A dozen Democratic presidential candidates took the stage in Ohio for the fourth debate of the 2020 election, the largest field ever to participate in a single debate.
Here are the winners and losers from tonight’s debate:
Winners: Pete Buttigieg, Andrew Yang, Amy Klobuchar and Bernie Sanders
Losers: Elizabeth Warren, Joe Biden, Tom Steyer and Kamala Harris
After the debate, Beto O’Rourke was asked if Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez’s endorsement of Sen. Bernie Sanders will change the 2020 race.
Here’s what he said:
O’Rourke went on to talk about his record, saying he’s shown that he can bring Democrats “in record numbers in Texas” and independents.
“I think that’s the way that we beat Donald Trump and that’s the way that we run a bold, progressive agenda and we’ve done this and we’ve done it fearlessly talking about the issues that matter most to our fellow Americans, so that’s what I am going to stay focused on,” he said.
Sen. Elizabeth Warren tonight refused to directly explain how she would fund Medicare for All — and many of the other 2020 Democrats called her out for dodging the question.
She was asked about the refusal after the debate. Here’s what she told CNN:
She stressed that she’s met many Americans struggling to afford medical expenses.
“These are families that are struggling with the cost of health care,” she said. “I talk to these people every day when I’m out on the campaign trail, at town halls, when I’m doing selfies afterwards. This is what middle class families are struggling with.”
CNN again asked her if her Medicare for All plan means that middle class taxes will go up.
Here’s her full answer:
Democratic presidential candidiate Tom Steyer posed for photos with Rosario Dawson inside the spin room, the area candidates go after the debate.
Rosario is dating fellow 2020 Democrat Cory Booker.
Tom Steyer, speaking to reporters after the debate, said he thinks his background makes him different from the rest of the Democratic candidates.
Steyer, a billionaire businessman, began amassing his fortune in 1986 when he launched his hedge fund Farallon Capital.
Steyer said he thinks President Trump will run on the economy.
“People are going to want think that whoever the next president is knows about growth, prosperity and shared prosperity,” he said.
Steyer continued: “I think I have a completely different background than anyone on that stage and a completely different ability to tackle those things and as I try to say, take Mr. Trump down.”
Many of the 2020 Democrats directly challenged each other tonight. Sen. Kamala Harris said that may have been a symptom of the candidates trying to make their voices heard under challenging debate rules.
“And I think the reality, then, is that everyone fights for their time to try and be heard and condense what are complex subjects into a 75-second answer,” she added.
Harris was then asked about her calls to get Twitter to suspected President Trump’s account. She said his threats are no longer a matter of free speech.
Here’s how she put it:
Sen. Elizabeth Warren was met swift criticism from her 2020 Democratic rivals tonight as they debated her health care plans.
But Sen. Cory Booker said he wants to remind voters that the Democrats must unite after the primary.
He continued: “I just wanted to be one of the people on the stage continuing to remind folks, we can fight over policy issues and which has the better idea. But we must do it in a way that ultimately we can unify at the end of this and be standing together.”
Sen. Kamala Harris resurfaced a previous claim that the eight biggest pharmaceutical and insurance companies alone made $72 billion in profits last year while Americans continue to suffer under the opioid crisis.
“The eight biggest pharmaceutical companies and insurance companies last year profited $72 billion on the backs of people like the families that we are talking about that have been overwhelmed by this crisis, which is a public health epidemic,” said Harris. “And they knew what they were doing.”
It’s not the first time that Harris has made the argument. She lodged the complaint back in July while criticizing former Vice President Joe Biden’s health care plan.
Facts First: While it was not clear which companies are part of Harris’ tally, she’s likely in the ballpark, at least according to profit data available for US drug companies as well as numbers on health insurance company profits from the National Association of Insurance Commissioners. However, some context is needed as these profits aren’t derived solely from opioids or from the US market alone.
Ten of the largest US-based drug companies made $69 billion in profits last year. The health insurance industry made a total of $23 billion.
The profits of the top US drug companies were as follows: Johnson & Johnson ($15.3 billion), Pfizer ($11.2 billion), Amgen ($8.4 billion), Merck ($6.2 billion), AbbVie ($5.7 billion), Gilead ($5.5 billion), Bristol-Myers Squibb ($5 billion), Biogen ($4.4 billion), Celgene ($4 billion), Eli Lilly ($3.2 billion).
Not all of these profits came from the companies’ operations in the United States.
A report from the National Association of Insurance Commissioners said the health insurance industry generated net earnings of $23.4 billion in 2018.
Some are praising South Bend, Indiana, Mayor Pete Buttigieg’s performance on stage tonight.
Here’s what he attributed his success to:
Vermont Senator Bernie Sanders claimed that six US banks “have assets equivalent to half of the GDP of the United States,” while giving examples of “the grotesque level of income and wealth inequality” in the country.
