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The Guardian - US
The Guardian - US
World
Joan E Greve in Detroit

Democratic debates: Sanders and Warren team up against moderate attacks – as it happened

Summary

That’s it from me tonight, but I’ll be back with more live coverage from Detroit for tomorrow’s debate.

Here are some of the key takeaways from tonight:

  • Bernie Sanders and Elizabeth Warren formed a tag team against the more moderate candidates to defend their progressive proposals. Warren, in particular, repeatedly clashed with John Delaney over whether her plans were “realistic.” But she pushed back by arguing the country was in need of bold change.
  • Sanders landed a couple of memorable lines that were reminiscent of the energy from his 2016 campaign. While defending the specifics of his Medicare-for-all proposal, he snapped, “I wrote the damn bill!” And he slammed Trump as a “pathological liar.”
  • None of the candidates who needed a breakout moment tonight seemed to capture one. Candidates like Delaney, John Hickenlooper, Tim Ryan and Steve Bullock were looking for a moment or issue to energize their campaigns and catapult them to the fall debate. But there’s no indication that happened.
  • Marianne Williamson’s answers about race, particularly regarding slavery reparations, seemed to spur more interest in her campaign. She was the most-searched candidate during the debate, according to Google.
  • The CNN moderators’ insistence on abiding by time limits seemed to stifle the debate, repeatedly cutting off competitors mid-argument. And it didn’t seem to accomplish its intended goal. An initial count by the Washington Post indicated that Sanders and Warren spoke about twice as much as Williamson and Hickenlooper.

The Guardian team will be back with more coverage tomorrow night, so make sure to tune back in for our live updates and analysis from Detroit.

From the post-debate spin room, actually a tent. Congressman Tim Ryan of Ohio was asked what it will take to beat Donald Trump. “I think it takes somebody who can connect to the working class,” he said. “We’ve lost our connection in a lot of ways to the working class and we’ve got to have a big vision for the country.

“I really think aspiration about the future of the country is going to win the day and I tried to provide that today about manufacturing jobs and really winning the future around electric vehicles and some of these other opportunities that we have. That’s going to be really important because Trump has no plan. Trump operates in a 24 hour news cycle and that’s dangerous and it puts us way behind the eight ball when it comes to winning the future.”

Asked by the Guardian whether the Democrats can bury their differences and unite around the eventual nominee, Ryan insisted: “I think so. We’re all pretty much anybody but Trump.”

Meanwhile Marianne Williamson was asked about her debate prep. “I’m trying to keep up on the issues and learn,” she said. “I’ve read a lot and I’m learning a lot and I’ve also been a political activist for a long time so it’s not like I woke up one day and decided I wanted to be interested in politics.”

Elizabeth Warren doubled down on her argument that she has a more stirring pitch to become president than her more moderate competitors.

In an interview after the debate, CNN’s Anderson Cooper replayed the clip of Warren saying she didn’t understand why some candidates entered the race “just to talk about what we really can’t do and shouldn’t fight for.”

“I think that’s fair and right,” Warren said of the clip. She said she knew exactly why she was getting into the race when she launched her campaign and wants to embrace bold change. “We can’t be the party of little changes from where we are right now,” Warren said.

In her post-debate messaging, Elizabeth Warren has zeroed in on her argument that Democrats need to embrace a candidate with bold ideas.

The fact that Warren appeared to so successfully deploy that message during the debate points to a weakness among more moderate candidates, as a New York Times reporter noted:

Marianne Williamson’s answers about race during the debate have particularly captured a lot of attention.

The self-help author, who has embraced slavery reparations as a key plank of her campaign platform, said that her proposal represented a “$200 to $500 billion payment of a debt that is owed.”

“And I believe that anything less than $100 billion is an insult,” Williamson added. “And $200 to $500 billion is politically feasible today because so many Americans realize there is an injustice that continues to form a toxicity underneath the surface, an emotional turbulence that only reparations will heal.”

Speaking to a CBS News reporter, Amy Klobuchar took issue with the notion that proposals from more moderate candidates were not “bold enough.”

“I don’t think you should mistake the fact that we have different views as that we’re not bold enough. That part of it really bothers me,” Klobuchar said.

The Minnesota senator emphasized that she and other moderates were still standing up for average Americans. “I think we do a disservice when people are saying that that’s not fighting,” Klobuchar said. “I think it’s fighting. You’ve just got a different way you want to do it.”

In contrast, Elizabeth Warren’s campaign has been advertising this quote from the Massachusetts senator’s debate performance, which you can expect to soon appear on a t-shirt:

After a bruising takedown by Elizabeth Warren, someone edited John Delaney’s Wikipedia page to falsely declare his death.

While this is obviously untrue – the Maryland moderate is very much alive – this edit was live on the encyclopedia site for a short while, as detailed by its own revisions tracker.

