Republicans return to debate stage

It’s debate time again, with the third debate of the 2016 Republican race for president airing in prime-time Wednesday night.

The debate, which starts at 8 p.m. on CNBC, comes at a time billionaire developer Donald Trump, who had long maintained frontrunner status in national polls, has fallen behind retired neurosurgeon Ben Carson in early-voting Iowa and some polls Tuesday.

They will be joined on stage by eight other candidates, most of them long-time politicians who are trying to break the dominance so far this year of outsider candidates.

PolitiFact will Live Tweet during the debates and share fact-checks of candidates’ past statements. Read more below.

Jeb Bush served as Florida governor from 1999 to 2007. He’s the brother and son of former presidents George W. Bush and George H.W. Bush. Click here to see all the fact-checks we’ve done on Bush.

Ben Carson is a retired pediatric neurosurgeon who is author of six bestselling books published by an international Christian media and publishing company. Click here to see all of our fact-checks on Carson.

Chris Christie is the governor of New Jersey, elected first in 2010 and again in 2014.  Prior to that, he was U.S. Attorney for the District of New Jersey from 2002 to 2008. Click here to see all of our fact-checks of Christie.

Ted Cruz was elected to the U.S. Senate in 2012. He is the former solicitor general for the state of Texas and former director of the Office of Policy Planning at the Federal Trade Commission. Click here to see all of our fact-checks of Cruz.

Carly Fiorina is the former CEO of Hewlett-Packard Company who unsuccessfully sought to unseat incumbent California Democratic U.S. Sen. Barbara Boxer in 2010. Click here to see all of the fact-checks we’ve done on Fiorina.

Mike Huckabee is a former governor of Arkansas who unsuccessfully sought the Republican presidential nomination in 2008. He left hosting a self-titled television show on Fox News in January 2015 to run again. Click here to see all our fact-checks on Huckabee.

John Kasich is the governor of Ohio and former congressman. He defeated Democratic Gov. Ted Strickland in 2010 and was reelected in 2014. Click here to see all of our fact-checks of Kasich.

Rand Paul was elected as a U.S. senator from Kentucky in 2010. Paul is an ophthalmologist and the son of Ron Paul, a 2008 presidential candidate and a former member of Congress from Texas.  Click here to see all of our fact-checks of Paul.

Marco Rubio was elected U.S. senator from Florida in 2010. He served in the Florida House of Representatives from 2000 to 2008 and is a former Speaker of the Florida House. He is from Miami and holds a law degree from the University of Miami. Click here to see all of our fact-checks of Rubio.

Donald Trump is the in-your-face real estate developer, entrepreneur and host of the NBC reality show, “The Apprentice.” Click here to see all the fact-checks we’ve done on Trump.