Who won the brutal debate between Ron DeSantis, Nikki Haley? Iowa endorsers make their case

After a knock-down, drag-out debate between Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis and former United Nations Ambassador Nikki Haley, their high-profile Iowa endorsers swarmed the spin room, eager to declare victory.

DeSantis and Haley sparred on the debate stage at Drake University Wednesday night, arguing over abortion, immigration and their gubernatorial records. Throughout the two-hour event, the candidates accused each other of being dishonest.

DeSantis called Haley a "mealy-mouthed politician" while Haley repeatedly urged viewers to go on "DeSantislies.com," a website created by the Haley campaign.

More: 'Lying,' 'mealy-mouthed': 5 takeaways from a heated Iowa debate between DeSantis and Haley

"You're so desperate. You're just so desperate," Haley told DeSantis during one heated exchange, prompting DeSantis to accuse Haley of "ballistic podiatry" because she keeps "shooting herself in the foot."

When prompted by the debate moderators, Haley and DeSantis also fired attacks at former President Donald Trump, who was appearing solo at a Fox News town hall just a few miles away.

What did the surrogates for Haley and DeSantis think about the combative debate? From the red-carpeted, sweltering post-debate spin room, here's what we heard:

What will Iowans think of Wednesday's fiery, combative debate?

Senate President Amy Sinclair, R-Allenton and an endorser of DeSantis, said the combative tone of the debate didn't resonate with her, personally. "It's not necessarily my style, but it clearly is some peoples' style. And sometimes when folks refuse to stop lying, they need to be called on it."

Rep. Austin Harris, R-Moulton and Haley endorser: "I think the positive message that Nikki Haley laid out about her record and the vision that she has for this country will resonate. — I think that, when people look at what was said tonight in the debate, they're going to see somebody that had a positive vision for the country, and somebody who was just focused on attacking his opponent."

Bob Vander Plaats, CEO of the evangelical Family Leader group and a DeSantis endorser: "My dad told me a long time ago you know, you don't build yourself up by tearing somebody down, but at the same time, you have to call people's records about what they have said and what they say they're going to do now. And again, I thought Governor DeSantis did a great job of that."

Sen. Chris Cournoyer, R- and Haley endorser: "(Haley) referred people to the DeSantislies.com website so people could go and see what the facts are — so she didn't have to spend as much time on that. So I think she spent more time talking about issues and her solutions to those issues, which I think is important."

AndrewRomeo, DeSantis campaign communications director: "I think Iowa voters see somebody (Haley) that was afraid to defend their record, they just kind of hung on to a website as a crutch versus someone that commanded the issues and could speak passionately to them about what's important to them and you know, lay out a clear vision and a plan to fix the country."

Preya Samsundar, a spokesperson for the pro-Haley PAC "Stand for America": "What we got from Ron DeSantis was, frankly, a used car salesman … What we got from Nikki was policy position. So yeah, of course there's going to be a debate, there's going to be a back and forth."

USA Today contributed reporting.

Katie Akin is a politics reporter for the Register. Reach her at kakin@registermedia.com. Follow her on Twitter at @katie_akin.

Virginia Barreda is the Des Moines city government reporter for the Register. She can be reached at vbarreda@dmreg.com. Follow her on Twitter at @vbarreda2.

This article originally appeared on Des Moines Register: DeSantis and Haley endorsers in Iowa claim victory after fiery debate