That’s all for tonight. It was a good debate for Julián Castro, Elizabeth Warren, and Cory Booker, not a great night for Beto O’Rourke, and a terrible night for whoever runs sound at NBC.
We’ll be back tomorrow, when Kamala Harris, Joe Biden and Bernie Sanders take the stage. Thanks for reading!
Updated
Rebecca Schneid, co-editor of the Eagle Eye student newspaper at Marjory Stoneman Douglas School in Parkland, Florida, sent the Guardian this snap analysis of the gun violence discussion. Seventeen people were killed in a mass shooting at the school last year.
Schneid writes:
This is the first presidential election in which gun violence and common-sense gun legislation have been pushed to the forefront of the debate – and it needed to be.
Elizabeth Warren was correct in stating that gun violence should be treated as a national healthcare crisis - in fact I have spoken with multiple other surgeons and doctors who feel the same way.
But in order to take on the gun lobby and actually create change regarding gun laws, we need candidates with specific and comprehensive plans for keeping firearms out of the hands of domestic abusers, closing background check loopholes within gun shows and online purchases, addressing how communities of color are disproportionately affected by gun violence, and recognizing that mass shootings are only a small fraction of gun violence.
Only Cory Booker, who discussed the need for gun licenses, and Beto O’Rourke, who specifically cited the importance of red flag laws, gave us some glimpse of how they would attack this.
I know many of these candidates have been more direct during town halls or campaign events, so maybe it was because some of the candidates did not have enough time to fully express their answer – but that is not enough of an excuse.
As weak as some of their answers were, it is encouraging that these issues were raised in this first debate and that candidates are listening. They see us – that much is clear.
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My colleague Lauren Gambino has written the Guardian’s news story on tonight – here’s Lauren on Julián Castro tackling Beto O’Rourke over immigration.
Immigration opened a round of fierce debate led by Castro, who would be the nation’s first Latino president if nominated and elected. He grew emotional when responding to a question about the photo of an immigrant father and his toddler daughter found lying face-down after drowning in the Rio Grande, and called the image “heartbreaking.” “Frankly, it should piss us all off,” he said.
He then implored O’Rourke, a fellow Texan who has also made immigration reform a central plank of his campaign, to support his plan to decriminalize border crossings.
The back-and-forth led to a testy exchange in which O’Rourke sought to defend his position without committing. Several candidates deferred to Castro on the issue while Warren, who had been a dominating presence throughout much of the first hour of the debate, was not brought into the debate.
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Some good clips from The Root. Both these moments from Cory Booker and Julián Castro went down well with the crowd:
"We do not talk enough about trans Americans—especially African-American trans Americans."
— The Root (@TheRoot) June 27, 2019
Cory Booker acknowledges the killings of black trans Americans during the first #DemDebate. #BlackTransLivesMatter pic.twitter.com/dcvziMOxQE
"What about Eric Garner and Tamir Rice and Laquan McDonald and Sandra Bland?"
— The Root (@TheRoot) June 27, 2019
At the #DemDebate, Julián Castro made sure to name victims of police brutality while addressing his plan for police reform. #BlackLivesMatter #SayHerName pic.twitter.com/MASItN7QlH
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It didn’t feel like Tulsi Gabbard stood out – a minor moment where she seemed to deliberately misinterpret Tim Ryan’s statement on withdrawal from the middle east aside – which makes this very surprising:
Map: before and after the #DemDebate pic.twitter.com/7y3iNoJR1N
— GoogleTrends (@GoogleTrends) June 27, 2019
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According to the Washington Post Cory Booker got the longest speaking time tonight: nearly 11 minutes. That’s twice as long as Jay Inslee, and five minutes more than De Blasio, who I thought talked quite a lot. De Blasio was shouting a bit though, so maybe it just seemed longer.
O’Rourke was given the second most time and did... not much with it. If O’Rourke fans were hoping this was the moment he reignited his campaign, they’ll be disappointed.
Per the Washington Post, Booker the spoke most and Inslee the least.https://t.co/qkRYenhti6 pic.twitter.com/DPoI2JpIBy
— andrew kaczynski (@KFILE) June 27, 2019
Here’s some snap verdicts from Twitter lumiaries...
Biggest surprise of the night for me: Julián Castro. Dude brought it. (It’s also pretty interesting to be an undecided voter). #demdebate
— Jill Filipovic (@JillFilipovic) June 27, 2019
My takeaway is that Warren did excellent as expected, but didn't get enough time & that Castro really distinguished himself. #DemDebate
— Jessica Valenti (@JessicaValenti) June 27, 2019
Ooof MSNBC on de Blasio: “Mildly irritating to me, or maybe he’s more than mildly irritating to me,” @clairecmc says.
— Philip Rucker (@PhilipRucker) June 27, 2019
“...like an obnoxious guy at a restaurant or a bar talking really loudly on his cell phone like everyone wants to hear what he’s saying,” @NicolleDWallace says.
Warren is the only candidate tonight whose answers are all stitched together by a unified theory of the case - an overarching message rather than just a series of policy answers.