Facts First: This is correct.
America’s GDP totaled $20.5 trillion in 2018.
The largest banks by assets in the United States are JPMorgan, Bank of America, Citi, Wells Fargo, Goldman Sachs and Morgan Stanley. Together, their total assets amount to $10.6 trillion dollars in 2018, according to ratings agency Standard & Poor’s.
Sen. Elizabeth Warren’s spokesperson said the Democratic hopeful took heat from fellow candidates on the debate stage tonight.
Warren became the main target in the 2020 race, with many of her centrist rivals attacking her plans.
South Bend, Indiana, Mayor Pete Buttigieg and Minnesota Sen. Amy Klobuchar slammed her refusal to say that taxes for the middle class will go up under the “Medicare for All” plan.
Democratic presidential candidate Amy Klobuchar said the 2020 Democratic field “has been bottled up for a while” — but said she thinks she was able to stand out tonight.
“Well, it has been bottled up for a while, and I finally had the opportunity tonight to really make that differentiation with some of the candidates, but also just my difference in tone” she told CNN.
CNN asked her if tonight was a breakout moment.
Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, one of the most sought after progressive endorsements, will back Bernie Sanders, several sources tell CNN.
Her plan to endorse Sanders was first reported in the Washington Post.
A source tells CNN Rep. Ilhan Omar and Rashida Tlaib will also back Sanders.
The final count is in, and Sen. Elizabeth Warren led the group with nearly 23 minutes in speaking time. Former Vice President Joe Biden, who had more than 16 minutes, came in second. See the full breakdown:
The final question of the night is all about unusual friendships.
CNN’s Anderson Cooper brought how Ellen DeGeneres and George W. Bush were spotted at a football game together. DeGeneres faced criticism for being friends with the conservative former president — in response, she said, “I think that we’ve forgotten that that’s OK that we’re all different.”
Here’s how each of the 12 Democrats responded:
Former Vice President Joe Biden laughed when Massachusetts Sen. Elizabeth Warren thanked President Obama for helping her establish a federal agency to protect consumers.
The laugh came after Biden said he had helped her get the votes needed to pass the 2010’s Dodd-Frank Act, under which the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau was established.
Warren responded, thanking Obama.
“I am deeply grateful to President Obama, who fought so hard to make sure that agency was passed into law, and I am deeply grateful to every single person who fought for it and who helped pass it into law,” she said.
Biden interrupted, saying, “You did a hell of a job in your job.” To which, Warren said, “Thank you.”
Democrats, appalled by the fact that President Donald Trump has already successfully appointed two people to the Supreme Court and could be in line to appoint more, debated ways to remake the Supreme Court on Tuesday, with former Vice President Joe Biden, South Bend, Indiana, Mayor Pete Buttigieg and other disagreeing about the best way forward.
Biden, rebutting what Buttigieg has proposed about packing the court, said that he would not seek to add more justices.
“I would not get into court packing,” Biden said. “We add three justices. Next time around we lose control, they add three justices. We begin to lose any credibility the court has at all.
Buttigieg responded: “I’m not talking about packing the court just with people who agree with me, although I certainly will appoint people who share my values.”
Buttigieg has suggested a host of changes to the Supreme Court, including a commission that would aim to de-politicize the nation’s top court.
Former Housing and Urban Development Secretary Julián Castro said, while he wouldn’t pack the court, he would back term limits.
“The smarter move might be to look at term limits or having people cycle off from the appellate courts so that you would have a replenishment of perspective,” he said.
Massachusetts Sen. Elizabeth Warren said she is interested in “a number of options” to fixing the court, but did not outline her specific proposals to do so and instead pivoted to the importance of Roe v. Wade.
Watch here:
Former Vice President Joe Biden was put on defense over his record by his leading progressive foes, Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders and Massachusetts Sen. Elizabeth Warren.
Biden had touted his record in former President Barack Obama’s administration, pressuring Republicans to vote for measures such as the Federal Stimulus act.
That’s when Sanders pounced, attacking Biden over legislation Sanders opposed over the last three decades.
“Joe, you talked about working with Republicans and getting things done. But you know what, you also got done, and I say this as a good friend,” Sanders said. “You got the disastrous war in Iraq done. You got a bankruptcy bill, which is hurting middle class families all over this country. You got trade agreements like NAFTA and (trade relations) with China done, which have cost us 4 million jobs.”
Warren, responding to Biden’s assertion that he is best able to get things done, pointed to her role in creating the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau during Obama’s administration.
Biden interjected, saying, “I went on the floor and got you votes. I got votes for that bill. I convinced people to vote for it, so let’s get those things straight, too.”
Warren responded by thanking Obama – but notably omitting Biden.
