 the previous year, 15 the year before that and 11 in the previous four years combined.

Build a wall on the US-Canadian border, Ramaswamy says

There has been a lot of talk about how GOP candidates would handle their concerns related to security at the U.S.-Mexico border, but Vivek Ramaswamy wanted to shift perspective northward.

The biotech entrepreneur said in Wednesday night’s debate that he’s the only Republican hopeful “who has actually visited the northern border” with Canada, where he said enough fentanyl was captured last year “to kill 3 million Americans.”

“Don’t just build the wall,” Ramaswamy said of the U.S.-Mexico border wall proposal. “Build both walls.“

Ramaswamy, who visited the northern border last month, also advocating using U.S. troops to “seal the Swiss cheese” tunnels he said are underneath the northern border.

Mexico will pay for the border wall, Part 2

Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis began the debate demanding that Donald Trump come to the stage and explain why he didn’t wall off the entire U.S. southern border and have Mexico pay for it as he’d promised to do as president.

As the night wound down, DeSantis went a step farther, making the unlikely claim that he could keep the promise Trump broke.

DeSantis vowed to build a border wall and have Mexico pay for it, a comment that went unchallenged by moderators or other candidates.

Whether DeSantis will get the chance remains to be seen given the commanding early lead Trump has built in the Republican 2024 presidential primary, despite skipping all three debates. But erecting a wall the length of the nearly 2,000-mile border is nearly unthinkable –and the idea that Mexico would fit the bill strains credulity even further.

GOP candidates support raising retirement age

Republican presidential candidates came out swinging with benefit cuts to Social Security in order to preserve the retirement income program. Some also said they could achieve stronger economic growth, though past pledges along those lines have fallen flat.

According to a trustee’s report, Social Security will be unable to pay full benefits starting in 2033 without changes that could include less benefits or higher taxes.

Former New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie said he would raise the retirement age for younger workers, including his 30 year-old son. Christie also tried to shame billionaire Warren Buffet for collecting Social Security, even though the payments would reflect the payroll taxes that he paid over his career.

Former South Carolina Gov. Nikki Haley would also raise the retirement age and limit payments to wealthy individuals.

Businessman Vivek Ramaswamy suggested he could save the program through drastic spending cuts that would shutter federal agencies and possibly lay off the majority of government workers.

South Carolina Sen. Tim Scott said he would achieve faster growth, even though former President Donald Trump pledged he could also boost gross domestic product gains and failed to do so. Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis said he knows a few Social Security recipients in his home state, which has a reputation for catering to retirees, and he, too, would get faster economic growth.

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Corrects year that Social Security will stop being able to pay full benefits to 2033, not 2023.