— Matthew Miller (@matthewamiller) June 27, 2019
On a scale of 0 to 10, where 0 is the debate having no impact and 10 is a huge impact, I'd guess this was like a 2 or a 3.
— Nate Silver (@NateSilver538) June 27, 2019
Ok, we’re done. Some initial thoughts...
Elizabeth Warren was the main draw coming into the debate – she’s polling way ahead of everyone else who was on stage – and she got the most questions in the first hour. The woman with the plans, as she’s (sort of) known was convincing and passionate on healthcare and her other key issues. In the second hour she seemed quieter, seemingly happy to let others vie for time.
I thought Julian Castro had a good night. Obama’s housing secretary had a couple of good lines, particularly when talking about immigration – his call “not to criminalize desperation” went down well – and as someone who has really struggled for attention, he did well when he finally got some.
Cory Booker seemed to go down well with the crowd, particularly when he was talking about the work he has done with minority communities. He was great when talking about things that effect people personally – his answers on immigration stood out – but dodged questions regarding specifics on healthcare and tackling corporations.
Both Amy Klobuchar and John Delaney stood out to me – not necessarily because either of them performed amazingly, but because their more centrist positions on things like healthcare and the economy. When given the chance, both talked of themselves as job creators, rather than (like the others) someone who would tackle the 1% and big business with taxes. It was clear they were to the right of most of those on stage, but I guess the question is whether that’s what Democratic voters want.
Closing time
The candidates get 30 seconds each to sell themselves, here we go:
Delaney: I’m the son of a union steward who worked to become a successful businessman. I was successful too. But this presidential run is not about me, this is about getting America working.
De Blasio: We need to nominate a candidate who has raised a minimum wage, improved healthcare, and brought in pre-K. [His selling points from his NYC mayorship.] We need to put working people first.
Inslee: I have three grandchildren, and love them all. On my last day on earth I want to look them in the eye and tell them he did everything humanly possible to protect them from the climate crisis.
Ryan: the working class has been divided. I’m from industrial America, but there are problems everywhere. It’s time for us to get back on track.
Gabbard: the nation was founded on the principle of service above self. But we don’t have a government for the people anymore. It’s for the rich and powerful. As president my White House would be a beacon of light.
Castro: he begins by addressing the crowd in Spanish. “They very fact I can say that tonight” shows the progress we’ve made in this country. As president, I’ll make sure people have good job opportunities. In January 2021: “We’ll say adios to Donald Trump.”
Klobuchar: I listen to people, which is important, and I am someone who can win and beat Donald Trump. I’m from the mid-west, and I can beat Trump in places like Michigan and Wisconsin.
Booker: 50 years ago my family were denied a house because of the color of their skin. Since then I became a lawyer to fight for people’s rights. I will beat Trump by calling for a sense of purpose in this country. I will win by showing the best of who we are.
O’Rourke: my daughter turned 11 this week. I’m on the stage for her and children across the country. We need a new kind of politics, one directed by the next generation.
Warren: never in a million years did I think I’d stand on a stage like this. When I was a child I didn’t have money to go to college, but I got my chance through community college. It created an opportunity for a girl, and opened my life. We can make this government work for everyone.
Some technical issues here, but... should Trump be prosecuted for alleged crimes after office?
Delaney supports Pelosi on impeachment. (Specifically: not doing it.) But nobody is above the law. However, people he has met in Iowa (Delaney has been running for president for almost two years, he’s met a lot) don’t care about impeaching or prosecuting Trump.
We’re on foreign policy, and the issue of both withdrawing troops from the Middle East, and making sure we don’t send more.
Tim Ryan says it is important to stay engaged. You don’t just pull out troops. Tulsi Gabbard hits back – she was in the military – and seizes on his stay engaged comment. We need to get out of the Middle East. It descends into a rather petty spat.
Chuck Todd wants one word answers to the question “What’s the greatest geo-political threat to the United States.”
Delaney: Challenge is China, threat is nuclear weapons.
Inslee: Donald Trump.
Gabbard: the fact we’re at risk of nuclear war.
Sorry then I lost track but it was mostly either China, nuclear war, or Iran.
Updated
Tulsi Gabbard has a question. Why should LGBTQ people trust her, given her past stance on gay rights. (She has a history of anti-LGBTQ stances.)
She says her record in Congress shows her commitment to the issue. Gabbard says she grew up in a socially conservative home and held views which have changed.
Cory Booker connects LGBTQ rights to equality rights as a whole, for people of color as well as LGBTQ people. He’s fought for both, he says.
Maddow asks Klobuchar what she’s done for people of color.
She says her career has been about “economic opportunity”. When you have an economy that works you have to make sure it works for minority communities as well. That’s not going to excite many of the people working to promote minority rights. Then she talks about how she’ll make sure everyone can vote.
Maddow asks Castro if what Klobuchar said, about “economic justice”, is enough.
He points out that a better economy wouldn’t prevent people of color from being murdered.
Climate crisis
So what do we do about it? Is the question. (Essentially.)
It goes to Jay Inslee. He’s running a campaign focussed on climate change. We need to pass a 100% clean electrical grid bill, which he’s passed in Washington state. The most important thing is, which candidate is going to say climate change is the number one issue? Inslee says. He’s the only one, he answers.
