By James Oliphant and Tim Reid

SIMI VALLEY, California The seven Republicans on stage at their party's second 2024 presidential primary debate aimed on Wednesday to convince voters they could be a viable alternative to frontrunner Donald Trump, who skipped the event.

Here is a takeaway from the debate in Simi Valley, California:

DESANTIS ATTACKS TRUMP

It took more than 15 minutes for Florida Governor Ron DeSantis to speak, but when he did, he unloaded on former President Trump in a way he has not before.

He said Trump, who was speaking to a crowd of auto workers in Detroit on Wednesday instead of joining the debate, should have been on the stage with his primary rivals.

"Donald Trump is missing an action. He should be on the stage tonight," DeSantis said. “He owes it to you to defend his record where they added 7.8 trillion to the debt. That set the stage for the inflation that we have now.”

DeSantis had patiently bided his time as all of the other contenders on stage took questions on the economy. It was not an ideal start for a candidate who desperately needs to reverse his fading fortunes.

The most recent Reuters/Ipsos poll had him falling almost 40 percentage points behind Trump. In some early-voting states such as New Hampshire, he is in danger of dropping into the middle of the pack.

Whether DeSantis ultimately will benefit from taking on the most popular figure in the party remains to be seen, but his pugnacious posture toward Trump was something some of his supporters and donors have wanted to see for months.

(Reporting by Tim Reid in Simi Valley, California, and James Oliphant in Washington; Editing by Colleen Jenkins and Deepa Babington)