In case you missed it, this was the moment:

Updated

Here are some snap verdicts on the winners of tonight’s debate from online pundits and campaigners across the political spectrum:

And in case you were wondering who the Trump campaign called it for....

Marianne Williamson has once again put in a strong showing – at least as far as Google searches go.

The search engine giant reported shortly after the debate ended that Williamson was the most-searched Democratic candidate as the event unfolded, followed by Bernie Sanders and Elizabeth Warren.

The number of searches about Williamson is even more impressive given how much she spoke during the debate. According to the Washington Post, she and John Hickenlooper were the only two candidates who spoke for less than nine minutes over the two and a half hours.

Sanders and Warren got about twice as much attention, each speaking for nearly 18 minutes during the debate.

Updated

John Delaney is ... keeping the dream alive. Despite some initial negative reviews of his performance tonight, the former Maryland congressman said he has “no plan to drop out” of the race.

Delaney’s staffers have encouraged him to exit the race by mid-August because he hasn’t had a “real breakout moment,” Axios reported earlier this month. And there is no indication tonight provided Delaney such a moment.

Warren and Sanders remain cordial (with each other at least)

The biggest question going into tonight’s debate was whether Elizabeth Warren and Bernie Sanders would attack each other in the hope of emerging as the race’s top progressive candidate.

After two and a half hours of debate, the answer to that question was a very clear “no.” Warren and Sanders instead faced off against the more moderate candidates on the stage, touting their progressive proposals on everything from Medicare-for-all to decriminalization of border crossings.

The lack of tension between Warren and Sanders is not all that surprising given their longtime alliance in the Senate. But it’s unclear whether they’ll be able to maintain that cordial relationship for the September debate, when many of the moderate candidates will have likely dropped off.

Divide between moderates and progressives emerges as key takeaway after debate

The homepage headlines right now for three of America’s leading newspapers demonstrate how much tonight’s debate was dominated by ideological clashes between the progressive and more moderate candidates.

John Delaney clearly came itching for a fight with his progressive opponents, and he got one – particularly when it came to his exchanges with Elizabeth Warren.

But there was a hefty amount of skepticism online as to whether that strategy would actually aid Delaney’s minimal prospects in this race.

Updated

Environmental advocates are already criticizing the short shrift given to the climate crisis in tonight’s debate.

“Following the first debate in June — in which just 6 percent of questions over two nights addressed climate change policy — we heard just one candidate, Elizabeth Warren, outline their vision for implementing a Green New Deal,” Greenpeace USA said.

Here are the key climate moments from tonight:

  • Bernie Sanders and Elizabeth Warren both criticized John Hickenlooper and more moderate Democrats for not being aggressive enough on the climate crisis. “I get a little tired of Democrats afraid of big ideas,” Sanders said, accusing fossil fuel companies of “criminal activity.” Elizabeth Warren spoke of her proposal to boost green manufacturing and jobs. “No one wants to talk about it,” she said. “What you want to do instead is find the Republican talking point.”
  • Hickenlooper said Sanders’ support of the Green New Deal is a “disaster at the ballot box,” adding that “you might as well FedEx the election to Donald Trump.”
  • Steve Bullock said progressive proposals might hurt workers, and Sanders countered the Green New Deal is “a bold idea” that can “create millions of good paying jobs.”
  • Pete Buttigieg said none of it matters if Democrats don’t win the White House: “We have all put out highly similar visions on climate. It is all theoretical,” he said. “We will deal with climate if and only if we win the presidency, if and only if we beat Donald trump.”

Jay Inslee vowed he won’t let climate go undiscussed in tomorrow’s debate, which also features Joe Biden, Kamala Harris and Cory Booker.

Greenpeace USA’s senior climate campaigner Jack Shapiro said putting climate on the backburner “is an insult to those dealing with extreme heatwaves, storms, and droughts right now and to future generations for whom everything is at stake.”

The Democratic National Committee has refused to host a climate-focused debate, although warnings from scientists that the world has about 11 years to prevent irreversible climate damage and the US government’s own analysis concludes rising temperatures threaten the economy and public health. But MSNBC and CNN will each hold climate forums in September.

The debate has ended

That wraps up night one of the Democratic debates here in Detroit. Stay tuned for more analysis from the Guardian team.

Candidates deliver their closing statements

Marianne Williamson, who once again seems to have won Twitter’s “most fascinating” award, used her closing statement to advocate for “radical truth-telling” and demand a “serious conversation about race.”

John Delaney, who spent the bulk of his time onstage going after Elizabeth Warren, took another swipe at progressive candidates with his closing statement. He said he endorsed “real solutions, not impossible promises.”

Tim Ryan told the audience he hoped he had “captured your imagination,” prompting some puzzled looks in the press room here in Detroit.

John Hickenlooper was just happy to be here. “What a night. I loved it,” he said.

Amy Klobuchar invoked the opioid crisis with her closing statement, promising to go after the pharmaceutical industry as president.

Beto O’Rourke offered an endorsement of bipartisanship, noting that he did surprisingly well with Republican voters in his Texas Senate race against Ted Cruz last year. (O’Rourke still lost.)

Pete Buttigieg may say that he doesn’t care how old anyone is, but he noted in his closing statement he would soon be in his 40’s as America starts to feel the effects of these proposals.

Elizabeth Warren said that this election is about “who’s going to get opportunity.”

Bernie Sanders pledged to stand by the US middle class, recounting his recent trip to Canada to emphasize the high price of insulin in America.

Updated

The Internet is still cackling over this moment earlier, when Elizabeth Warren rubbed her hands with glee at the mention that John Delaney would be affected by her wealth tax:

CNN closes its questioning by asking about age

CNN host Don Lemon posed the moderators’ last question of the night, which effectively boiled down to: does age matter?

Lemon noted that 40 years separate the 37-year-old Pete Buttigieg from the 77-year-old Bernie Sanders.

“I don’t care how old you are. I care about your vision,” Buttigieg said in response to Lemon’s question. But he then seemed to qualify that a bit by advocating for a “new generation of leaders.”

Sanders seconded Buttigieg’s initial point that vision matters over age, going on to tout many of his progressive proposals.

Kirsten Gillibrand, who will participate in tomorrow night’s debate, slammed the CNN hosts for not asking a question about reproductive rights or paid family leave. The two issues have been central to the New York senator’s campaign:

Pete Buttigieg, who served in Afghanistan, committed to withdrawing all US troops from the country by the end of his first year in office.

“We will withdraw. We have to,” Buttigieg said, adding, “We’re pretty close to waking up to the news of a casualty in Afghanistan of someone who was not born on 9/11.”

The Sanders campaign is already starting to fundraise off his “I wrote the damn bill” moment

Elizabeth Warren’s campaign is touting her comments condemning white supremacy as domestic terrorism. The candidate’s Twitter account reshared this:

Donald Trump remains uncharacteristically silent about the debate but his garrulous son, Donald Trump Jr, has been weighing in. Among his tweets:

“People are gonna think that I’m trolling but compared to what else is up on this stage I think Marianne Williamson is actually winning this thing,” he tweeted. “This is amazing. No question she seems to be drawing the biggest applause of the night.”

Expect to see and hear a lot more of Don Jr during the 2020 election campaign. He has become, by some estimations, an effective surrogate and speaker at rallies, adept at throwing red meat to the base.

Sanders: 'Trump is a pathological liar'

CNN host Jake Tapper asked Bernie Sanders where he diverged from Donald Trump on foreign policy, given that both of them have said the US should not serve as the policeman of the world.

“Trump is a pathological liar. I tell the truth,” Sanders said defiantly. But he added that he stood by his belief that America should not serve as the world’s policeman.

Updated

Bernie Sanders is really throwing caution to the wind when it comes to answering moderators’ questions.

The Vermont senator seems to have his own list of points he wants to make and appears to have taken the hosts’ questions as simply suggestions.

Asked just now about his student debt plan, he instead focused on income inequality, somewhat returning to the debate between Elizabeth Warren and John Delaney moments ago on taxing the wealthy.

Elizabeth Warren is defending her proposed taxes on the wealthiest Americans, saying it would help to “start to close the wealth gap.”

John Delaney shot back that all of the candidates were in favor of higher taxes on the wealthy, but Democrats needed to find a realistic way of enacting them. He added that Warren’s proposed taxes were “arguably unconstitutional.”

Asked about the lead water contamination crisis in Flint, Marianne Williamson called it “just the tip of the iceberg.”

“We have an administration that has gutted the Clean Water Act. We have communities -- particularly communities of color and disadvantaged communities -- all over this country who are suffering from environmental injustice.”

She attributed the inequity to racism and the “dark underbelly of America.” She said what happened in Flint would never happen where she lived in Grosse Pointe, an affluent suburb of Detroit.

Amy Klobuchar quickly pivoted to her infrastructure plan, saying she would spend $1 trillion on water, roads and rural broadband.

She criticized Donald Trump for promising an infrastructure package on election night and so far failing to follow through.

John Delaney answered the tariff question by specifically criticizing Elizabeth Warren’s trade policy proposals.

The former Maryland congressman seems dead set on picking as many fights with Warren as possible.

Delaney said Warren’s plan would prevent the United States from even trading with the United Kingdom. Warren responded that her plan would simply force US trade partners to “raise their standards” before being able to sell products here.

CNN host Don Lemon returned from the commercial break by asking candidates whether they would continue Donald Trump’s steel tariffs.

Tim Ryan said Trump was “on to something when he talked about China,” arguing that the country dominates too much of the global market.

But Lemon pushed Ryan specifically on whether he would continue the tariffs. “He’s bungled the whole thing,” Ryan admitted of Trump.

The Guardian’s environment reporter Emily Holden writes:

Democrats tonight split over how ambitious a plan to fight the climate crisis they should pursue, with some worrying about proposing something that Republicans can’t agree to or that would hurt workers.

Moderator Dana Bash posed the first climate question of the night late into the night, asking John Delaney why he finds the Green New Deal to be “unrealistic.”

Both Delaney and John Hickenlooper criticized what they see as impossible plans for extensive spending on a green economy to fight rising temperatures. Delaney backs a tax on carbon emissions with dividends returned to taxpayers. Hickenlooper is governor of Colorado, a major oil state.

Bernie Sanders and Elizabeth Warren punched back.

“I get a little tired of Democrats afraid of big ideas,” he said, accusing fossil fuel companies of “criminal activity.”

Elizabeth Warren slammed them for shooting down her proposal to boost green manufacturing and jobs.

“No one wants to talk about it,” she said. “What you want to do instead is find the Republican talking point.”

When Steve Bullock suggested voters might see progressive proposals as hurting workers, Sanders disagreed.

“It’s a bold idea. We can create millions of good paying jobs. We can rebuild communities in rural america that have been devastated. So we are not anti-worker,” Sanders said.

Pete Buttigieg shot for the middle: “We have all put out highly similar visions on climate. It is all theoretical, he said. We will deal with climate if and only if we win the presidency, if and only if we beat Donald trump.”

Updated

The candidates are now debating reparations for slavery, which has been a major campaign plank for Marianne Williamson.

Invoking the civil war-era promise of “forty acres and a mule,” Williamson argued that the US had to face its history of racism by embracing reparations.

Asked why he didn’t support cash reparation payments, Bernie Sanders cited other policies he did support, including representative Jim Clyburn’s 10-20-30 plan to combat poverty.

Updated

This is the moment Warren delivered the biggest blow of the night so far:

Twitter has now started to resemble more of a ringside crowd than a debate one:

When asked about how he would appeal to African American voters, Pete Buttigieg said that, as an “urban mayor,” “the racial divide lives within me.”

The comment comes as Buttigieg has faced criticism back home in South Bend, Indiana, after a black man was shot and killed by a white police officer.

Bernie Sanders: 'I wrote the damn bill"

This was the moment Bernie Sanders delivered the first big zinger of the night:

It has delighted both his supporters and those looking for some debate drama tonight:

The night so far in pictures:

Bernie Sanders and Elizabeth Warren.
Bernie Sanders and Elizabeth Warren. Photograph: Justin Sullivan/Getty Images
Marianne Williamson.
Marianne Williamson. Photograph: Paul Sancya/AP
Amy Klobuchar and Pete Buttigieg.
Amy Klobuchar and Pete Buttigieg. Photograph: Justin Sullivan/Getty Images
John Delaney.
John Delaney. Photograph: Lucas Jackson/Reuters

Updated

Some of those watching the debate have been taking issue with the framing of some of CNN’s questions so far, particularly on healthcare and immigration:

This is from Sanders’ press secretary:

Some people are even less happy:

Updated

Bernie Sanders accused his more moderate competitors of being “afraid of big ideas.”

“Republicans are not afraid of big ideas,” Sanders said, citing the GOP’s tax overhaul that is expected to substantially increase the deficit. “So please don’t tell me we can’t take on the fossil fuel industry,” Sanders added.

Tim Ryan kicked off his response with an admonishment to Sanders. “You don’t have to yell,” the Ohio congressman said.

CNN host Dana Bash posed the first climate change question of the night, nearly 90 minutes into the debate.

John Delaney kicked off the question by explaining why he considers the Green New Deal unrealistic, instead supporting a carbon tax.

Elizabeth Warren then defended the Green New Deal, of which she is a co-sponsor.

So far tonight, many of the most heated back-and-forth exchanges have occurred between Warren and Delaney. They’ll likely feature prominently in any highlight reel from tonight’s debate.

So far, Sanders and Warren have been dominating tonight’s conversation, according to The Washington Post’s calculations.

Sanders has spoken for 9.4 minutes and Warren for 8.4 minutes, while Ryan trails on 3.8 minutes, and Williamson has spoken for just 3.4 minutes

Warren's first big line of the night

Elizabeth Warren defended the electability of progressives like herself and Bernie Sanders by arguing Democrats need to find someone who they can be passionate about.

“Democrats win when we figure out what is right and we get out there and fight for it,” Warren said. “I am not afraid.”

When John Delaney once again accused her and Sanders of endorsing “fairytale economics,” Warren shot back that she didn’t know why people run for president “just to talk about what we really can’t do and shouldn’t fight for.”

Updated

As the debate returns from a commercial break, the conversation is once again centered on the question of electability.

CNN host Jake Tapper asked John Hickenlooper whether he considered Bernie Sanders “too extreme” to beat Donald Trump. In response, Hickenlooper predicted the progressive policies Sanders espoused would be a bridge too far for many Americans. “You might as well FedEx the election to Donald Trump,” Hickenlooper said.

Sanders shot back that many polls in key battleground states show him beating Trump in a hypothetical match-up.

Tim Ryan then weighed in by noting, “Hillary Clinton was winning in the polls, too.”

Nearly halfway through tonight’s debate, Democrats have mentioned the climate crisis only briefly in their opening statements.

Moderators have asked no climate questions, even though the climate crisis topped the list of subjects CNN readers want to hear about the most. More people voted for climate than for economy, health care and immigration -- which have so far dominated the debate.

It’s also worth noting that the climate crisis threatens economic growth, will exacerbate many health problems and is already driving migration.

The candidates also did not bring up the environmental problems plaguing Michigan, including the lead water crisis in Flint.

Here are the three main climate mentions:

  • John Hickenlooper said his states attacked climate change head on.
  • Pete Buttigieg noted that science shows the world has 12 years to prevent irreversible damage from climate change. (That’s now 11 years.)
  • Bernie Sanders slammed the fossil fuel industry for taking subsidies and tax breaks while they “destroy this planet,” in the same breath he vowed to take on Donald Trump’s “racism, his sexism, [and his] xenophobia.”

Marianne Williamson also said insufficient policies on chemicals, foods and the environment are leading to people getting sick. Steve Bullock said money in politics is preventing action on many challenges, including the climate crisis.

One hour into the debate, Bernie Sanders and Elizabeth Warren have been largely unified as they face off against the more moderate candidates on the stage.

Many wondered going into the debate whether Sanders and Warren would try to differentiate themselves from each other, given that they are the highest-polling candidates in tonight’s group.

But the division has so far been pretty clearly defined by moderates versus progressives.

And a Politico reporter also noted this as we entered the second hour of the debate:

Bullock to Warren: 'You are playing into Donald Trump's hands'

Elizabeth Warren and Steve Bullock got into a debate that was about both immigration and Democrats’ broader strategy about how to take on Trump.

“You are playing into Donald Trump’s hands,” Bullock said of Warren’s progressive policies, arguing that the current president was the biggest problem when it came to immigration. “A sane immigration system needs a sane leader,” Bullock said.

Warren shot back that Bullock was turning a blind eye to Trump’s most controversial policies. “What you’re saying is ignore the wall,” Warren said.

Updated

Democratic candidates seem to be taking the CNN hosts’ questions as suggestions for the direction of discussion rather than an actual rubric.

Elizabeth Warren and Bernie Sanders both used questions about immigration to denounce Trump’s policies, largely ignoring the hosts’ specific questions on the issue.

The conversation has shifted to immigration, with the first question posed to Pete Buttigieg about decriminalizing border crossings.

Beto O’Rourke noted that he disagreed with Buttigieg, who favors the decriminalization of border crossings.

Elizabeth Warren then jumped in to argue that the decriminalization statute made the Trump administration’s family separation policy possible. “We must be a country that every day lives our values,” Warren said.

Elizabeth Warren jumping to the defence of Bernie Sanders over Medicare for All has delighted many Twitter users watching the debate.

Meanwhile, Warren’s response to the Medicare for All criticisms – calling them “Republican talking points” – also has been well-received among some Democrats, including a former Obama campaign manager:

Updated

Sanders: 'I wrote the damn bill'

Bernie Sanders has returned to the debate stage with the fire that animated his 2016 debate. When pushed about the specifics of his Medicare-for-all bill, Sanders snapped, “I wrote the damn bill.”

Updated

Marianne Williamson said criticisms of Medicare-for-all are “not just a Republican talking point.”

Pete Buttigieg then jumped in to argue it was “time to stop worrying about what the Republicans will say.” “Let’s just stand up for the right policy,” the millennial mayor said.

Jake Tapper has so far been vigilant about keeping candidates to the time limits that CNN is trying to enforce.

That technique may help each candidate receive a more proportionate time of camera attention, but it has also made for a choppy debate with candidates repeatedly being cut off mid-point.

A HuffPost reporter asked this question about Tapper’s approach:

Updated

Beto O’Rourke is now promising that taxes will not be raised on the middle class to insure more Americans.

Getting into a debate with Steve Bullock on the issue, O’Rourke said other plans would leave too many Americans uninsured.

Elizabeth Warren described in detail of how a man with ALS has struggled to pay his medical bills to explain the necessity of her health care plan.

Apparently responding to laughter in the audience when she returned to his story, Warren said, “This isn’t funny.”

From a Washington Post columnist:

Well, it looks like John Delaney’s strategy was at least somewhat successful. After releasing a statement just before the debate slamming Medicare-for-all, he was quickly given an opportunity to describe his own policy.

He then got drawn into a back-and-forth with Bernie Sanders about whether to end private insurance.

Jumping into the debate, Elizabeth Warren said Democrats are not trying to take health care away from anyone and accused those who said otherwise of adopting a Republican talking point.

Sanders to Delaney: 'You're wrong'

The first question, posed by Jake Tapper, goes to Bernie Sanders about Medicare for all. Tapper specifically mentioned fellow candidate John Delaney’s criticisms of the policy.

Asked what he would say to Delaney, Sanders responded simply, “You’re wrong,” eliciting applause from the Detroit crowd.

Updated

Warren: Trump 'disgraces the office of president every single day'

Elizabeth Warren came out strong with a denunciation of the Oval Office’s current occupant. “Donald Trump disgraces the office of president every single day,” Warren said.

The Massachusetts senator emphasized that any of the Democrats onstage would make a better president than Trump and slammed his as the beneficiary of a rigged system.

Updated

No español? Former Texas congressman Beto O’Rourke used his opening statement to promise he would help Americans “realize our full potential.” But unlike the first debate, he stuck with English for his opening comments, surely disappointing many on the Internet.

Former Colorado governor John Hickenlooper joined Delaney in attacking the front-running candidates on the stage as supporting unrealistic policies.

Although Hickenlooper ignored mentioning Bernie Sanders or Elizabeth Warren by name, he was clearly criticizing their progressive proposals.

Former Maryland congressman John Delaney has come out swinging by accusing candidates like Bernie Sanders of promising “free everything.”

Delaney also put out a statement just before the debate slamming Sanders for his health care proposals, so you can see a theme building here.

After a brief opening commercial break, the debate is on.

Moderator Jake Tapper went through the rules and issued the sure-to-be-disregarded instruction to the audience not to interrupt the discussion by cheering.

Opening statements have started with Montana governor Steve Bullock, who has unsurprisingly emphasized he won three elections in a red state.

The decision by Democrats to hold a presidential debate in Michigan falls into a pattern that has seen the party invest in states lost by Hillary Clinton in 2016.

Although the state swung in Donald Trump’s favor by a narrow margin of 11,000, Clinton was the first Democratic presidential candidate to lose the state in 28 years. She was also narrowly defeated by Bernie Sanders in the Michigan Democratic primary, which marked a major upset for her campaign and in retrospect foreshadowed Clinton’s challenges ahead.

Working class voters, faced with the decline of manufacturing and industrial jobs, played a significant role in propelling Trump to victory. Local officials have cautioned Democrats that for any candidate to pass muster, a clear platform on healthcare, trade and jobs will be of utmost importance.

But for Democrats to succeed, winning back working class white voters is not the only priority.

Candidates have also focused on inner-city issues, such as affordable housing, and drawn attention back to the Flint water crisis, while campaigning near Detroit. The city is 83% black, meaning any debate among Democrats on income inequality will have to account for race and the systemic barriers before people of color.

The debate has started

The candidates are taking the stage, and the Guardian team is here to provide updates and analysis as we go.

Here’s how to watch the debate

Tonight’s debate will start at 8pm ET and go until around 10:30pm.

CNN is hosting and broadcasting the debate, but the network is allowing viewers to stream the debate without a cable subscription on their homepage.

The same three CNN anchors – Dana Bash, Don Lemon and Jake Tapper – will host both nights. The network has made the (wise) decision not to switch out moderators in the middle of the debate, which led to some very noticeable technical difficulties for NBC News last month.

Like the NBC debates, only one of the moderators (in CNN’s case, Jake Tapper) is a white man. But oddly, because of CNN’s random drawing to determine the debate line-up, all of the participants tonight are white.

Updated

The format of the debates is very similar to last month’s, with candidates getting 60 seconds to answer a moderator-directed question and 30 seconds for responses and rebuttals. Candidates who are attacked by name by an opponent will also get 30 seconds to respond. And a series of flashing lights – from yellow to solid red – will warn them when their time is running out.

CNN specifically ruled out the possibility of show of hands or one-word questions, much to the relief of many viewers and likely to the disappointment of NBC News’ Chuck Todd.

The network also warned candidates that anyone who consistently interrupts others’ answers will have his or her time reduced.

During last month’s debates, several candidates repeatedly interjected their own thoughts on questions that weren’t posed to them. But it’s hard to blame them when they’re trying to differentiate themselves from more than 20 other people.

DNC chairman: "We believe in Baltimore"

DNC chairman Tom Perez addressed the debate crowd in Detroit and specifically called out Trump’s recent attacks on Baltimore and representative Elijah Cummings.

“We believe in Baltimore,” Perez told the crowd to applause. “We believe in Elijah Cummings.”

Over the weekend, Trump launched a racist attack on Cummings, the chairman of the House oversight committee, and his majority-black district by ridiculing Baltimore as a “disgusting, rat and rodent infested.”

“That’s not who we are as a nation,” Perez said.

One thing to keep in mind looking at the crowded debate stage tonight: this won’t be happening again this election cycle. Because of the Democratic National Committee’s heightened requirements for the fall debates, far fewer candidates are expected to qualify in September.

In order to make the cut for this week’s debates, candidates had to either attract at least 1 percent of support in three separate polls or receive contributions from 65,000 unique donors.

But for the September debate, the DNC has both doubled each requirement and made both of them necessary to qualify. So every candidate who debates in the fall has to have both registered at 2 percent or more in four polls and received contributions from 130,000 donors.

Only seven candidates have so far crossed both thresholds: Joe Biden, Bernie Sanders, Elizabeth Warren, Kamala Harris, Pete Buttigieg, Beto O’Rourke and Cory Booker.

Andrew Yang announced yesterday that he had met the polling requirement after already crossing the donor threshold, but the DNC threw cold water on that today by sending out an email saying it would not accept one of the polls Yang had cited.

Two other candidates – Julián Castro and Amy Klobuchar – have met one requirement but not the other. All other candidates have failed to clear either hurdle, so this could be the last debate for many of them.

That possibility is sure to weigh heavily tonight on the candidates who have failed to gain any traction in the race.

Former Maryland congressman John Delaney has started the sparring off early with a statement criticizing Bernie Sanders’ Medicare-for-all plan, noting that the Vermont senator “isn’t even a Democrat.”

“Senator Sanders’s plan to turn our health care system into a socialist experiment isn’t just bad policy, it’s bad politics,” Delaney said in a statement. “It would all but guarantee that Donald Trump gets re-elected. Senator Sanders isn’t even a Democrat and we shouldn’t let lead our party down a path that will mean we lose to Donald Trump.”

Delaney, who has so far failed to meet either requirement for the fall debate, is likely hoping attacking Sanders will buy him some extra camera time. This may, after all, be his last chance to leave an impression on voters. His staffers have asked him to drop out of the presidential race by mid-August, Axios reported earlier this month.

More candidates participating tonight are preparing for the debates with tunes and tributes to loved ones.

From Pete Buttigieg, the South Bend, Indiana, mayor:

And from former Colorado governor John Hickenlooper:

All eyes on Sanders and Warren

The main attraction tonight is the duel on the left between septuagenarian senators Bernie Sanders and Elizabeth Warren. In football or soccer terms, it’s like a local derby. Could it turn nasty?

Aaron Kall, director of debate at the University of Michigan, said: “The key $10,000 question is whether the friendship lasts for the two hours of the debate because they’re colleagues and they have not gone negative with each other on the campaign trail. When you get on the stage under the bright lights, it could certainly change.

“I think Sanders has the incentive to do that, frankly, because he fared much better in the last cycle. He’s slipping to almost single digits now. If anyone needs to make a move and have the focus on the campaign it’s Sanders and, by going negative against Warren, that could be the way.”

Kall, editor of the book Debating the Donald, added: “I think she would be hesitant to respond and we saw in the first debate there were many instances where she could have interjected herself forcefully into the debate but she kind of disappeared for an hour. So if she doesn’t respond, it could be successful for him and put some more spotlight on him, which has been lacking in the last several weeks or months of this campaign.”

The debate’s proximity to Flint, Michigan, has thrown a spotlight on the need for candidates to better flesh out their plans to ensure safe drinking water and fight environmental racism.

Candidates have been generally vague about how they plan to tackle these issues. Here are some of the exceptions experts tracking the campaigns note:

  • Kamala Harris this week released her campaign’s plan to fight environmental racism. She would score federal proposals for their impacts on vulnerable communities. And in the Senate, the California lawmaker proposed legislation to invest nearly $220 billion in drinking water.
  • Washington’s governor, Jay Inslee, this week introduced his climate justice plan, for “ensuring that every American working family and community is included, and none are left behind, as the U.S. transitions off of fossil fuels.” In that plan he would also ban PFAS chemicals.
  • Senator Cory Booker of New Jersey also introduced a bill to allow states to use existing funds to pay for lead problems.
  • Elizabeth Warren wants to reinstate an Obama-era rule called Waters of the US that governed which waterways were regulated by the federal government.

“We’ve seen some candidates talk about water in more or less vague terms. There’s definitely people who have talked about the need to invest in water infrastructure – Biden, Inslee, Harris, Buttigieg. Right know those are just kind of top level ‘yes, we need to invest in water infrastructure,’” said Madeleine Foote, the League of Conservation Voters’ deputy legislative director.

These debates will give candidates the chance to get into the details behind those promises.

Updated

Who is on the debate stage tonight?