“I am deeply grateful to President Obama, who fought so hard to make sure that agency was passed into law,” she said.
We are more than two hours into tonight’s Democratic debate, and Sen. Elizabeth Warren is still out front with the most speaking time so far.
Here’s the full rundown of how much everyone has spoken as of 10:30 p.m. ET:
Follow our live graphic for the latest figures.
Billionaire Tom Steyer is wearing a red, black and yellow plaid tie tonight.
He’s often seen in ties of various tartans. Many are red, and a spokesperson for the candidate said they’re Scottish.
Also, don’t forget about the belt:
Minnesota Sen. Amy Klobuchar gave a peek tonight of what her debate would look like with President Trump if she were to become the Democratic nominee.
Speaking tonight about Roe v. Wade, Klobuchar said she would make it the law of the land. She then outlined what she would say to Trump if he were on the stage:
On the Alabama law: In May, Alabama Gov. Kay Ivey signed into law a controversial abortion bill that could punish doctors who perform abortions with life in prison.
The law only allows exceptions “to avoid a serious health risk to the unborn child’s mother,” for ectopic pregnancy and if the “unborn child has a lethal anomaly.”
Watch here:
Sens. Kamala Harris and Elizabeth Warren have largely stayed out of each other’s way the first three Democratic debates.
That ended tonight, when Harris challenged Warren to stand with her proposal to kick President Trump off of Twitter.
Harris has called on Twitter to suspend the President’s prolific Twitter account because, in her estimation, Trump has used it to threaten his opponents.
“Sen. Warren, I just want to say that I was surprised to hear that you did not agree with me that, on this subject of what should be the rules around corporate responsibility for these big tech companies,” Harris said.
Warren responded pointedly: “I don’t just want to push Donald Trump off Twitter. I want to push him out of the White House. That’s our job.”
Harris shot back: “Join me in saying that his Twitter account should be shut down,” she said.
“No,” Warren said simply.
Harris replied: “You can’t say you are for corporate responsibility if it doesn’t apply to everyone.”
Watch here:
Sen. Kamala Harris recalled a question she asked then-Supreme Court nominee Brett Kavanaugh last year as she argued the importance of protecting women’s reproductive rights.
Harris questioned Kavanaugh during his Senate hearing. She said she “asked him — as a nominee to serve on the United States Supreme Court — could he think of any law that tells a man what to do with his body.”
“And the answer was, ‘Uh, uh, no,’” Harris said on the debate stage tonight.
She continued:
Harris also detailed how she, if elected president, would handle state laws that violate Roe v. Wade.
“For any state that passes a law that violates the constitution and in particular Roe v. Wade, our department of justice will review that law to determine if it is compliant with Roe v. Wade and the constitution, and if it is not, that law will not go into effect,” she said.
Watch here:
Sen. Elizabeth Warren and Facebook have been locked in a days-long feud over the company’s policy allowing candidates to lie in political ads. After Facebook declined to remove an ad by President Donald Trump that contained unfounded allegations against former Vice President Joe Biden, Warren last week ran her own Facebook ad falsely claiming the tech giant had endorsed Trump’s re-election campaign. The point of the lie, Warren said, was to “see just how far” the policy goes — arguing Facebook prioritizes profits over the truth.
Facebook has said it believes all speech by politicians should be protected from censorship. On Saturday, it doubled down on that stance in a rare tweet addressing Warren directly. The company compared itself to broadcasters regulated by the Federal Communications Commission, saying “we agree it’s better to let voters – not companies – decide.” The move opened the door to deeper scrutiny of Facebook’s role in handling political speech, particularly as it struggles to address weaknesses that made it a vector for Russian election interference in 2016.
Former President Jimmy Carter recently said he could not have undertaken the duties of the presidency at 80 years old. But former Vice President Joe Biden said he knows he can.
Biden then made the case why he thinks he should be president.
“It is required now more than any time in any of our lifetimes to have someone who has that capacity on day one,” he said.
If Joe Biden, Elizabeth Warren or Bernie Sanders win the presidency, they will become the oldest president ever inaugurated.
Here’s the breakdown of the candidates’ ages:
Sen. Bernie Sanders said he’s “healthy” and “feeling great” following his heart attack earlier this month. Tonight’s debate marks his return to the campaign trail.
Sanders, who is 78 years old, was asked how he can assure voters that he can handle the stress of the presidency. In response, he invited voters to attend campaign events and see him in person.
“We are going to be mounting a vigorous campaign all over this country. That is how I think I can reassure the American people,” he said.
Sanders then thanked those who wished him well during his recovery — including many of his 2020 rivals:
Beto O’Rourke and Pete Buttigieg clashed Tuesday night over O’Rourke’s proposed mandatory buy-backs of assault-style rifles.
