CNN hosted the second debate of the GOP primary season Wednesday night.

Eleven candidates took the stage in the “top tier” debate reserved for candidates who polled in the top 10 between Aug. 6 and Sept. 10. Donald Trump, Ben Carson, Carly Fiorina, Jeb Bush, Sen. Marco Rubio, Gov. Scott Walker, Gov. John Kasich, Gov. Chris Christie, Mike Huckabee, Sen. Rand Paul and Sen. Ted Cruz were all included in the main debate.

Four candidates debated in the undercard debate: Gov. Bobby Jindal, George Pataki, Rick Santorum and Sen. Lindsey Graham.

Graham was the winner of the undercard debate, according to CNN. He took more moderate stances on immigration, the minimum wage and Kim Davis, the Kentucky county clerk who refused marriage licenses.

Graham even threw in some quips, including this one: “The first thing I’m going do as president — we’re going to drink more,” he said.

During the debate on the main stage, frontrunner Donald Trump dominated the conversation. Most notably, Trump battled Fiorina on her record as CEO of Hewlett Packard and when asked about taxes, Trump took a drastically different stance than the rest of the candidates on stage.

“Those hedge-fund guys, they’re going to have to pay,” Trump said about his progressive tax plan.

Trump got the most speaking time out of any of the 11 candidates on stage, according to NPR.

Fiorina also shined, according to Google Analytics. During and after the debate, searches for Fiorina spiked, according to Mother Jones.

Fiorina won the mainstream debate, according to Vox.

Published on September 17, 2015 at 12:05 am

Contact Rachel: rsandler@syr.edu