Chris Christie, Nikki Haley, Ron DeSantis & Vivek Ramaswamy - NBC News Republican Debate

The stage is shrinking just weeks ahead of the first contests of 2024, as four of the Republican Party’s contenders gather soon in Alabama for their fourth presidential primary debate.

The candidates set to take the stage Wednesday night are Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis, former South Carolina Gov. Nikki Haley, former New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie and tech entrepreneur Vivek Ramaswamy.

Skipping, as he did the first three clashes, is former President Donald Trump, the dominant front-runner in national and early-state primary polling less than six weeks from Iowa’s January 15 caucuses.

Here are four things to watch for in Wednesday night’s debate in Tuscaloosa, which starts at 8 p.m. ET on NewsNation:

Race to be the Trump alternative continues: With Trump absent, the GOP primary debates have played out as a battle to become the party’s top alternative to the former president. That fight, polls show, is now primarily between DeSantis and Haley.
Is Christie a roadblock or a helpful rival for Haley? Haley and Christie both served as Republican governors, leading South Carolina and New Jersey, as two of the party’s brightest stars long before Trump commandeered the GOP. As they stand together on the debate stage as rival presidential candidates on Wednesday night, the fresh dynamic of their relationship may offer important clues for the next chapter of the race. In the first three Republican debates this year, Christie and Haley have largely avoided any confrontations with each other, but is a collision coming in New Hampshire?
General election landmines: Abortion has long loomed as a potential general election landmine for the GOP in this post-Roe world – a reality that explains Haley’s careful navigation of the issue, avoiding any commitments to enact a federal ban. But in recent days, another potential landmine has emerged: health care, the issue Democrats successfully rode to massive 2018 midterm election victories.
Haley vs. Ramaswamy, part four: Ramaswamy, the bombastic entrepreneur, dominated the first debate with his frequent interjections and barbs aimed at onstage rivals – including a memorable exchange with Haley on foreign policy. That aggressiveness won Ramaswamy a short-lived bump in the polls. But longer term, it’s been Haley who emerged from that skirmish and others in the second and third debates on top.