Their fight over gun policy surfaced when the South Bend, Indiana, mayor said O’Rourke’s proposal is impractical.
“You just made it clear that you don’t know how this is going to take weapons off the street,” he said. “If you can develop the plan further, we can have a debate. But we can’t wait.”
The former Texas congressman responded that mass shootings are a “crisis” and that Democrats should make the case for farther-reaching gun control measures. “Let’s decide what we are going to believe in, what we are going to achieve, and let’s bring this country together in order to do that,” he said.
Buttigieg shot back:
“I don’t care what that meant to me or my candidacy,” O’Rourke replied. But to survivors of gun violence, and March For Our Lives, the gun control advocacy group founded by students after the Parkland, Florida, shooting last year, “that was a slap in the face to every single one of those groups,” he said.
Watch here:
South Bend, Indiana, Mayor Pete Buttigieg argued for expanding the Affordable Care Act rather than moving to Medicare for All, the government-backed health care program supported by Sens. Bernie Sanders and Elizabeth Warren.
A moment later, Minnesota Sen. Amy Klobuchar made a similar point, arguing that extending Obamacare was “what we should be doing instead of kicking 149 million people off their insurance in four years.”
FACTS FIRST: The figures cited by both Buttigieg and Klobuchar are close to the latest number provided by one study. Some 153 million people are covered by private plans sponsored by their employers, according to the latest Kaiser Family Foundation report. There are also tens of millions more who are covered by private plans through Medicare Advantage, Medicaid managed care plans and on the Obamacare individual market.
All these people would have to change their health care under Medicare for All — but they would be covered by the federal plan instead.
Former Housing and Urban Development Secretary Julián Castro said while President Trump “caging kids on the border,” he is “effectively letting ISIS prisoners run free” in Syria.
“He has made a tremendous mistake, a total disaster in Syria,” Castro said.
Castro said, as president, he would work with allies to stop the military aggression. He said also supports stronger sanctions than those announced by the Trump administration.
Trump on Monday sought to project a harder line on Turkey as the country pushes further into northern Syria. Trump said he was applying harsh new sanctions on certain Turkish officials, and in a phone call with Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, Trump “could not have been more firm” in expressing his displeasure at the incursion, according to Vice President Mike Pence, who updated reporters at the White House on Monday evening.
More context: In defending his decision to remove US troops from northern Syria, Trump echoed talking points from Turkish officials, suggesting that Kurdish forces might be purposely allowing ISIS detainees to escape camps and prisons.
US officials have told CNN there are no indications that the Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces have intentionally released any of the 10,000-plus ISIS prisoners they guard. Due to the attack by Turkish forces on the SDF in northern Syrian, the Kurdish-led militia has had to remove troops guarding prisons and camps holding ISIS fighters and those displaced by the fight against ISIS.
Turkish warplanes and artillery have also repeatedly struck several detention camps, allowing the escape of several ISIS prisoners and 785 people connected to ISIS fighters, according to Kurdish authorities. Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan suggested the reports were “disinformation,” designed to “provoke the US and Europe.”
US officials believe the SDF— who have lost 11,000 troops in the fight against ISIS — is unlikely to intentionally release any ISIS prisoners given the direct threat the terrorist group poses to Kurdish-held areas.
Watch here:
The two veterans on the debate stage sparred on Tuesday night over America’s role in Syria, with South Bend, Indiana, Mayor Pete Buttigieg accusing Rep. Tulsi Gabbard of being “dead wrong.”
The high-profile confrontation on foreign policy highlights a stark divide between Gabbard, who has pegged violence in Syria to America’s presence in the Middle East, and other candidates on the stage who blame President Donald Trump for removing soldiers from Syria for the recent spate of violence.
“We’ve got to understand the reality of the situation there, which is that the slaughter of the Kurds being done by Turkey is yet another negative consequence of the regime change war we’ve been waging in Syria,” said Gabbard, who served in the Iraq War. “Donald Trump has the blood of the Kurds on his hand, but so do many of the politicians in our country from both parties who have supported this ongoing regime change war in Syria that started in 2011.”
Buttigieg took issue with that answer.
Buttigieg, who served in Afghanistan, said that he did not think “we should have gone to Iraq in the first place” and that the United States needs to “get out of Afghanistan, but it’s also the case that a small number of specialized, special operations forces and intelligence capabilities were the only thing that stood between that part of Syria and what we’re seeing now, which is the beginning of a genocide and the resurgence of ISIS.”
Businessman Andrew Yang has forgone the typical American flag pin of many politicians. Instead, he’s wearing a pin that says “MATH.”
It’s actually his campaign slogan: “Make America Think Harder.”
Yang, who has an economics degree from Brown University, has joked about his love for math a lot.
