The top seven Democratic presidential candidates took the stage at Loyola Marymount University in Los Angeles on Thursday night for the last primary debate of 2019 (don’t worry, plenty more debates to come in the New Year!) With contests in Iowa and New Hampshire now weeks away, the candidates were a bit more aggressive toward one another, notably towards South Bend, IN, Mayor Pete Buttigieg, whose polling numbers have climbed in early states. With only seven candidates on stage—Buttigieg, Joe Biden, Elizabeth Warren, Bernie Sanders, Andrew Yang, Amy Klobuchar, and Tom Steyer—this debate covered more ground than most earlier ones, but the lack of diversity on stage was noticeable on a range of issues.
Here’s what went down:
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AMY KLOBUCHAR
Amy Klobuchar has been polling in the middle of the pack in Iowa for months now, but she stood out in this debate, receiving much more speaking time than usual to highlight her experience in the Senate, Midwestern background, and practical approach to governing. Whereas other candidates used the night’s opening question about impeachment to pivot back to their respective campaign messages, Klobuchar gave a clear, strong answer, emphasizing that if Trump were actually innocent, he’d have no problem with witnesses in his administration testifying. Makes sense to us!
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RACE
Between Kamala Harris’s departure from the race and the heightened qualification thresholds, the stage was the whitest it’s ever been in this cycle—a fact that the PBS and Politico moderators did not let go unmentioned. Andrew Yang called it “both an honor and a disappointment” to be the only candidate of color on stage, and when asked about the message it sent to voters of color, made a strong point about race in America and who does and does not get to participate in America’s political process. After rattling off statistics illustrating stark racial disparities in net worth and maternal mortality, he noted that fewer than five percent of Americans donate to political campaigns, because people need disposable income to do that. He transitioned as he often does into promoting his “freedom dividend” of $1000 month as a way to make society (and the political process) more equitable. It’s a little bold to assume that giving people more money will mean that they’ll give that money back to you, but he has a point!
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BIDEN/AFGHANISTAN
Moderator Amna Nawaz asked Joe Biden about the Washington Post’s recent investigation detailing how prior administrations lied about the state of the war in Afghanistan. Biden stated that he had ‘strongly opposed’ the Obama Administration’s position on the war, noting that he had clashed with the Department of Defense and had voiced internal opposition to the troop surge there.
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WINE CAVE
An escalating feud between Elizabeth Warren and Pete Buttigieg over transparency and private fundraising spilled out on to live television an hour into the debate, when Warren called out Buttigieg for hosting an expensive campaign fundraiser in a Napa Valley “wine cave full of crystals.” (It’s...what you're picturing.) Buttigieg pointed out that he has the least personal wealth of anyone on stage, and, in response to Warren’s point that she’s rejected all private fundraising, pointed out that she’s held high-dollar fundraisers in her past campaigns without allowing it to corrupt her. Amy Klobuchar broke up their argument, interjecting that she has “never even been to a wine cave,” and Bernie brought it home, underscoring the need to get money out of politics (and making us laugh with a comparison between Pete’s and Biden’s respective billionaire donors). Meanwhile, somewhere off-screen, a staffer just got a raise: peteswinecave.com now redirects to Bernie’s campaign website.
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ELECTABILITY
Tim Alberta, a Politico moderator who apparently lives for drama, quoted Barack Obama recently saying that women should lead, and that many of the world’s problems stem from "old men not getting out of the way” then turned to the stage’s resident old men for comment. Bernie joked “I think I disagree with him on this one. Maybe a little self-serving but I do disagree.” He explained that he believed the true issue is “where power resides in America and it’s not white or black or male or female.” Biden stressed that Obama wasn’t talking about him. Warren had perhaps the killer line of the night, in response to Alberta pointing out that she would be the oldest president ever inaugurated: “I’d also be the youngest woman ever inaugurated.”
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Sparring over electability from another angle, Amy Klobuchar and Pete Buttigieg had a fiery exchange over their respective track records. Klobuchar lit into Mayor Pete for his lack of political experience, and Pete countered with his line about winning re-election in South Bend as “a gay dude in Mike Pence's Indiana.” Amy then brought up his failed 2010 bid for state treasurer, which may have been a little obscure for the mic-drop closer she was hoping for.
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The last question of the night was a weird one: is there a candidate on stage of whom you would ask forgiveness or to whom you would give a gift? Andrew Yang was the first up and after taking a moment to process, managed to get a laugh and plug his book all at once. Other male candidates followed suit, and it was notable that the only two women on stage both asked forgiveness for coming off as too combative at times.
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- Biden and Bernie once again aired their signature disagreements about health care. Biden attacked Bernie’s Medicare for All plan for its $30 trillion cost, while Bernie argued Biden’s plan maintains the “status quo.” At one point in the back-and-forth, Biden let Bernie know he just needed some space: “Put your hand down for a second, okay, Bernie?" Bernie responded, “Just waving to you, Joe.” 👋
- Trump’s campaign consistently touts metrics of a strong economy to try and boost his chances for re-election. When asked how Democrats should respond, Biden had a strong answer about how this economy is not, in fact, working for everyone: “The middle class is getting killed.”
- Warren got a chance to address critics who say her proposed tax increases will slow economic growth, and her response was right to the point. “They’re just wrong!”
- Sanders, who was asked about sacrificing economic growth in the oil and gas industries to move to a green economy, let the moderator know his question “misses the mark,” (read: fuck your question), and noted that climate change is “an issue of whether we save the planet for our children, and our grandchildren.”
- Joe Biden spoke about how he has become a mentor for young men and women who struggle with stuttering, as he himself has since childhood. He remarked: "The little kid who said 'I-I-I can't talk. Wh-wh-what do I do?' I have scores of these young women and men who I keep in contact with." Classy as ever, former White House Press Secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders mocked Biden, tweeting: “I I I I I I I I hhhave absolutely no idea what Biden is talking about.” She quickly deleted the tweet and apologized after Biden responded.
- Pete Buttigieg called out President Trump’s failure to criticize China, highlighting that Trump has signaled that his “silence can be purchased,” and that we must adopt a stronger response to China’s human rights violations in addition to working toward a smarter trade policy.
- When asked about the growing epidemic of violence against trans people, specifically trans women of color, Elizabeth Warren said that she would use the presidency to elevate the issue by reading the names of trans women of color who had been killed from the Rose Garden.
- This debate almost didn’t happen after the seven candidates threatened to skip it in solidarity with striking campus workers at LMU, but the workers reached a tentative agreement with the school’s food service provider at the last minute. Despite this, moderators didn’t ask about unions or labor issues once.
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