O’Rourke is asked how you tell someone they need to start driving an electric car.
“Bring everyone in to the decisions and solutions that we face,” he says. He will mobilize $5tn to free the US from fossil fuels. (O’Rourke’s plan would cut greenhouse gas emissions in half by 2030, according to O’Rourke.)
Castro says the first thing he’d do as president is sign an order re-committing the US to the Paris Accord.
Tim Ryan’s up. How do we pay for carbon mitigation? Never mind that. Ryan wants to talk about “real politics”. The Democratic party has a perception problem, he says, with working people. We’ve got to change the party from being coastal, and elitist, and Ivy League.
That’s a swipe at *does a quick count* six of the people on stage.
How would you get a Supreme Court justice nominated, when Mitch McConnell says he would oppose all a Democratic president’s nominees? That’s the question.
Some of the candidates say they’d deal with him by winning the Senate. Optimistic.
Warren is asked if she has a plan to deal with McConnell.
“I do,” she says, then pauses. That gets a round of applause. Sure, she wants a Democratic majority in the Senate, Warren says. But even with that the fight for equality in America goes on. We have to make this Congress reflect the will of people.
She doesn’t say how she’d combat McConnell. A bit disappointing there.
It’s all got a bit choppy here.
Everyone still wants to talk about guns. De Blasio brings up his son, Dante who is black. Delaney talks about being the party of getting things done. Booker says he is the only African American on stage. Booker touts his record of getting things accomplished.
Updated
More on gun control.
Tim Ryan talks about school shootings. Kids in schools are traumatized. We need to start dealing with the trauma. Most school shootings are committed by kids who went to that school. We can combat school shootings by making sure kids in those schools have access to mental health care.
O’Rourke is asked how you deal with gun control in a red state. He says you explain the experience of kids who have survived shootings. Also, those kids leading the charge can convince gun-control sceptics.
No one expected Trump to attack the broadcaster rather than the candidates. But an embarrassing sound glitch at the venue, which forced a delay in the second half of the debate, gave him an opening.
Lucky for Trump, the liberal-leaning MSNBC was in the firing line.
.@NBCNews and @MSNBC should be ashamed of themselves for having such a horrible technical breakdown in the middle of the debate. Truly unprofessional and only worthy of a FAKE NEWS Organization, which they are!
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) June 27, 2019
His supporters are likely to relish the fact that Rachel Maddow, scourge of conservatives, had just started her turn as a co-host.
Trump’s comments on policy issues are still awaited.
Updated
Ok, we’re back. Chuck Todd reckons he’s fixed the technical issues.
He asks Warren what she would do about the hundreds of millions of guns already out there. Does the federal government have a role in gun control?
Warren says the most difficult question she’s had on the campaign trail was from a boy and girl asking how she would keep them safe. Gun violence is a national health emergency, she says.
She’d do universal background checks, but also “double down” on research, and find out “what really works”.
Yes, but should the federal government “go and get the guns” that are out there, Todd asks.
It’s a bit of an odd question and Warren doesn’t answer it.
Booker is asked how his “buy back” program (the government would buy guns back from owners) would work.
He says he lives in a neighborhood where he hears gun shots. He’s playing up his blue collar, man of the people credentials – he did this before. Booker says he will get it done. “It’s not about policy, this is personal.” He doesn’t say how his buy back program would work.
We’ve had a substitution of moderators. (It was planned, they weren’t injured.) Rachel Maddow and Chuck Todd are on deck.
Guns. Elizabeth Warren is asked what her policy is. Should the federal government play a role in getting guns off the streets?
But she can’t hear, because the control room hasn’t turned off the microphones of the previous moderators, and a load of distorted nonsense is coming through. Maddow and Todd laugh awkwardly, and cut to an ad break – approximately 30 minutes earlier than planned. Oops!
Updated
Iran
Candidates, would you sign back onto the Iran nuclear deal that Obama negotiated?
A few hands go up. Amy Klobuchar said she would negotiate a better deal. She criticizes Trump, who she says is always “One tweet away from going to war.”
“I don’t think we should conduct foreign policy in our bathrobe at five in the morning,” Klobuchar says. I think that was a rehearsed #zinger.
On to Tulsi Gabbard. She points out, for anyone who missed the first half hour, that she served in Iraq. Gabbard says Trump and his cabinet are creating a situation which has made war with Iran more likely.
Updated
Senator Klobuchar, do you agree with Julián Castro that it shouldn’t be a crime to cross the border, just a civil offence? (This is a key part of Castro’s immigration plan.)
“Immigrants do not diminish America, they are America,” she says. She’d look at Castro’s proposal. (Ie, no, she doesn’t agree with Castro.)
We need workers, Klobuchar says. Trump has gone backwards at a time when our country needs immigrants. It’d bring the debt down.
The same question goes to Tim Ryan, who we haven’t heard from in a looong time. He agrees with Castro’s plan. Terrorists in Guantanamo Bay get better healthcare than kids in detention camps, he says.
On to Cory Booker (they haven’t gone to Warren for ages, by the way). Booker is asked what he’d do on day one of his presidency with the families who would be held in detention camps. He doesn’t answer. He’s gone to a lot of private prisons, Booker says. (As a visitor.) He suggests investing in other countries to ensure people aren’t driven here. O’Rourke suggested the same before.
So what will you do with the families that will still be here, on day one of your presidency, governor Inslee?
Inslee says he’d release them. He says Donald Trump tried to threaten him, that Trump would send refugees to Washington state. Inslee says that’s not a threat.
Updated
Immigration
Julián Castro, if you were president, how would you address the immigration crisis?
Castro says he was the first candidate to put forward a comprehensive immigration plan. He said the photo of a dead father and daughter at the border is heartbreaking. But it should also “Piss us off”. He would get rid of Trump’s zero-tolerance policy immediately. Castro says we need a Marshall Plan, which would help people find opportunity at home (in Central American countries), which would mean less people seek help here.
Booker says on day one he would “end ICE policies”, and ensure when people come to the US they do not “leave their human rights at the border”. It’s a good line, and gets a round of applause. He’d pass Daca, which would mean US residents brought here as children could live here permanently.
Castro says he would revise the current law to make it more similar to when people used to seek refuge in the US, and: “Not to criminalize desperation”. A good line from Castro too.
De Blasio then chirps in over Castro – the NYC mayor did this before, perhaps it’s a tactic – he says he was also upset to see the photo of the dead child at the border: “And I say this as a father”.
He talks directly to camera. He says immigrants didn’t take people’s jobs. It was big corporations, and the 1%. He gets a round of applause.
Updated
The opioid crisis
Booker gets another question. Will you hold companies that produce opioids criminally accountable?
Booker would absolutely hold them accountable, they’re liable for debts. O’Rourke would too. He slates Purdue Pharma. They’ve exploited people, and he would prosecute them.
Healthcare is a point of difference for a lot of the candidates – specifically on whether private insurance should be completely abolished, abolished after a while, or allowed completely – but it’s hard for them to get any nuance across when they have to batter through in 60 seconds.
Booker is asked about his healthcare policy. He says he is in favor of Medicare for All, BUT, he has “an urgency” which he then equivocates about, but seemingly suggests he would keep private insurance for the time being, while offering government-run care to those who can’t afford it.
Warren interrupts. Private insurance is ripping people off, she says. “It’s time for us to make families come first.”
Inslee leaps in, saying he thinks private companies shouldn’t be allowed to deny reproductive healthcare. (No one was saying they should.) He’s the only candidate on stage who has passed a law saying insurers must provide reproductive healthcare, he says.
Klobuchar speaks up. She says there’s three women on stage who have fought pretty hard for a women’s right to choose. Burn! She gets a round of applause.
Healthcare on the table
The moderators are asking about a healthcare bill that will do away with private insurance in favor of a government run plan.
Klobuchar, one of the more centrist candidates on this issue, doesn’t favor that. She talks about pharmaceuticals. She says Trump claimed he’d bring down pharmaceutical prices, instead they’ve gone up. “That’s what we call at home ‘All foam and no beer’,” Klobuchar says. She drinks beer just like us!
Warren says yes, she is for Medicare for All. The number one reason why families go broke is health insurance costs, she says. Families have rising premiums and co-pays and are left fighting with insurance companies.
“What they’re really telling you is they just fight for it. Well healthcare is a basic human right,” she says.
O’Rourke next. He supports healthcare for all, and hits a few touchstones, including women’s health. O’Rourke’s plan means people can keep their private plans, however.
Asked a follow-up, he says he would not replace private insurance.
Then Bill de Blasio, who is in favor of abolishing private insurance, shouts over everyone and says private insurance doesn’t work.
Updated
Tim Ryan is asked if jobs are returning to the mid-west (he’s a congressman from Ohio), Trump says they are.
Ryan’s had family members who have had to “unbolt a machine from a factory floor” and ship it to China, he says. Globalism, isn’t it.
The moderators move onto Warren. She’s getting some good airtime. She says she can create jobs in places like the mid-west by focussing on green energy. But technology created in that area would have to be manufactured “right here” in America.
Updated
Julian Castro is asked about equal pay for men and women.
He’s the child of a single mum, he says. He would work to pass the Equal Rights Act, and make sure women are paid equally. If we want to be the most prosperous nation” we have to make sure women are paid what they deserve.
Tulsi Gabbard is asked about the same issue. She instead talks up her military experience – she was in the National Guard and was deployed twice in the middle east. This gives her national security expertise, she says. Then an abrupt switch. She’ll spend tax dollars on working families.
Bill de Blasio next. He’s asked about wealth inequality. This Democratic party has to be strong and bold and progressive”. He says he has proved he can put money in the hands of working people in New York.
“There’s plenty of money in this country, it’s just in the wrong hands,” de Blasio says.
John Delaney gets a similar question. He’d double the earned income tax credit, and fix the public education system. “I’m very different from everybody else here on stage”, Delaney says. He was an entrepreneur (he’s worth tens of millions of dollars) and says he knows how to create jobs. That’s a bit of a Trump-esque pitch.
Beto O’Rourke is asked about a 70% tax rate on the wealthy. He answers in Spanish, which is impressive, but bad for me because I don’t speak Spanish. He reverts to English, and won’t commit to a 70% tax rate.
Cory Booker: why won’t you single out corporations who other candidates have criticized for consolidation.
“There’s a serious problem with corporate consolidation”, Booker says. There’s a problem with pharmaceutical companies. He touts a bill he has in Congress to oppose consolidation – it’s one of the most progressive out there.
He does name Halliburton and Amazon, who don’t pay enough tax.
We're off
Our candidates are out. They wave, then just stand for a while, then walk behind their podiums, where they stand awkwardly while the camera pans over the crowd. The ten hopefuls have been placed before a mock Georgian building.
We kick off with a question to Elizabeth Warren. Savannah Guthrie tells Warren she has a lot of plans – but many Americans are actually happy with how the economy is performing.
Warren says the economy is doing with the wealthy, for owners of private prisons, “for giant oil companies”, but not for the people struggling with rising drug costs and other issues. She gets a round of applause.
A question to Amy Klobuchar, about college fees. Klobuchar does not support free college education – a point of difference from some of the more progressive candidates. She says she doesn’t support subsidizing kids from wealthy families. There’s a Donald Trump dig too. He “just sits in the White House and gloats”, while people are struggling to pay for college, she says.
Our pointers for tonight
We’re less than ten minutes away! Here’s some things to know:
Your hosts for the evening are:
Lester Holt, anchor of “NBC Nightly News with Lester Holt” and “Dateline NBC.” Savannah Guthrie, co-anchor of “TODAY” and NBC News chief legal analyst. Chuck Todd, moderator of “Meet the Press with Chuck Todd” and NBC News political director. Rachel Maddow, host of “The Rachel Maddow Show” on MSNBC. Jose Díaz-Balart, anchor of “Noticias Telemundo” and “NBC Nightly News Saturday.”
Both nights will follow the same format. Holt will moderate the first hour alongside Guthrie and Diaz-Balart. At half-time those two will clear off, and Holt will be joined by Todd and Maddow for the second hour.
In terms of how the candidates are going to line up on stage:
Elizabeth Warren will be in the middle, next to Beto O’Rourke. Warren is the only candidate tonight who is averaging double figures in the polls, while O’Rourke has been on the slide since March and needs a boost tonight. On Warren’s other side is Cory Booker, who is also struggling.
The full line-up, from left to right (distance to the middle is based on their polling):
Bill de Blasio - mayor of New York City
Tim Ryan - Ohio congressman
Julián Castro - former housing and urban development secretary
Cory Booker - Senator for New Jersey
Elizabeth Warren, Massachusetts senator
Beto O’Rourke - former congressman for Texas
Amy Klobuchar - Senator for Minnesota
Tulsi Gabbard - Hawaii congresswoman
Jay Inslee - governor of Washington
John Delaney - former Maryland congressman.
And here’s our explainer on where the candidates stand on the issues
Updated
Tonight, the first batch of 2020 presidential candidates will likely face questions about gun control. It’s an issue that many of them have been putting front and center.
So far, some gun violence prevention experts say, New Jersey senator Cory Booker has produced the most ambitious and comprehensive plan, including funding for local gun violence prevention strategies in communities burdened with daily gun violence, and endorsing federal licensing for gun ownership, a policy that Obama labeled out of the question just three years ago.
“The person that has had the most thoughtful approach, as well as the most robust approach, is Cory Booker,” said Dakota Jablon, director of federal affairs at the Coalition to Stop Violence, a gun violence prevention group.
But the breadth and acceptance of gun control policies among the Democratic candidates is also heartening for advocates. Everytown for Gun Safety, the nation’s largest gun control advocacy group, released an interactive tracker today looking at 2020 candidates’ positions – and statements – on different gun safety policies, from endorsing gun licensing to banning assault weapons.
It’s a dramatic change. In the early years of the Obama presidency, the consensus among Democrats was that gun control was an issue to avoid. As Obama’s chief of staff once told his attorney general, “‘Shut the fuck up’ on guns.”
That’s unlikely to happen tonight.
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As the minutes tick down to the first debate of the presidential cycle, dozens of Democratic activists gathered at 1306 Bar in downtown Miami for icy drinks, pastelitos and bomba music.
The watch party, hosted by She the People and The New Florida Majority was a lively affair. The activists in attendance are eager to watch the panoply of candidates make their case for the presidency.
The swag on sale included shirts and tote bags that said “the future belongs to black girls” and “Latinas en Marcha”.
Silvia Henriquez, the co-director of All* Above All Action Fund, a coalition centered on overturning abortion bans, including the Hyde Amendment, said she wants to hear the candidates’ policy platform for expanding access to reproductive rights.
Y'all @NewFLVision always knows how to build community. Justice con musica y cultura 👏🏾👏🏾👏🏾 #SheThePeopleFL pic.twitter.com/NBAuAxjRR5
— Mari Urbina (@TiaMari489) June 26, 2019
“Protecting Roe is the floor,” she said. “We’re looking for the ceiling and we’re looking for what comes next. We want to know what vision they have for women of color, their families and their communities when it comes to abortion care.” Bianka Nora, who is leaning toward Bernie Sanders, said she wants to hear more about the candidates’ climate plans. She believes Democrats best chance of defeating Donald Trump in 2020 is to elect someone who is “not afraid to denounce bad policy” and “not afraid to cut corporate ties.”
Despite the exuberant ambiance of the evening, Nora said there is still a gnawing fear that Trump could win re-election and “we’ll suffer a another four years of torment.”
Updated
In potentially the biggest TV disappointment since the climax of Game of Thrones, it seems that Donald Trump may not be live tweeting tonight’s Democratic primary debate after all.
The US president is, by a cruel twist of fate, on his way to Japan for the G20 summit. Perhaps no one can figure out how to switch the TVs from Fox News to the broadcaster of this debate, NBC.
At 7.14pm ET, Trump tweeted a series of handles including “@TeamTrump” and “@TrumpWarRoom”, promising that they will provide “RAPID RESPONSE, FACT CHECKING, and the TRUTH! #MAGA #KAG.”
The president then added (with irony?): “Sorry, I’m on Air Force One, off to save the Free World!”
The world may have been spared a fusillade of insults about Elizabeth “Pocahontas” Warren tonight. The free world will not be so lucky.
For tonight’s #DemDebate, be sure to follow @TeamTrump, @TrumpWarRoom, @Parscale, @KayleighMcEnany, @TimMurtaugh, and @Marc_Lotter for RAPID RESPONSE, FACT CHECKING, and the TRUTH! #MAGA #KAG Sorry, I’m on Air Force One, off to save the Free World!
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) June 26, 2019
Updated
Younger Democrats at a debate watch party in Miami tonight want candidates to lay out substantive plans for limiting climate change – as the city adapts to the effects that Florida is already seeing.
Diaundrea Sherill, the 31-year-old president of the Miami-Dade Young Democrats, said she wants to get a sense of how serious and passionate the candidates sound about climate change, rather than relying only on their written proposals.
She said sea-level rise is displacing people from the inner city as property prices there go up. “I know it’s definitely a concern here. I’ve attended several meetings where the topic is the top of the list for inner-city communities,” Sherill said.
But given the format, Florida Democrats aren’t expecting much specificity on climate, said Josh Sproat, a board member of the Miami-Dade Democratic Environmental Caucus who will celebrate his 40th birthday at the watch party at a bar in the Wynwood neighborhood.
Sproat said the climate crisis is an existential threat in Miami, which is just a few feet above sea level and “will provide the template for how we adapt.”
“What we’d really like to hear is that this is going to be a Day 1 priority in any new administration. It is not just an environment or weather crisis but it also affects habitability for people, particularly our vulnerable populations here in Miami and it’s also an economic crisis for us as well,” he said.
Younger people are more likely to worry about global warming, according to one 2018 analysis by Gallup. There are not clear generational splits on climate change among Democrats, however. Sproat said so far he’s happy with details he’s heard from senators Bernie Sanders and Elizabeth Warren. He would like to see more specifics and aggressive deadlines from former vice president Joe Biden – but is unhappy with the DNC’s decision not to hold a climate-focused debate.
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The bar for entry to this pair of debates was set relatively low, which has contributed to the throng. To qualify, candidates only needed to achieve 1% in three national polls, or receive more than 65,000 individual donations.
Of the 20 candidates, the DNC then mixed them at random – but with the stipulation that five of the top 10 candidates appear on each night. It’s different from Republican 2016 strategy, when the weakest candidates held their own debates before the main event. The “kid’s table” was largely ignored, and roundly mocked.
How different things might have been:
Fun fact: If the polling threshold for the first #DemDebate had been a single percentage point higher — that is, if candidates had to reach 2 percent instead of 1 percent in three qualifying polls — only nine candidates would have qualified.
— Maggie Astor (@MaggieAstor) June 26, 2019
I just caught up with the Rev Al Sharpton, former presidential candidate, in the “spin room”, which is actually the stage of an opera house. “I’m looking to see if Liz Warren can dominate as she is clearly the front runner on the stage tonight and whether Cory Booker can break through,” he said. “With Buttigieg now under challenge, can Beto now relight the fire? Can Bill de Blasio claim national progressive leadership, which he seems to wants so bad? So there’s a lot of different scenarios that I’ll be looking to see.”
Sharpton challenged former vice president Joe Biden in a TV interview last week over his controversial comments about working with segregationists in the US Senate. He told the Guardian: “I thought it was very disappointing. It doesn’t rule him out but it does say something about his sensitivity and I was not going to give him a pass on that. I think that language matters. If we’re going to challenge people, you have to be consistent.”
Why do polls suggest that Booker and Harris have not yet broken through with African American voters? Sharpton said: “I’m not one to trust polls. I think it’s early but I think that it gives them the challenge to go into the black community and build the case. They are known in their states but not as well known nationally and I think that when you look at the issues that we’ve had to fight in the last five years from Trayvon on, they’ve not been in the middle of that, so there’s nothing to energize that base. You’ve got to go earn that.”
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Ah, debates. They stir such memories. Not all of them good. Remember James Stockdale, Ross Perot’s running mate, opening his vice-presidential debate with the whimsical (and immediately, relelentlessly mocked) line: “Who am I? Why am I here?”?
What about Donald Trump, in 2015, earnestly defending the size of his penis?
There have been better moments, however. Ronald Reagan is still lauded for his performance in the second debate of the 1984 election. Reagan was 73-years-old at the time, running against the sprightly Walter Mondale, 56. The president had had a bit of a stinker in the pair’s first debate, prompting media debate about his mental capacity. So when the moderator asked if age should be an issue in the campaign, Reagan said:
Last but not least, who could ever forget poor old Rick Perry, making a right mess of things in 2011:
If this is the best Trump supporters can do the US president should be worried. Outside the venue of the first Democratic debate in Miami there’s a small gaggle of Trumpistas.
They aren’t very numerous and they aren’t very imaginative.
“Biden groper” says one handwritten sign. “The three socialist stooges” says another above images of Bernie Sanders, Joe Biden and Elizabeth Warren - only the fist of whom embraces socialism.
Jose Barja, 71, held up a sign saying “Sander (sic) I’m a socialism victim.” Turns out he’s a Cuban exile which is hardly surprising here in Miami.
“Bernie and a whole lot of socialists want to destroy the USA just like they destroyed my Cuba,” he said.
Marianne Williamson, self-help author and long-shot Democratic candidate, isn’t on stage until tomorrow night, but she’s sent out this handy memo to reporters. (A Harvey Wallbanger? It’s not 1982!)
This Marianne Williamson campaign statement just out to reporters for how to destress after the debate is incredible pic.twitter.com/v16X1ydNLC
— Matt Berman (@Mr_Berman) June 26, 2019
It’s a real hotbed of activism in Miami right now. As we’ve heard, people have gathered to protest the climate crisis and the situation in Puerto Rico. There’s also a cohort here who are protesting one man: Bill de Blasio.
The New York City mayor, who takes to the debate stage tonight, has faced some opposition from the city’s residents since he announced his 2020 presidential run earlier this year, and unluckily for him, a few of his most vocal critics have followed him to Miami.
More than two dozen members of the Police Benevolent Association (PBA), a police union, joined former officers to protest De Blasio’s “mismanagement” of the city outside the Adrienne Arsht Center.
.@nycpba labor coalition firing up the chants for @BilldeBlasio as we wait for candidates to arrive for #DemDebate pic.twitter.com/3h6Y8Gowgr
— NYC PBA (@NYCPBA) June 26, 2019
“He has devoted far more time to chasing his own political ambitions than to addressing New York City’s myriad crises — the population of homeless New Yorkers is ballooning and the mental healthcare system is in shambles, all of which has only added to the challenges police officers face on the streets,” the group’s president, Pat Lynch, said in a statement ahead of the protest, the New York Daily News reported.
The PBA took out a full page advert in today’s edition of the Miami Herald to criticize the mayor.
Debate generates rallies across downtown Miami
The First Democratic debate is still two hours away but it’s already generating watch parties and rallies across downtown Miami. I’m under a beautiful southern oak tree near Biscayne Bay where about 30 Puerto Rican activists have gathered to dance and sing traditional island songs and press the cause of their stricken island on tonight’s 10 candidates.
“I want to hear from the Democrats what they are going to do about the crumbling health system in Puerto Rico,” said Clarissa Caban. She’s a psychiatrist from the US territory who lives and works in Miami.
“The health system has been deteriorating for years. Schools are being closed under austerity imposed on us,” she said.
Tonight’s Dem debate is being marked by a host of rallies across Miami. Here a climate crisis protest outside Miami Dade college - plenty of Bernie Sanders posters among the crowd pic.twitter.com/9rYigUtj0o
— Ed Pilkington (@Edpilkington) June 26, 2019
I can’t promise that Puerto Rico is going to scratch its way into tonight’s debate - there’s quite a lot else vying for attention. But it’s a sign of how expectations are running high that events like this are cropping up across the city.
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I’d wager our ten candidates are starting to get nervous round about now, but at least they’ve been preparing.
The aspirants have reportedly been watching videos of the Republican 2016 debates, looking for tips on how to break out on a crowded stage, and as for more specific preparation, Julian Castro, for one, isn’t taking any chances. “For a few weeks now,” New York Magazine says, “Whenever Castro has been out on the campaign trail, an aide has been calling ahead to his next hotel to book its conference room for a few hours of prep time.” That prep apparently includes advice on body language. Meanwhile Jay Inslee, the governor of Washington, has hired a full-time debate director, Geoffrey Potter, to put him through his paces.
If this talk of training and preparation is sounding a bit like a Rocky film, well, Cory Booker has been taking that literally, working on his pectoralis and biceps brachii between soundbites:
.@CoryBooker’s debate prep includes push ups and bicep curls “to keep him motivated” a campaign aide said. pic.twitter.com/OMRryFxypS
— Leigh Ann Caldwell (@LACaldwellDC) June 25, 2019
For her part, Elizabeth Warren has spent time trying to “boil down, prioritize and sharpen her myriad policy proposals,” her aides told KVIA. “She’s also been preparing to be asked about her rivals who aren’t on stage – namely Biden and Sanders, who will appear on the second night,” the news channel reported.