On the campaign trail, he often tells audiences that the biggest change in the White House after Trump would be an “Asian guy who likes math.”
Former Vice President Joe Biden says if President Donald Trump is re-elected in 2020, it would result in the end of NATO and ISIS attacks on Americans.
Biden pointed to Trump’s criticism of NATO and cozier relationship with Russian President Vladimir Putin.
“If he is re-elected, I promise you, there will be no NATO. … We’ll be in real trouble,” he said of Trump.
He also defended the United States’ intervention in Syria, Afghanistan and Iraq in combatting ISIS.“
They are going to in fact damage the United States of America. That’s why we got involved in the first place, and not ceded the whole area to Assad and to the Russians,” he said.
New Jersey Sen. Cory Booker warned Democrats against “tearing each other down because we have a different plan.”
He said Democrats should be “defining ourselves by what we’re against, but we need to win this election by talking about who and what we are for.”
Booker’s comment came as Democrats discussed taxes on the wealthy. Massachusetts Sen. Elizabeth Warren – who has been attacked repeatedly by a number of her rivals over her proposals – has advocated a 2% tax on the very wealthiest Americans.
“I have a different plan than Elizabeth Warren and than many people on this stage and it involves, again, fair taxes for the richest,” he said. “We have a lot of work to do there – but we’ve had 20 years of presidential debates and we have never talked about the violence in America of child poverty. We have got to begin to talk more eloquently and persuasively and urgently about doing things to make sure not just fair taxes are paid by those on the top but that we deal with the obscenity of having the highest level of child poverty in the world.”
Asked about his son’s international business dealings, former Vice President Joe Biden said, “I never discussed a single thing with my son about anything having to do with Ukraine. No one has indicated I have.”
Facts first: Joe Biden’s son, Hunter Biden, has indicated otherwise. In both an interview on ABC that aired today and a New Yorker article from July, he said that he had spoken briefly with his father about his involvement with Ukrainian company Burisma Holdings.
According to the New Yorker, “As Hunter recalled, his father discussed Burisma with him just once: “Dad said, ‘I hope you know what you are doing,’ and I said, ‘I do.’” However, the New Yorker article did not make clear whether Hunter Biden said there were any more details as part of the father-son exchange.
In the ABC interview, Hunter Biden initially minimized the exchange saying “it wasn’t a discussion in any way,” before acknowledging the New Yorker’s characterization was accurate.
Rep. Tulsi Gabbard, an Iraq War veteran, has said that US troops should leave Syria — but said she doesn’t agree with how President Trump is now withdrawing troops.
She was just asked what she would have done differently. Here’s how she answered:
Sen. Amy Klobuchar learned from her first three debates.
After delivering three muted debate performances in the last four months, Klobuchar used two of her first three questions to directly take on Massachusetts Sen. Elizabeth Warren, the candidate who has surged most in the Democratic primary.
There is a reason for this urgency: Klobuchar, after qualifying for the first four debates, is on the verge of not qualifying for the fifth Democratic debate in November. While Klobuchar has the required number of donors, she has yet to reach the polling threshold, something that her team believes she can boost with a well-reviewed debate.
“I want to give a reality check to Elizabeth because no one on this stage wants to protect billionaires,” Klobuchar said after Warren accused people on stage of wanting to protect billionaires. “Not even the billionaire wants to protect billionaires,” she added, referring to businessman Tom Steyer.
“We just have different approaches,” Klobuchar added. “Your idea is not the only idea. And when I look at this, I think about Donald Trump.”
Warren responded: “I understand that this is hard, but I think as Democrats, we are going to succeed when we dream big and fight hard, not when we dream small and quit before we get started.”
That did not go over well with Klobuchar.
“I think simply because you have different ideas doesn’t mean you’re fighting for regular people,” she replied. “I wouldn’t even be up on this stage if it wasn’t for unions and the dignity of work.”
This wasn’t the first time Klobuchar went after Warren. Earlier during the debate the Minnesota senator accused her of not being “honest” about how she will pay for her health care plan, which she also called a “pipe dream.”
Watch here:
We’re an hour into tonight’s Democratic debate, and so far Sen. Elizabeth Warren has had the most speaking time.
Here’s the full rundown of how much everyone has spoken before the first commercial break:
Follow our live graphic for the latest figures.
Massachusetts Sen. Elizabeth Warren said while she is hard on billionaires, she doesn’t dislike them.
But she said she does want them to pay their fair share.
Warren argued that because billionaires have “made a fortune in America,” they should be able pitch in two cents “so every other kid in America has a chance to make it.”
Businessman Andrew Yang, in an effort to tout his trademark $1,000-a-month universal basic income policy proposal, invoked his two sons, including one who is autistic.
