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The Guardian - US
The Guardian - US
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Joan E Greve in Washington

Democratic debate: Biden urges Americans to 'get up and take country back' from Trump – as it happened

Democratic presidential candidates debate in Atlanta, Georgia, on 20 November.
Democratic presidential candidates debate in Atlanta, Georgia, on 20 November. Photograph: Brendan McDermid/Reuters

Substantive debate likely to be swamped by impeachment

That’s it from me in Atlanta after the fifth Democratic presidential debate, which produced a number of substantive answers but will likely be swamped by the impeachment inquiry.

Even though tonight’s moderators raised a number of issues that had previously been ignored by debate questioners, such as paid family leave and voting rights, it seemed unlikely that the resulting discussion would cut through impeachment coverage.

The headlines about Gordon Sondland’s bombshell testimony confirming a quid pro quo in the delaying of military aid to Ukraine is sure to dominate news headlines and chyrons tomorrow -- which could be bad news for the lower-polling Democratic presidential candidates who hoped to break out tonight.

The next chance the candidates will get to debate will be Dec. 19 in LA, but four of the contenders who participated tonight still need to qualify. The question of whether tonight got them closer to that California stage will be answered in the coming days.

Harris criticizes candidates who take black voters for granted

Speaking to reporters in the spin room after the debate, Kamala Harris criticized Democratic politicians who only speak to black voters when they’re trying to get elected.

“That’s just not working, and it’s not right,” the California senator said. “It’s not fair.”

Harris went on to list a number of issues that disproportionatley affect African Americans, such as criminal justice reform and gun violence, to argue Democratic candidates should be paying more thoughtful attention to black voters.

Tonight’s moderators did a better job than their predecessors in allowing each candidate time to speak, but Elizabeth Warren still ended up talking more than twice as much as Andrew Yang.

In comparison, Warren spoke about three times as much as Tom Steyer during the fourth Democratic debate in Ohio.

Despite criticism tonight from Pete Buttigieg, Tulsi Gabbard still will not apologize for sitting down with Bashar al-Assad, who was found to have used chemical weapons against Syrian civilians.

Asked whether she considered Assad to be a war criminal, Gabbard repeatedly dodged the question. (Buttigieg, in contrast, referred to him as a “murderous dictator” during the debate.)

Democratic presidential candidate Marianne Williamson may not have been on the debate stage tonight, but she still offered a cheeky message to those still following her struggling White House bid.

The self-help author, who was briefly the fascination of Twitter with her campaign promise to “harness love” to combat Trump, has failed to qualify for the past three debates.

Cory Booker’s campaign said it saw a major fundraising bump after the New Jersery senator’s closing statement in tonight’s debate, in which he asked viewers to help him qualify for the December debate and praised the work of civil rights leaders like congressman John Lewis.

Over in the spin room at Tyler Perry Studios, Tom Steyer is taking questions about his culinary preferences from Macey Hensley, a correspondent for “The Ellen Show” who told journalists before the debate that she is (almost) ten years old.

Tonight’s discussion about the importance of black voters in the Democratic Party threw a spotlight on most candidates’ struggles to appeal to African-Americans.

In fact, among the four top-polling candidates, only one person has consistently attracted strong support from black voters: Joe Biden, who had a shaky performance tonight.

One of Kamala Harris’ congressional endorsers, Marcia Fudge of Ohio, praised the California senator’s demeanor on the debate stage as she was attacked by Tulsi Gabbard.

Speaking to the Guardian’s Oliver Laughland after tonight’s debate, Democratic National Committee chairman Tom Perez largely demurred when asked whether he believed Tulsi Gabbard’s attacks on her fellow candidates were harmful to the party.

“The voters will decide,” Perez said. “They’ll listen to everyone. They’ll make evaluations of who said what and whether they agree with what they’ve said and then they will make their decisions, and we’re going to start in Iowa real soon.”

But Gabbard is already attempting to fundraise off the attacks, slamming Kamala Harris in an email to supporters after the debate.

With the debate wrapped up, there doesn’t appear to be a broad consensus on Twitterland on which candidate won the night. The only agreement seems to be that the debate moderators were the true winners.

