2016 Republican presidential candidates face-off in second round of debates

SAN DIEGO (KUSI) – The Republican Presidential Field gathered for the second debate of the 2016 cycle on Wednesday.

The debates took place at The Ronald Reagan Presidential Library in Simi Valley, CA.

The four Republican contenders who did not qualify for the prime-time gathering began the night with an earlier debate of their own, which started at 3 p.m. PST. These candidates included George Pataki, Rick Santorum, Bobby Jindal and Lindsey Graham.

The 11 leading candidates followed with the main debate beginning at 5 p.m. PST. Donald Trump, Ben Carson, Jeb Bush, Marco Rubio, Mike Huckabee, Rand Paul, Chris Christie, John Kasich, Scott Walker, Ted Cruz and Carly Fiorina were featured.

The host of CNN’s State of the Union, Jake Tapper, was the moderator. He was joined by talk-show host Hugh Hewitt, and fellow CNN employee, Dana Bash.

October 13 in Las Vegas marks the date of the first Democratic debate, which will feature a much smaller pool of White House hopefuls.