Yang argued that Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders’ “vision of the economy of the 21st century is not a vision that most Americans would embrace” and didn’t take into account a family like his, including families raising children with disabilities.
“We have a freedom dividend of $1,000 a month. It recognizes the work in our families and communities,” Yang said. “It helps all Americans.”
He added: “When we put the money into our hands, we can build a trickle-up economy from our people, our families and our communities up. It will enable us to do the work that we want to do. This is the sort of vision in response to the fourth industrial revolution that we have to embrace.”
Sen. Kamala Harris said the candidates at the debate have barely brought up the issue of women’s access to reproductive health care.
“This is the sixth debate we have had in this presidential cycle. Not one word with all of these discussions about health care, on women’s access to reproductive health care. It’s outrageous,” Harris said.
Some background: Several states have taken steps recently to pass anti-abortion bills, while other states controlled by Democrats have moved to add abortion protections. (Read more about this here.)
Watch here:
Sen. Elizabeth Warren refused to say if taxes would go up for the middle class in order to pay for Medicare for All.
Sen. Bernie Sanders, meanwhile, said it was “appropriate” to acknowledge tax increases.
“I do think it is appropriate to acknowledge that taxes will go up: They’re gonna up significantly for the wealthy and for virtually everybody. The tax increase will be substantially less — substantially less — than what they were paying for premiums and out-of-pocket expenses,” Sanders said.
Warren, who also supports a Medicare for All heath care plan, was asked to acknowledge Sanders’ comments about taxes.
That’s when Sen. Amy Klobuchar chimed in.
“At least Bernie’s being honest here and saying how he’s going to pay this,” she said. “I think we owe it to the American people to tell them where we will send the invoice.”
Some context: At the first Democratic debate in Miami earlier this year, Sanders said that the middle class will pay more taxes but will save more through universal health care and free college under his administration.
Watch here:
Minnesota Sen. Amy Klobuchar didn’t waste any time to go after Massachusetts Sen. Elizabeth Warren on Tuesday, using her answer on health care to raise questions about the Warren-backed “Medicare for All” single-payer health care plan.
“I appreciate Elizabeth’s work,” Klobuchar said before delivering her most direct line of any Democratic debate so far: “The difference between a plan and a pipe dream is something that you can actually get done.”
Klobuchar’s key issue with Medicare for All, a sweeping health care plan that would remake the entire health care system with an entirely government backed system, is that she doesn’t believe it can get done.
But Klobuchar also raised questions about Warren’s unwillingness to answer a yes-or-no questions about whether Medicare for All will raise taxes on the middle class, something Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders has said would happen.
“At least Bernie is being honest here,” Klobuchar said. “We owe it to the American people to tell them where we will send the invoice.”
Warren responded to her Minnesota colleague by saying, “The problem we have got right now is the overall cost of health care. You can try to spin this any way you want. I have spent my life on working on how America’s middle class has been hollowed out and how we fight back.”
There will be less work in manufacturing, less work in call centers, less work driving trucks, and more work in health care and home care and construction.
MIT Technology Review tried to track all the different reports on the effect that automation will have on the workforce. There are a lot of them. And they suggest anywhere from moderate displacement to a total workforce overhaul with varying degrees of alarm.
One of the reports, by the McKinsey Global Institute, includes a review of how susceptible to automation different jobs might be and finds that hundreds of millions of people worldwide will have to find new jobs or learn new skills. Learning new skills can be more difficult than it sounds, as CNN has found at car plants, such as the one that closed in Lordstown, Ohio.
Sen. Elizabeth Warren has talked for more than 5 minutes. Meanwhile, Tom Steyer has spoken for less than a minute.
There are countless disagreements between the 12 Democrats on stage. Impeaching President Donald Trump is not one of them.
The first question tonight was on impeaching Trump, and nearly every Democrat on stage spoke at length about why they support moving toward impeachment proceedings against the President.
The near unanimity on impeachment highlights how many Democratic voters feel about Trump and how it behooves each presidential candidate to back ousting him from office.
Former Vice President Joe Biden was just asked about his son’s business ties to foreign countries.
The Bidens have been at the center of the House impeachment inquiry, which is focusing on President Trump’s attempts to pressure Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky to investigate the former vice president during a July 25 phone call.
Hunter Biden has pledged to not work for any foreign-owned companies or serve on their boards should his father be elected President.
“If it’s not OK for a president’s family to be involved in foreign businesses, why was it okay for your son when you were vice president?” CNN’s Anderson Cooper asked Biden moments ago.
He then shifted to the impeachment inquiry into Trump.
“What I think is important is we focus on why it’s so important to remove this man from office,” he said.
Remember: There has been no evidence of wrongdoing by either Joe or Hunter Biden.