Tulsi Gabbard is continuing to criticize her fellow Democratic presidential candidates offstage, sending an email to supporters slamming Kamala Harris for attacking the Hawaii congresswoman.

Gabbard had previously gone after Harris at the July debate, and the California senator responded in kind tonight by accusing Gabbard of spending Barack Obama’s whole presidency trashing him on Fox News.

Here are some of the main takeaways from the night:

  • Candidates largely avoided attacking Pete Buttigieg, the newly minted frontrunner in Iowa, until the very end of the debate. With just a few minutes left until the event’s conclusion, Amy Klobuchar and Tulsi Gabbard raised doubts that the Indiana mayor had enough experience to become president. Buttigieg deftly responded by attacking Gabbard’s judgement in sitting down with Bashar al-Assad, calling the Syrian leader a “murderous dictator.”
  • Joe Biden appeared shaky, stumbling over some rather simple facts and choosing poor wording on an answer about gender violence. The former vice president incorrectly identified former senator Carol Moseley Braun as the “only” African-American woman elected to the Senate until Kamala Harris noted she also fit that description, and Biden promised to keep “punching” at the issue of gender violence.
  • Amy Klobuchar delivered one of the best answers of the night by describing the double standard that exists for women in politics. She earned applause and Twitter plaudits for saying, “If you think a woman can’t beat Donald Trump, Nancy Pelosi does it every single day.”
  • The debate’s four women moderators won praise for their questions, which focused on previously undiscussed issues like paid family leave and housing affordability. Tonight’s event was also historic; for the first time ever, the majority of debate participants (counting moderators and candidates) were women.

The blog will have more reactions to the debate coming up, so stay tuned.

Fifth Democratic debate concludes

Elizabeth Warren used her closing statement to emphasize the need to get money out of politics and celebrate America for giving the “daughter of a janitor” the chance to run for president.

Joe Biden similarly praised the promsie of America as a country and told viewers we now have an oppotunity to “get up and take it back” from Trump.

And with that, the fifth Democratic presidential debate has concluded. Stay tuned for more analysis.

In his closing statement, Pete Buttigieg remarked upon the debate’s setting of Atlanta to celebrate the black middle-class and argued he would help lead “the era that must come after Trump.”

Bernie Sanders noted his participation in the civil rights movement to emphasize he was “committed to the fight against all forms of discrimination” and promised to “lead an administraion that looks like America.”

Andrew Yang said in his closing statement that his presidency would offer “a new way forward for our people” and rewrite the rules of the US economy for the next generation.

Amy Klobuchar pitched herself as a candidate who could win “red districts, suburbran purple districts and bright blue districts” to forge a new path after Trump’s presidency.

Echoing her campaign slogan, Kamala Harris said a number of forms of justice, such as reproductive justice and economic justice, were on the ballot in 2020.

Tom Steyer attempted to distinguish himself from the rest of the large primary field by arguing he was the candidate who can enact change and call out Trump for being “a fraud and a failure on the economy.”

Tulsi Gabbard offered a message of unity after attacking several of her fellow candidates onstage, calling for “peace, inclusion and true equality.”

Candidates deliver closing statements

Candidates have started to deliver closing statements, even though the debate was scheduled to end a five minutes ago.

Cory Booker closed by asking viewers to help him qualify for the December debate and thanked civil rights leaders like John Lewis, who was in the debate stage, for their incredible work.

Klobuchar and Gabbard challenge Buttigieg's experience level

With just five minutes left in the debate, Amy Klobuchar delivered her most direct attack on Pete Buttigieg, emphasizing her governmental experience level over the Indiana mayor.

After Buttigieg laid out the need for fortifying voting rights, Klobuchar said it was one example where the mayor said the right words while she had actually championed legislation that could enact change.

Buttigieg responded that experience beyond Washington mattered, citing his experience as a veteran who fought in the Afghanistan war.

And then Buttigieg was criticized by ... Tulsi Gabbard, surprisingly. Gabbard, the only other veteran onstage, said military service was not enough to make one experienced for the Oval Office and criticized Buttigieg’s foreign policy proposals.

Buttigieg then shot back by slamming Gabbard for sitting down with Bashar al-Assad, calling the Syrian leader a “murderous dictator.”

People are celebrating that voting rights finally made it to the debate stage.

Less than ten minutes remain in the fifth Democratic deabte, and the conversation has turned to abortion.

Amy Klobuchar called for Roe v Wade, the Supreme Court that legalized abortion, to be codified into law.

Elizabeth Warren reminded viewers that outlawing abortion would only prevent low-income women from having abortions, while wealthy women would still be able to access the procedure.

And Bernie Sanders emphasized that men must play an active role in strengthening reproductive rights across the country.

Joe Biden’s last answer before the commercial break was undeniably bungled from beginning to end.

The former vice president also incorrectly identified former senator Carol Moseley Braun as the “only” African-American woman elected to the Senate, even though Kamala Harris was standing feet away from him. The California senator quickly corrected him.

The moment has inevitably become a gif.

Updated

Booker criticizes Biden for opposing marijuana legalization

After Elizabeth Warren answered a question about Trump’s proposed border wall, Cory Booker pivoted back to discussing the importance of black voters and went on to specifically address marijuana legalization.

The New Jersey senator criticized Joe Biden for not supporting marijuana legalization. Booker said of recent comments Biden made criticizing legalization, “I thought you might have been high when you said it.” That was arguably the biggest laugh line of the night so far.

Responding to Booker’s criticism, Biden seemed to reverse his position on marijuana legalization and inexplicably added, “I come out of the black community in terms of my support.”

Updated

After Kamala Harris delivered her answer on black voters, Pete Buttigeg was asked to respond. The Indiana mayor said: “My response is I completely agree.”

Buttigieg, who is polling at close to 0% among African-American voters in South Carolina, added he “welcomes the challenge” of reaching out to black Democrats.

He went on to connect the question to his own faith and background. “I do have the experience of feeling like a stranger in my own country,” Buttigieg said.

Harris passes on criticizing Buttigieg

Once again, a candidate participating in tonight’s debate has chosen not to attack Pete Buttigieg even though the moderators were clearly trying to set up a fight.

Moderator Kristen Welker asked Kamala Harris about her criticism of Buttigieg’s campaign for including a stock photo of a woman from Kenya alongside its plan to empower African Americans, which was later deleted.

Harris noted that Buttigieg had apologized for the error and went on to deliver a larger answer about the need to recognize the importance of black voters in the Democratic Party.

The California senator said the party had “taken for granted” black voters, and Harris added: “The question has to be: where you been, and what are you going to do?”

Joe Biden was asked about gender violence and emphasized his role in passing the original Violence Against Women Act, but then the former vice president veered into this unfortunate choice of words ...

The debate has returned from its commercial break, and the conversation has turned to racism in the United States.

Tulsi Gabbard said her presidency would be committed to “overhauling the criminal justice system” to “correct the failures of the past.”

Andrew Yang said that, if elected, he would ensure white supremacist terrorism was designated as domestic terrorism.

Attacks on Buttigieg largely don't materialize

The debate has taken another commercial break, with just thirty minutes left to go in the event.

But it’s worth noting that the widely anticipated attacks on Pete Buttigieg have largely not materialized, even though he has become a frontrunner in Iowa.

Pete Buttigieg, a veteran of the war in Afghanistan, was asked by Rachel Maddow whether he would cut military spending.

The Indiana mayor replied that he would “reprioritize our budget as a whole and our military spending in particular.”

Buttigieg went on to criticize some of Trump’s defense proposals, such as the president reportedly considering construction of a border wall moat filled with alligators. (Trump denied he considered such a plan.)

Moderator Andrea Mitchell posed a question to Joe Biden about how the former vice president would approach Saudi Arabia considering the killing of dissident journalist Jamal Khashoggi.

Biden said the status quo with Saudi Arabia was unacceptable and went on to more broadly discuss how he would approach foreign policy, including the protests happening now in Hong Kong.

Amy Klobuchar responded to the same question by saying, “We need a new foreign policy in this country.”

Here are the latest speaking times so far. The usual four plus Kamala Harris at the top, with Andrew Yang getting the least air time.

Yang to Putin: 'I’m sorry I beat your guy'

Getting another chance to speak tonight, tech entrepreneur Andrew Yang was asked what he would say in his first conversation with Russian President Vladimir Putin if he were elected.

Yang said he would first tell Putin he was “sorry I beat your guy,” prompting laughs here in the press room at Tyler Perry Studios.

Now that the debate is over an hour in, a consensus seems to be building that it’s been a slow night, though the questions have been coming fast.

Tonight’s debate is historic in one way: it marks the first time that women make up the majority of participants, counting both moderators and candidates.

Harris: Trump 'got punked' by Kim Jong-un

Answering a question about whether she would offer concessions to North Korea to continue meetings with Kim Jong-un, Kamala Harris said Trump “got punked” by the country’s leader.

The California senator accused Trump of making major foreign policy decisions based on his “fragile ego” and called the president the “greatest threat to the national security” of the country.

Pressed on whether she would offer concessions to continue the Kim meetings, Harris said she would not do so at this time.

Tom Steyer and Joe Biden sparred over climate change, with the billionaire activist accusing the former vice president of not addressing the crisis with an appropriate level of urgency.

Biden replied that he didn’t “need a lecture from my friend” and accused Steyer of having a terrible record on renewable energy.

Buttigieg pressed for an answer on farm subsidies

The debate has returned from a commercial break, and the first question went to Pete Buttigieg about continuing farm subsidies created under the Trump administration.

The Indiana mayor delivered a long answer about the many ways to strengthen America’s farms before moderator Rachel Maddow interjected: “I’m sorry to interrupt, but I need you to answer the question.”

Buttigieg then said he would continue the subsidies but that they would not be necessary under his administration.

Though the debate moderators whizzed past the topic of paid family leave, many observers wished they had stuck with the discussion as it hasn’t been getting much air time.

The debate has gone to a commercial break, which gives the blog a chance to deliver a halftime report on the event.

  • The first question was about the impeachment inquiry, and candidates reiterated that they believed Trump has committed impeachable offenses.
  • Amy Klobuchar received Twitter praise for her answer on the double standard facing women in politics. “If you think a woman can’t beat Donald Trump, Nancy Pelosi does it every single day,” the Minnesota senator said.
  • Kamala Harris and Tulsi Gabbard got into a contentious exchange about Barack Obama’s presidency, picking up on a feud that started during the July debate.

The blog will have much more coming up, so stay tuned.

Tonight’s debate just became the first of this election cycle to include a question about paid family leave and childcare, with Amy Klobuchar and Kamala Harris describing their plans on the issues.

The conversation then turned to homelessness and housing affordability, which has similarly received little attention in past primary debates.

Meanwhile, over at the Trump campaign’s headquarters, the president’s allies are highlighting Tulsi Gabbard’s criticism of the Democratic Party.

Bernie Sanders was asked about chants of “Lock him up!” when Trump recently went to a World Series game, and he said such chants were distinct from similar chants about Hillary Clinton because the president’s critics are expressing that no one is above the law.

In contrast, Joe Biden emphasized that Democrats should not model their behavior off Trump’s supporters with the chants.

Amy Klobuchar is getting a lot of praise for her line about the double standard women in politics face. Looks like it’s becoming the first viral moment of the night.

Updated

Cory Booker appeared to deliver an indirect criticism of Pete Buttigieg when he pointed out that he was the “other” Rhodes scholar mayor onstage tonight.

This comment prompted celebration from HuffPost’s Washington bureau chief, who recently wrote an article about how Buttigieg’s Rhodes scholarship is mentioned far more than Booker’s.

Klobuchar stands by her criticism of Buttigieg

Amy Klobuchar was asked whether she stood by her past comments questioning whether a woman with Pete Buttigieg’s background would be on the debate stage.

Klobuchar responded by emphasizing she thought Buttigieg was qualified to compete as a presidential candidate and was proud to stand next to him tonight.

However, the Minnesota senator said she believed her initial comments were true and went on to make the case for a woman as the best candidate to face off against Trump.

Klobuchar concluded: “If you think a woman can’t beat Donald Trump, Nancy Pelosi does it every single day.”

Tech entrepreneur Andrew Yang has finally gotten the chance to speak after more than 30 minutes of debate, and he applauded his opponent Tom Steyer for addressing climate change.