Here is the full list of candidates participating tonight:

  • Bernie Sanders, the Vermont senator who is trying to recreate the enthusiasm of his impressive 2016 bid by advocating for progressive policies like Medicare-for-all.
  • Elizabeth Warren, the Massachusetts senator who has a plan for every problem and whose progressive bona fides could pose a threat to Sanders.
  • Pete Buttigieg, the millennial mayor of South Bend, Indiana, whose bid enjoyed a burst of interest in the spring but has since somewhat stagnated.
  • Beto O’Rourke, the former Texas congressman who was treated as a liberal darling when he ran against Republican senator Ted Cruz last year but has yet to find his footing in the presidential race.
  • Amy Klobuchar, the Minnesota senator who has presented herself as the most pragmatic opponent against Donald Trump given her popularity in her Midwestern state.
  • Marianne Williamson, the self-help author and spiritual guru whose “love over hate” message captured the Internet’s fascination during her first debate performance.
  • John Delaney, the former Maryland congressman whose claim to fame is mostly that he’s been running for president the longest of the debate crowd (since July 2017, to be specific).
  • John Hickenlooper, the popular former governor of Colorado who has been repeatedly urged to throw in the towel and run for the Senate instead.
  • Tim Ryan, the Ohio congressman who stumbled in his first debate appearance during an exchange with Tulsi Gabbard over foreign policy.
  • Steve Bullock, the Montana governor who is making his debate debut after narrowly failing to qualify last time around.

Sanders and Warren – and to a lesser degree Buttigieg – have a significant polling advantage compared to the other candidates, who will mainly be trying to have a “breakthrough” moment capable of launching them to the next debate. But more on that later.

Updated

Detroit has an inauspicious place in debate history. It hosted a Republican primary contest in 2016 in which Donald Trump made reference to the size of his manhood.

Candidate Marco Rubio had mocked Trump’s hand size ahead of the debate. The future president did not let it lie. “Look at those hands, are they small hands?” he asked the audience. “And he referred to my hands, ‘If they’re small something else must be small.’ I guarantee you there’s no problem, I guarantee it.”

Even though some are desperate for a break-through moment, it is hard to imagine any Democrat going to quite such lengths.

Democrats are debating in Detroit tonight in the shadow of multiple environmental crises – including the lead drinking water contamination in Flint, Michigan.

Several of the White House contenders have visited the still-troubled city, including former Texas congressman Beto O’Rourke and Washington Gov. Jay Inslee this week.

Around the country, drinking water supplies are threatened by lead, fluorinated chemicals, agricultural runoff and algal blooms. Michigan has seen all of those problems.

Campaign watchers expect to hear more on water quality tonight and tomorrow.

Erik Olson – the Natural Resources Defense Council Action Fund’s senior advisor on toxics and drinking water – said he wants to hear “really detailed plans for how they’re going to address the underlying problem, which is underinvestment in our drinking water supplies and our water infrastructure,” and a “failure of regulation and enforcement.”

The CNN debates have offered Detroit a chance to show off its downtown regeneration. The Rev Steven Kelly, rector of St John’s Church – close to a new arena and new Google office – said: “This parish has gone from being primarily folks coming in from the suburbs to people riding their bikes to church, and this neighbourhood has not seen that in probably 40 years. So that’s an exciting change for us.”

The church remains an antidote to divisive politics, Kelly added. “One of the nice things about being a downtown parish is that on any given Sunday, especially during an election cycle, I’m going down the rail handing out communion to somebody who works for the Republican candidate and somebody who works for the Democratic candidate and somebody who works for the Libertarian and somebody who works for the Green party. We leave our problems at the door and and we all pray and worship together and then maybe we have an intense discussion at coffee hour, but I try to discourage it.”

With Michigan’s status as a vital swing state, local issues could figure prominently in the debates. Aaron Kall, director of debate at the University of Michigan, said: “Last time the election was decided by only 11,000 votes; it could be integral to determining the winner in 2020. In the city of Detroit specifically there were so many tens of thousands of voters who did vote for President Obama but just sat it out, whether it was Hillary Clinton fatigue or she didn’t spent enough time here.

“Those are voters they are really trying to reactivate and get that Obama coalition back to win the state, and they had a lot of success with that in 2018 – the governor, every statewide office, several Congress races went Democratic – and so they want to follow up on that momentum to make Michigan part of that blue wall again to prevent Trump from winning re-election. I think that you’ll see a real focus both on local and statewide issues in the debate: things like the environment and clean water, the automobile industry, manufacturing, infrastructure.”

Updated

Candidates are sharing behind-the-scenes looks at the debate stage in Detroit before the main event kicks off in less than two hours.

From former Maryland congressman John Delaney:

And from Montana governor Steve Bullock:

Hours away from the next Democratic debate

Hi, live blog readers! This is Joanie Greve reporting from Detroit, where the next round of Democratic debates is set to start at 8pm EDT.

Ten of the 20 candidates participating in the debates, which are hosted by CNN, will appear on the debate stage tonight. The others will face off tomorrow night.

The blog will have more on each of the candidates as we prepare for the debate to start, but if you need more of a refresher on any of them (no one would blame you), Lauren Gambino and Sam Morris created this helpful graphic back in January.

In the meantime, here is Cardi B, who just threw her support behind Bernie Sanders, encouraging you to tune in:

Sanders’ Twitter account reshared that message, but the senator himself would not reveal his favorite Cardi B song to a Yahoo News reporter earlier today:

Updated

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