Watch here:
Businessman Tom Steyer, who is appearing tonight on the debate stage for the first time in the race, attacked President Trump, calling him the “criminal in the White House.”
Steyer then went on to talk about his movement to impeach Trump.
“Two years ago, I started the need to impeach movement because I knew there was something wrong at 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue, that we did have the most corrupt President in the country and the voice and will of the American people would drag Washington to see it as a matter of right and wrong, not of political expediency. Impeaching and removing the president is something the American people are demanding,” he said.
Pete Buttigieg says he is running for the 2020 Democratic nomination “to be the president that can turn the page” from Donald Trump’s presidency.
The South Bend, Indiana, mayor, asked those watching the debate tonight to imagine the day after Trump’s presidency ends.
On that day, Buttigieg said, the nation will be “vulnerable. Even more torn apart by politics than we are right now.” And the economy, climate change and other issues will still need to be addressed. “I’m running to be the president that can turn the page,” he said.
Watch here:
Sen. Kamala Harris said she would vote to remove President Donald Trump from office if he’s impeached by the House is based on “being observant.”
CNN’s Anderson Cooper asked if she was “being fair to the President” when she said she’d would vote to remove him.
Harris continued: “Maya Angelou told us, ‘Listen to somebody when they tell you who they are the first time.’ During that election, Donald Trump told us he could shoot somebody on Fifth Avenue and get away with it. He has consistently since he won been selling out the American people.”
Watch here:
The first question at tonight’s debate is all about about the impeachment inquiry into President Trump.
The question: “You have said there’s enough evidence for President Trump to be impeached and removed from office. But the question is, with the election one year away, why shouldn’t it be the voters who determine the President’s fate?”
Sen. Elizabeth Warren answered first:
The 12 Democratic presidential hopefuls won’t be making opening statements tonight.
Instead, the candidates are diving straight into questions.
Here are the rules:
Twelve Democratic candidates just took the stage in Ohio for tonight’s debate. This is the fourth 2020 Democratic debate.
Watch here:
Tom Perez, chairman of the Democratic National Committee, took to the stage tonight to call for unity among Democrats to defeat President Trump.
Perez went on to slam Trump, saying that the President “practices the politics of division and distraction.” He called Trump “chronically ineffective.”
He then criticized Trump’s call with the Ukrainian president, asking to investigate Joe Biden, a leading 2020 Democratic candidate, and Biden’s son, Hunter.
“Mr. President, our democracy is not a bargaining chip,” Perez said. “Our security is not for sale.”
Watch here:
One of Julián Castro’s biggest fans is tuning in ahead of the debate.
Erica Lira Castro, Julián Castro’s wife, tweeted a picture of his son grinning while pointing to a television tuned to CNN.
“That’s my daddy right there!” she captioned the photo.
Demonstrators and supporters of President Trump gathered at Otterbein University in Westerville, Ohio, hours before the Democratic presidential debate.
Some demonstrators carried long rifles and others held signs as they walked through the campus.
This is what it looked like:
Tom Steyer is new here.
The billionaire businessman and major Democratic donor, after initially declining to run for president, announced a presidential bid in July.
He has spent a staggering $30 million on digital and television ads in the first three months of his campaign, money that helped him meet both the donor and polling threshold outlined for Tuesday’s debate.
And Steyer, who has centered his campaign on fixing a broken electoral and government system, isn’t going anywhere: The businessman’s campaign also claims to have surpassed the thresholds for November’s debate, as well.
Steyer is a regular on cable television and headlined a town hall on CNN earlier this month. But standing on a debate stage with some of the Democratic Party’s biggest names all around you is a different environment and one that the longtime donor has not yet experienced.
Steyer comes in with an advantage, however: Much of his political spending has been focused on Need to Impeach, an organization that aimed to encourage voters to get behind ousting the Republican president. That effort is now underway in the House, a win for Steyer.
Tonight’s debate stage will be the largest in modern history, presenting candidates with the question of how to stand out when flanked by eleven other candidates.
Businessman Andrew Yang, a candidate who has garnered a devoted following, has made it a point of punctuating each debate performance with a unique moment. Yang opened September’s debate by announcing that he was offering his trademark Freedom Dividend, a $1,000 a year check, to 10 people.
And Sen. Kamala Harris has come into each debate with a clear goal to make a moment. Harris, during the June debate, confronted Biden over his history on race and bussing. That moment gave Harris significant momentum, vaulting her all the way to second place in some nationals polls. But that moment proved to be a quick burst and Harris was unable to sustain the momentum.
But tonight’s debate could be the last for four Democratic contenders: Klobuchar, O’Rourke, Castro and Gabbard face the reality that their limited support may not be enough for them to qualify for November’s Democratic debate, making the contest in Ohio possibly their last.