People are pointing out that the spat between Kamala Harris and Tulsi Gabbard could be Harris’ revenge for fierce digs Gabbard made about Harris’ record on criminal justice at an earlier debate.

Amy Klobuchar outlined the need for changes to America’s democracy, including automatic voter registration and fair redistricting practices.

The Minnesota senator said that if such practices were followed, then “Stacey Abrams would be governor of this state right now.”

Abrams lost her gubernatorial race in Georgia last year amid accusations of voter suppression.

Gabbard and Harris fight over Obama presidency

After Tulsi Gabbard criticized the foreign policy of Democrats and Republicans alike, Kamala Harris was asked to respond. And the California senator was ready.

Harris accused Gabbard of spending all of Barack Obama’s presidency trashing him and cozying up to conservatives like former Trump adviser Steve Bannon.

Gabbard then accused Harris of trafficking in “lies” and “innuendo,” reiterating her claims from the July debate.

Some of the lower-polling candidates onstage, like Andrew Yang and Tom Steyer, are struggling to get attention from tonight’s moderators.

Updated

Debate turns to Medicare for all

The debate has turned to Medicare for all, which is supported by candidates like Elizabeth Warren and Bernie Sanders.

Warren’s recently released proposals to fund and transition to a single-payer healthcare system have come under scrutiny from some of her opponents, but the Massachusetts senator defended the plan as bringing necessary change to the US healthcare system.

When moderator Kristen Welker turned to Bernie Sanders, the Vermont senator replied, “Thank you, I wrote the damn bill.” Sanders went on to lambaste the current US healthcare system as “cruel” and “dysfunctional.”

Getting in a last word to defend her proposed wealth tax, Elizabeth Warren said, “I’m tired of free-loading billionaires.”

Cory Booker, who criticized the potential wealth tax, echoed her complaint but emphasized he did not think Warren’s proposal was the way to address that concern.

Seems like some people think that Joe Biden stumbled his first question on impeachment. Here’s what the commentators are saying.

Updated

The conversation has shifted to Elizabeth Warren’s proposed wealth tax, which she defended as a common-sense policy to raise revenue from the top one-tenth of one percent of wealthy Americans.

But Cory Booker criticized the proposal, saying revenue could be raised through other taxes while emphasizing he and Warren shared policy goals like increasing access to early childhood education.

Joe Biden said the revelations from the impeachment inquiry proved that Trump does not want the former vice president to be Democrats’ nominee, making an argument for his own candidacy.

Kamala Harris said the impeachment inquiry proved that “we have a criminal in the White House.” The California senator warned there was a “criminal enterprise” emanating from the Oval Office and shared her oft-repeated slogan: “Justice is on the ballot.”

On the question of the impeachment inquiry, Bernie Sanders stressed that Democrats needed to do more than just oppose Trump. The Vermont senator said the party needs to put forward its own positive plan to win over American voters.

Pete Buttigieg said Trump had admitted to impeachable activity on television but outlined some of the president’s other actions he considered just as terrible.

Elizabeth Warren added that Gordon Sondland, who made a fortune in the hotel industry, should never have been appointed US ambassador to the EU, and she promised not to give away ambassadorships to donors.

Amy Klobuchar similarly emphasized she considered Trump’s actions to be “impeachable” and warned that “our democracy at stake.”

First question is on impeachment

MSNBC anchor Rachel Maddow posed the first question, and it was unsurprisingly about US ambassador to the EU Gordon Sondland’s bombshell testimony today in the impeachment inquiry.

Elizabeth Warren said all lawmakers, including Republicans, have a duty to seriously consider the question of impeachment. “We have a constitutional responsibility, and we need to meet it,” the Massachusetts senator said.

Fifth Democratic debate starts

The fifth Democratic debate has officially started here at Tyler Perry Studios in Atlanta, so stay tuned for the first question.

Here's the format for tonight's debate

The ten candidates participating tonight will be given 75 seconds to respond to questions directly posed to them and 45 seconds for follow-ups.

They will also be given the chance to respond if an opponent refers to them by name, although that will be at the discretion of the moderators.

The candidates are foregoing opening statements tonight, but they will be given a minute and 15 seconds to deliver closing statements.

We are just three minutes away, so stay tuned.

Democratic presidential candidate Steve Bullock may not be on the debate stage tonight, but the Montana governor wants to make one thing very clear: he doesn’t want to be there anyway.

“While other candidates bicker on stage about pie in the sky ideas, I will continue taking my case directly to voters on the ground. That’s how I’ve been elected three times in a state Trump won by 20 points,” Bullock said in a statement just before the debate’s start. “We can’t lose sight of political reality, otherwise we’ll never beat Donald Trump in 2020.”

But after missing the past three debates, the most persistent question around Bullock’s candidacy is why it’s still going on.

First to standout: The moderators

Tonight’s debate is co-hosted by MSNBC and the Washington Post, and it will be moderated by four veteran women journalists from those two outlets.

NBC News White House correspondent Kristen Welker, Washington Post White House reporter Ashley Parker and MSNBC hosts Rachel Maddow and Andrea Mitchell will pose questions to the 10 candidates participating tonight.

This marks only the third time in US history that an all-women panel has moderated a presidential primary debate.

Updated

The latest candidate to join the Democratic presidential primary, former Massachusetts governor Deval Patrick, will not be on the debate stage tonight, but he is in Atlanta.

Patrick intended to hold an event at the historically black Morehouse College tonight, but he abruptly canceled the event when he realized that no one was attending (ouch).

The lackluster response to Patrick’s campaign launch may indicate that complaints about the existing Democratic field are restricted to the party’s donor class.

Here are the participants in tonight's debate

We are about half an hour away from the fifth Democratic debate, so it’s a good time to reintroduce the ten presidential candidates who will be participating tonight.

Here they are in order of their podium position from center stage:

  • Joe Biden, the former vice president whose polling numbers have proven surprisingly durable despite a number of gaffes and criticism from other candidates.
  • Elizabeth Warren, the Massachusetts senator who has come under scrutiny in recent weeks after releasing her plans to fund and transition to a Medicare for all healthcare system.
  • Bernie Sanders, the two-time presidential candidate who has seen a bump in polling and received some high-profile endorsements despite his recent heart attack.
  • Pete Buttigieg, the 37-year-old mayor of South Bend, Indiana, who has become a frontrunner in the first caucus state of Iowa as he has shifted to a more moderate platform.
  • Kamala Harris, the California senator who has been unable to recreate the success she saw after her first debate performance.
  • Amy Klobuchar, the Minnesota senator who has recently seen an uptick in support as she attempts to win over Midwestern voters who swung to Trump in 2016.
  • Andrew Yang, the tech entrepreneur who has outlasted several more “establishment” candidates with his campaign promise of establishing a universal basic income.
  • Tulsi Gabbard, the Hawaii congresswoman and Iraq war veteran whose non-interventionist views caused a contentious exchange will fellow veteran Buttigieg during the last debate.
  • Tom Steyer, the billionaire activist who has managed to qualify for the past two debates despite his late entry into the race.
  • Cory Booker, the New Jersey senator who has not yet received any qualifying polls for the December debate and is struggling to attract support in the early voting states.

Those ten candidates will soon take the stage here in Atlanta, so stay tuned.

Six candidates have already qualified for the sixth Democratic primary debate in Los Angeles next month.

  • Joe Biden
  • Elizabeth Warren
  • Bernie Sanders
  • Pete Buttigieg
  • Kamala Harris
  • Amy Klobuchar

The Democratic National Committee chairman has incrementally raised the polling and donor thresholds to qualify for the debates as a way to winnow the historically large field of candidates.

The December debate requires candidates to register at least 4% in four national or early-state polls approved by the party or at least 6% in two early-state polls and to receive donations from at least 200,000 individual donors. The cut off to qualify is 12 December.

The polls must be released between 16 October 2019 and 12 December 2019, which is also the last day to meet the required number of donors.

There are still four candidates on tonight’s stage in Atlanta who have not yet met the requirements for the next debate, although Tom Steyer and Andrew Yang both appear likely to qualify in the coming weeks.

Wednesday night’s debate presents yet another opportunity for those candidates who haven’t yet qualified to raise their profile and possibly attract some additional donations that might help them reach the debate stage next month.

New York City drag queen Pissi Myles is here in Atlanta for the debates. She’s working as a political correspondent for an online streaming news service after a starring appearance at the impeachment hearings last week. But the Guardian grabbed her for a quick chat to ask what she was looking to hear from the candidates this evening.

She said: “Because today is Trans Remembrance Day, I’m really hoping to hear something on LGBTQ issues especially with regards to violence against trans people and especially transwomen of color, because it’s such a huge issue in America right now. So I’m hoping we’ll hear some of the politicians talking about that.”

Asked whether she was impressed by candidates other than Elizabeth Warren, who has taken an active interest in that violence against trans people, she said: “I really think that Bernie Sanders has done a lot in reaching out to marginalized people, you see him getting a lot of criticism for it. But you really see him reaching out to people of colour and LGBTQ people.

“I think obviously Pete Buttigieg, he’s got a shoe in the door. I would love to hear him talk more about LGBTQ issues, because it’s something that clearly must mean a lot to him. I would love to see him reach out more to LGBTQ groups.”

Today's impeachment hearings conclude

Today’s second impeachment hearing has just concluded, with about an hour left before the next Democratic debate begins.

The ten Democratic presidential candidates about to take the stage are hoping news viewers stick around to watch the debate, even after several hours of testimony from key witnesses in the impeachment inquiry.

Buttigieg likely to come under fire

Since the last debate in Ohio, Democratic presidential candidate Pete Buttigieg has emerged as a frontrunner in the first caucus state of Iowa. A recent CNN/Des Moines Register/Mediacom poll put Buttigieg’s Iowa support at 25%, 9 points ahead of Elizabeth Warren and 10 points ahead of Bernie Sanders and Joe Biden.

Buttigieg’s surge in the early voting states of Iowa and New Hampshire will likely put a target on the back on the 37-year-old mayor during tonight’s debate. “For Mayor Buttigieg, he’s going to be on the hot seat for the first time because he’s the ‘frontrunner’ In Iowa,” longtime Democratic operative Karen Finney told Politico.

Some of Buttigieg’s opponents may try to poke holes in his record by raising his past support for Medicare for all, even though the millennial mayor now backs a public option plan that he calls “Medicare for all who want it.”

During the last debate, Buttigieg attacked some of his opponents, namely Warren, for allegedly pushing unrealistic proposals, but Buttigieg’s surge will likely put him on the defensive tonight.

Updated

Ten presidential candidates will participate in tonight’s debate – two fewer than the 12 contenders who took part in the fourth Democratic debate last month. Beto O’Rourke and Julián Castro, who both participated in the Ohio debate, will not be onstage tonight.

O’Rourke suspended his campaign earlier this month after the former Texas congressman struggled to attract support in the early voting states or donors, and Castro failed to meet the Democratic National Committee’s polling requirement to participate tonight.

Julian Castro appears on stage at a First in the West Event in Las Vegas, Nevada.
Julian Castro appears on stage at a First in the West Event in Las Vegas, Nevada. Photograph: Carlo Allegri/Reuters

Castro is still in the race, and the former San Antonio mayor and cabinet secretary is refocusing his race on Iowa, Nevada and Texas. But reports emerged earlier this month that Castro is also supporting his staffers looking for positions on other campaigns, so it’s unclear how much longer the candidate will remain in the race.

Besides O’Rourke and Castro, several other candidates – including Marianne Williamson, John Delaney and Steve Bullock – remain in the Democratic presidential race even though they have missed multiple debates at this point.

The field has also expanded slightly since the last debate. In the past couple weeks, former Massachusetts governor Deval Patrick has launched a campaign, and former New York mayor Michael Bloomberg continues to weigh a potential bid.

Patrick and Bloomberg will likely struggle to qualify for the December debate given the escalating polling and donor requirements, but their late entries indicate how the Democratic field remains in flux.

It has been quite an eventful day for Joe Biden – as the former vice president celebrated a birthday and ... potentially time-traveled?

For starters, Biden turned 77 today, but the presidential candidate may not be welcoming birthday wishes given the questions that have been raised about his age in the 2020 race.

Biden’s campaign also sent an email to supporters earlier this afternoon saying the former veep was “leaving the fifth Democratic debate now” and that he hoped he “made you proud” – even though the event hadn’t started yet. (The campaign later sent a follow-up email with the subject line “oops.”)

Updated

The Democratic National Committee’s decision to hold this debate in Atlanta marks the first time a Democratic primary debate has happened in Georgia since 1992. This state has been solidly Republican for over two decades, when it comes to presidential elections, but many in the Democratic mainstream think that might be about to change.

This is a rapidly diversifying state, with a booming creative economy and a growing African American voting base. Stacey Abrams, the former Democratic leader of the Georgia house minority, ran a gubernatorial campaign here that captured the imagination of progressives around the country.

Stacey Abrams speaks to the press before the Democratic presidential primary debate.
Stacey Abrams speaks to the press before the Democratic presidential primary debate. Photograph: Nicholas Kamm/AFP via Getty Images

She did not beat her Republican opponent, Brian Kemp, missing out of the governor’s mansion by just under 55,000 votes. But her campaign took 1.9 million votes, the highest number of ballots cast for a Democrat in the history of the state.

Since the election Abrams has been urging the national party to view Georgia as a swing state in 2020. She has mobilized a national voting rights campaign too, after allegations of widespread voters suppression last year.

Hours before the start of tonight’s debate, Democratic presidential candidate Kamala Harris released an ad casting herself as a direct contrast to Donald Trump.

“He’s a world leader -- in temper tantrums. She never loses her cool,” the narrator in the ad says. “She prosecuted sex predators. He is one.”

The initial reviews of the ad were largely glowing, and the theme of the video may point to Harris’ strategy in the debate tonight as the California senator has struggled to recreate the success of her first debate performance and languished in the polls.

Tonight Democrats may face a difficult choice: Round Two of the impeachment inquiry or Round Five of the Democratic presidential debate. A clash between the inquiry and the 2020 race was probably inevitable – but now, as many Democrats feared, the House’s investigation is quite literally threatening to swamp the party’s presidential debate.

Wednesday’s hearing, split into two sessions, resumed late after blockbuster testimony from EU ambassador Gordon Sondland earlier in the day in which he cited a clear “quid pro quo” with Ukraine.

The three-hour delay means the afternoon hearing, featuring Laura Cooper of the Defense Department and David Hale of the State Department, could overlap with the start of the Democratic debate, due to begin at 9pm EST in Atlanta.

Already candidates have struggled to break through as public attention and cable news focus on the impeachment inquiry. Democrats, especially top donors, are already jittery about the party’s leading contenders for the nomination, a state of affairs that has pushed at least one candidate to jump into the race while another considers joining.

With the primary race in flux and the White House on the ropes, the evening’s broadcasts might be more revealing than anticipated. Bring popcorn!

2020 Democrats debate as impeachment inquiry intensifies

Greetings from Atlanta, live blog readers!

Oliver Laughland, the Guardian’s US southern bureau chief, and I are here to witness the fifth Democratic primary debate after a very eventful day in Washington. Gordon Sondland, the US ambassador to the EU, told the House intelligence committee today that Rudy Giuliani pushed Ukraine to investigate Joe Biden because he was “expressing the desires of the President of the United States.”

The set and ten podiums for the next Democratic presidential debate.
The set and ten podiums for the next Democratic presidential debate. Photograph: Jim Bourg/Reuters

Ten presidential candidates will soon face off once again to tackle issues like healthcare, foreign policy and criminal justice reform. But this time, they will be competing for the attention of viewers who have likely been more focused on the public impeachment hearings unfolding on Capitol Hill.

This is the first presidential debate since the House launched the public phase of its impeachment inquiry against Donald Trump, and that could make it much harder for lower-polling candidates to leave a lasting impression with debate viewers.

With less than three months left until the Iowa caucuses, time is running out for those candidates to improve their standing before voters head to the polls. Tonight will give them another chance to do so, but the question becomes: how can they overcome the headline-dominating impeachment inquiry to make news of their own?

The answer to that is coming in about two hours, so stay tuned as the blog provides updates and analysis on the fifth Democratic primary debate.

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