And, last but not least, Bill de Blasio has had a totally normal, definitely not scripted, 100% not written by a staffer, conversation with his son, Dante.
Lucky to have the talented, debater Dante de Blasio helping me get ready for Wednesday! pic.twitter.com/my51wahM6S
— Bill de Blasio (@BilldeBlasio) June 24, 2019
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It’s not just inside the Adrienne Arsht Center that the climate crisis is front and center. Protesters are marching outside the Democratic presidential debates both tonight and tomorrow in support of the Green New Deal to encourage Democrats to back the sweeping proposal.
Nicole Level, a local organizer for the environment group 350.org, said ten advocacy organizations are joining together, including the youth-led Sunrise Movement.
“We’re staying until the end of the debates in the hopes candidates come out and speak to us,” Level said.
Many of the Democrats running have endorsed the concept of the Green New Deal, which would leverage huge federal spending to shift away from fossil fuels while ensuring employment, health care and education for vulnerable Americans. But few have gone into the details of how they would implement such a proposal, which would also require the support of Congress.
“The Green New Deal is sort of a pathway, it’s not like a piece of legislation, it’s not very specific, so we would like to see a plan that follows the pathway of the Green New Deal,” Level said.
Level said Miami needs a Green New Deal because most residents live at or near the poverty line and are already suffering from global warming-induced sea-level rise. The oceans are driving people inland, and gentrification is limiting the availability of affordable housing.
“We’re also hoping for climate action to be more [central to] the debates,” Level said.
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In terms of what we can expect our diez Democrats to discuss tonight, the DNC has promised questions about the climate crisis, which were conspicuously absent from the presidential debates in 2016.
Many of the candidates have said they support the ambitious Green New Deal, but some of the more centrist types – including Biden – are holding off. Also expect quizzing on healthcare, a real point of differentiation where some contenders support Medicare for All, some are only up for improving Obamacare, and others are somewhere in the middle.
The DNC has been at pains to promote this as a more serious debate than we have seen from Republicans in recent times, which won’t be difficult, and expect other big topics such as college fees, student loans, impeachment and, given the current situation at the border: immigration policy.
Elizabeth Warren visited a child detention center in Florida this morning – Beto O’Rourke and Bernie Sanders are visiting the same place tomorrow, and about another five of the Democrats are going on Friday, and we can expect a lot of mention of the treatment of undocumented immigrants.
There are a lot of different ways that we get in the fight. And one of them is that you show up. I'm at the Homestead detention center today and I hope you'll be watching. https://t.co/vzXqUlaiIM
— Elizabeth Warren (@ewarren) June 26, 2019
So how’s this going to work tonight? Two’s company, ten’s a lot for a debate, as the saying doesn’t go, and, realistically, our hopefuls are going to have very little time to speak.
“Brevity will be the name of the game,” says NBC News, which is in charge of all this – (the debates are being shown live on NBC) – and most analysts reckon each candidate will end up with only about 8-10 minutes of speaking time.
Here’s how it’s going to work, via NBC:
Candidates will have 60 seconds to answer questions and 30 seconds to respond to follow-ups. And there will be no opening statements, though candidates will have a chance to deliver closing remarks.
The two-hour debates will zip by quickly, with five segments [...] separated by four commercial breaks.
It’ll be exactly the same tomorrow, when Joe Biden, Kamala Harris, Pete Buttigieg, Bernie Sanders (good luck getting him to stick to the 60 second limit) and Six Others take to the stage.
So it’s speed-debating, really. And it’s unclear how much of it will qualify as debating, in the technical sense of the term. Still, it’s the first time many Americans will have had a chance to listen to these candidates speak, and it’s a good opportunity for a lesser-known Democrat to make their voice heard.
Welcome to live coverage of the DNC presidential primary debates
Good evening! And welcome to your live coverage of the first DNC presidential primary debate. For the next six-plus hours I’ll be guiding you through all the latest developments and tidbits pre-debate, and then following all the action live as the presidential candidates take to the stage.
Ten Democrats will debate each other tonight, with the standout candidate (at this stage) being Massachusetts senator Elizabeth Warren. Other big names include Cory Booker, the senator from New Jersey, and Beto O’Rourke, who ran against Ted Cruz in Texas in 2018.
Booker and O’Rourke have been struggling to make their voices heard above the hugely crowded Democratic field (25–plus main candidates and counting), but so have the rest of those on stage – who include in full:
Elizabeth Warren; Cory Booker; Beto O’Rourke; Bill de Blasio – mayor of New York City; Tim Ryan – Ohio congressman; Tulsi Gabbard – Hawaii congresswoman; Julián Castro – former housing and urban development secretary; Amy Klobuchar – Senator for Minnesota; John Delaney – former Maryland congressman; Jay Inslee – governor of Washington.
It’s going to be interesting to see how the 10 Democrats go about this. They need to make their case to voters – and in many cases explain who they are to voters – but do they come out attacking the party’s frontrunner, Joe Biden, or stick to selling their own vision for the future?
We’ll find out when the debate kicks off, at 9pm ET.
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