An ongoing fight between South Bend Mayor Pete Buttigieg, former Texas Rep. Beto O’Rourke and New Jersey Sen. Cory Booker intensified this week.
The three Democrats have publicly sparred over gun control laws for weeks, with Buttigieg and O’Rourke continuing their fight on the issue of ending the tax-exempt status of a religious organization that discriminates against LGBTQ Americans.
How it all started: The back and forth began earlier this month with the three disagreeing over how far Democrats should go on gun laws. O’Rourke and Booker have pushed for the mandatory buy-backs of assault-style rifles, while Buttigieg has called the focus on that policy a “shiny object” and instead suggested it is smarter to back mandatory background checks, allowing states to adopt “red flag” laws that allow families or police to ask a judge to have a potentially dangerous person’s guns taken away, and banning the sale of additional assault-style rifles.
Buttigieg has not backed down from the fight.
“I get it. He needs to pick a fight in order to stay relevant,” Buttigieg told Snapchat when asked about O’Rourke’s comments.
Buttigieg also called mandatory buy-backs “confiscation” in his interview, leading Booker to accuse the Democrats of “doing the NRA’s work for them.”
Booker has also commented on how O’Rourke’s embrace of mandatory buy-backs came after the shooting in El Paso, Texas, his hometown. Booker had already been in favor of the plan by the time O’Rourke supported it.
“He saw the horrors visiting his community,” Booker said of O’Rourke’s reversal on the issue. “Are we going to have to wait until hell’s lottery comes to your community? No, we are a better country.”
O’Rourke and Buttigieg’s sparring continued on the issue of LGBTQ protections in the United States. After O’Rourke argued that religious institutions should lose their tax exempt status if they discriminate against LGBTQ Americans, Buttigieg told CNN that he “wasn’t sure” whether O’Rourke fully “understood the implications of what he was saying.”
The multi-front fighting leading into the debate makes it likely that the tension could spill out on the debate stage.
A lot has happened since Democrats last took the stage in September.
These are some key issues that could come up tonight:
The debate represents a number of firsts in the race to take on President Trump.
And tonight could represent the last time four candidates get this kind of national spotlight: Only eight of the candidates on stage have qualified for the November debate in Georgia, leaving four candidates — Minnesota Sen. Amy Klobuchar, former Rep. Beto O’Rourke, former Housing and Urban Development Secretary Julian Castro and Rep. Tulsi Gabbard — with the real possibility of tonight’s debate being their last.
Tonight’s debate is co-hosted by CNN and The New York Times. If you’re following live updates here, you can watch the debate in the player at the top of this page.
Want another way to watch? The debate will air exclusively on CNN, CNN International and CNN en Español, and it will stream on CNN.com’s homepage and NYTimes.com’s homepage.
The debate will also stream live on the following Facebook Pages:
In addition, the debate will be available across mobile devices via CNN’s and New York Times’ apps for iOS and Android, via CNNgo apps for Apple TV, Roku, Amazon Fire, Chromecast and Android TV, SiriusXM Channels 116, 454 and 795, the Westwood One Radio Network and National Public Radio.
You can also ask Amazon’s Alexa to play the debate, and the voice-controlled assistant will play the audio of the debate.
Tonight’s CNN/The New York Times debate stage will feature a record 12 candidates. It could be the last debate appearance for up to 33% of them.
These four are all in deep danger of not making November’s debate:
Here’s why: Fundraising and polling qualification thresholds have been bumped up once again for November’s debate. Jumping those hurdles could be difficult for those four candidates in November.
The Democratic National Committee is requiring candidates to garner at least 5% in at least two DNC-sanctioned early voting state — that’s Iowa, New Hampshire, Nevada and South Carolina — primary polls or 3% in at least four DNC-sanctioned national or early state primary polls.
Candidates can use polls released between September 13 and November 13 to make the cut.
Twelve Democratic candidates will take the stage at tonight’s presidential debate in Westerville, Ohio. The event is co-hosted by CNN and The New York Times.
Ever wonder what it takes to put together a debate?
Watch the video below to see the debate stage built from the ground up:
To receive an invitation to this debate, candidates needed to…
The requirements will be higher for the next one: For the November debate, the polling and contribution thresholds will be raised to require candidates to achieve 3% in four DNC-approved polls, and the number of unique donors needed increases to 165,000 people.
The November criteria is likely to shrink the number of candidates eligible to participate in DNC-sanctioned debates after October — placing Democrats who fail to reach the new thresholds in political jeopardy.
The Democratic National Committee’s fourth sanctioned primary debate is tonight. It starts at 8 p.m. ET from Otterbein University in Westerville, Ohio, a northeast suburb of the state capital, Columbus.
In all, 12 Democratic hopefuls will appear on the same stage for the debate:
Here’s the order they’ll stand in:
