Good evening, and welcome to NPI’s live coverage of the eighth Democratic presidential debate of the 2020 cycle.
NPI staff are watching and sharing impressions of the debate as it progresses, which will take place over the course of several hours in Manchester, New Hampshire. ABC is the media partner for this DNC-sanctioned debate along with its Manchester affiliate WMUR and Apple News.
The debate will run for three hours, from 5 PM Pacific to 8 PM Pacific.
Here’s how you can tune in:
In addition to watching on ABC, viewers can get up-to-the-minute coverage about the candidates and issues as the debates unfolds on the iPhone’s free Apple News app. Not only can viewers watch the debate, but they can click on a feed of live updates to see more information, including real-time updates, analysis and explainer guides from ABC News’ top correspondents and experts.
And here’s an overview of the format and moderator lineup:
Chief Anchor George Stephanopoulos, “World News Tonight” Anchor and Managing Editor David Muir and ABC News Live Anchor Linsey Davis will moderate the debate.
Joining them will be WMUR-TV Political Director Adam Sexton and WMUR-TV News Anchor Monica Hernandez.
Candidates will have one minute and fifteen seconds to answer direct questions and forty-five seconds for rebuttals, at the discretion of the moderators. Candidates will not make opening or closing statements, but there will be a closing question.
Tonight’s lineup of seven candidates is identical to the December debate lineup.
- Former Mayor Pete Buttigieg of South Bend, Indiana
- U.S. Senator Bernie Sanders vof Vermont
- U.S. Senator Elizabeth Warren of Massachusetts
- Former Vice President Joe Biden
- U.S. Senator Amy Klobuchar of Minnesota
- Billionaire Tom Steyer
- Entrepreneur Andrew Yang
Our live coverage begins below.
UPDATE, 4:57 PM (Ruairi): Welcome to NPI’s coverage of the eighth Democratic presidential debate! Seven candidates face each other in Manchester, NH, in the aftermath of Iowa’s caucus débacle.
UPDATE, 5:03 PM (Ruairi): The debate will be moderated by ABC’s George Stephanopoulos, David Muir and Linsey Davis.
UPDATE, 5:03 PM (Ruairi): Tom Steyer is the first on stage, sporting his favourite plaid tie
UPDATE, 5:04 PM (Ruairi): Steyer is followed by the two female candidates in this debate, Amy Klobuchar and Elizabeth Warren.
UPDATE, 5:05 PM (Ruairi): Joe Biden and Bernie Sanders, the frontrunners, will be center stage. Pete Buttigieg walks onto stage to a huge cheer.
UPDATE, 5:05 PM (Ruairi): Andrew Yang jogs onto stage to join his rival candidates.
UPDATE, 5:06 PM (Ruairi): Joe Biden is asked about the results of Iowa – why did Sanders and Buttigieg beat him? “I took a hit in Iowa, and I’ll take a hit here [in New Hampshire],” Biden predicts.
UPDATE, 5:07 PM (Ruairi): Biden is asked if Buttigieg and Sanders are “too big a risk.” Biden says: “Bernie’s labelled himself a Democratic Socialist.”
UPDATE, 5:07 PM (Ruairi): Biden calls out Buttigieg’s biggest weakness – Buttigieg doesn’t have a broad coalition of minority voters.
UPDATE, 5:08 PM (Ruairi): Asked if he is worried about Trump’s attacks on him. He says no because “Donald Trump lies all the time!”
UPDATE, 5:09 PM (Ruairi): Sanders calls for unity among Democrats in order to beat Trump. He says that the way to beat Trump is by increasing voter turnout.
UPDATE, 5:09 PM (Ruairi): Asked about low turnout in Iowa, Sanders says that “young people turned out in bigger numbers than they did in Obama’s campaign in 2008.”
UPDATE, 5:10 PM (Ruairi): Amy Klobuchar says that she is concerned about a “democratic socialist” at the top of the ticket. She argues that such a label next to the nominee’s name will “shut people out.”
UPDATE, 5:10 PM (Ruairi): Klobuchar says she can “bring in independents…as well as moderate Republicans.” She says that Trump’s “worst nightmare” is a candidate who brings in “the middle.”
UPDATE, 5:11 PM (Ruairi): Tom Steyer says that “after this week, there’s a real threat that Donald Trump could be reelected.”
UPDATE, 5:12 PM (Ruairi): Steyer says that a candidate has to appeal to a diverse group of voters, but by mentioning latino and black voters he seems to be attacking Buttigieg more than Sanders.
UPDATE, 5:12 PM (Ruairi): Andrew Yang says “America, it’s great to be back on the debate stage,” before referring to his signature program – $1,000 a month for every American (the Freedom Dividend).
UPDATE, 5:13 PM (Ruairi): Yang says that the capitalist-socialist dichotomy is out of date. He says that profits and the economy aren’t the only metrics to watch.
UPDATE, 5:13 PM (Ruairi): Yang calls for a “human centered version of capitalism.”
UPDATE, 5:14 PM (Ruairi): Elizabeth Warren launches straight into her stump speech against corporate-controlled government.
UPDATE, 5:14 PM (Ruairi): “That is corruption, pure and simple… that’s what we can run on!” Warren says that Democrats should be on the side of hard-working people.
UPDATE, 5:15 PM (Ruairi): Instead of attacking any other candidate, Warren chooses to call for a united front behind anti-corruption policies.
UPDATE, 5:15 PM (Ruairi): Pete Buttigieg says he isn’t interested in labels. “Politically, we’re facing a fundamentally new problem” in Donald Trump.
UPDATE, 5:16 PM (Ruairi): Buttigieg says that Sanders is saying “it’s my way or the high way.” Buttigieg directly claims that Sanders’ policies are polarizing.
UPDATE, 5:17 PM (Ruairi): Sanders: “Needless to say, I’ve never said that!” He says that “the way you bring people together…you raise the minimum wage to 15 bucks an hour…make it clear you’re not going to give tax cuts to billionaires.”
UPDATE, 5:17 PM (Ruairi): Sanders describes the lack of universal single-payer healthcare in the United States as “an international disgrace.”
UPDATE, 5:18 PM (Ruairi): Buttigieg says that “there is a better way” to expand healthcare. Buttigieg says he doesn’t want “to command people to accept a public program if they don’t want it.”
UPDATE, 5:19 PM (Ruairi): Buttigieg says he is offering a methodology that can both unite the country and get “game changing” stuff done.
UPDATE, 5:19 PM (Ruairi): Biden is very aggressive tonight. He launches immediately into an attack on Medicare for All – “the idea middle class taxes aren’t going to go up is crazy!”
UPDATE, 5:20 PM (Ruairi): Joe Biden says that Bernie says “go figure!” over the costs of Medicare for All. “I busted my neck getting [the Patient Protection Act] passed, I know how hard it is!”
UPDATE, 5:21 PM (Ruairi): Sanders says: “If we do what Joe wants, we’ll spend $15 trillion on healthcare” over ten years. He points out that Americans spend more than any country on healthcare.
UPDATE, 5:21 PM (Ruairi): Sanders offers simplification, saying that zero billion a year is wasted on administrating thousands of plans.
UPDATE, 5:22 PM (Ruairi): Sanders says that Biden’s plan will ultimately cost Americans more. Biden snaps back: “My proposal gives you a choice.”
UPDATE, 5:22 PM (Ruairi): Biden returns to the point that Medicare For All would double the federal budget. Klobuchar jumps on the bandwagon against Medicare For All.
UPDATE, 5:23 PM (Ruairi): Klobuchar lashes out against Sanders, Warren and Buttigieg’s plans, and says she can offer leadership on “mental healthcare, addiction and long term care.”
UPDATE, 5:24 PM (Ruairi): Warren points out that thirty-six million Americans regularly cannot afford to fill a prescription. “It’s either that or groceries, either that or pay rent on time.”
UPDATE, 5:24 PM (Ruairi): Warren promises to use presidential power “to reduce the cost of commonly used prescription drugs… We can start to make healthcare better.”
UPDATE, 5:25 PM (Ruairi): Pete Buttigieg says that he “brings a different perspective…that of somebody whose life has been shaped” by the Beltway.
UPDATE, 5:26 PM (Ruairi): Biden argues “the politics of the past, I think, were not all that bad.” He points to a variety of legislative efforts he spearheaded.
UPDATE, 5:26 PM (Ruairi): Biden says that the Obama administration “was just he beginning of the future.”
UPDATE, 5:27 PM (Ruairi): Buttigieg says that the next president will face challenges that are different from the Obama era. “We cannot solve the problems before us by looking back.”
UPDATE, 5:27 PM (Ruairi): Buttigieg declares that he wants to invite “future former Republicans” to “turn the page.”
UPDATE, 5:28 PM (Ruairi): Klobuchar brings up impeachment. She applauds the courage of Doug Jones of Louisiana and Mitt Romney of Utah.
UPDATE, 5:29 PM (Ruairi): Klobuchar criticizes Buttigieg’s comments about impeachment being boring. She says “we have a newcomer in the White House, and look where it got us!”
UPDATE, 5:30 PM (Ruairi): Sanders launches into a list of the problems in the American health system: “Why is it!… we’ve been talking about healthcare in this country for one hundred years!”
UPDATE, 5:31 PM (Ruairi): Taking a leaf from Warren’s rhetoric, Sanders says that we have to “take on” the insurance industry and drug companies. “This country belongs to all of us, not a handful of special interests!”
UPDATE, 5:32 PM (Ruairi): Steyer jumps in: “The question is, how do we beat Donald Trump? We’re going to have to take Mr Trump down on the economy,” referencing the Clinton campaign of the 1990s.
UPDATE, 5:32 PM (Ruairi): Steyer is having his best moment of the debates so far: “If we win, we can get the right thing Bernie, and I’m with you!”
UPDATE, 5:33 PM (Ruairi): Buttigieg says that Democrats can win by putting up somebody “who’s not afraid…to remind Americans that God does not belong to a political party.” He refers to his background in Indiana and military service.
UPDATE, 5:34 PM (Ruairi): Buttigieg: “We feel a sense of exhaustion watching the division…I see that temptation to walk away from it all.”
UPDATE, 5:35 PM (Ruairi): Andrew Yang says “Donald Trump is not the cause of our problem… he is the symptom of a disease that’s been growing in our communities.”
UPDATE, 5:35 PM (Ruairi): Yang says that “communities are seeing their way of life getting blown to smithereens” by industrial changes and corporate monopolies.
UPDATE, 5:36 PM (Ruairi): The debate turns to the Senate’s failure to convict Trump. Warren is asked if she would investigate Trump if elected.
UPDATE, 5:36 PM (Ruairi): “No one is above the law and that includes the president of the United States.” Warren wants to “reestablish the rule of law in this country” and would have an independent commission look into Trump’s wrongdoing while in office.
UPDATE, 5:37 PM (Ruairi): Warren says that people “are losing faith in our government… they see a government that just works great if you’re rich!”
UPDATE, 5:37 PM (Ruairi): Warren says that “it’s not enough to simply talk about the future.” She lays out her progressive agenda, but says we can only do it by taking on corruption.
UPDATE, 5:38 PM (Ruairi): Andrew Yang is asked about his comments about impeachment. He says that throwing past presidents in jail is a bad precedent.
UPDATE, 5:39 PM (Ruairi): Yang wants to focus on the future, and says that the American people want the president to focus on the future.
UPDATE, 5:40 PM (Ruairi): Sanders says that the truly horrifying part of the Senate’s refusal to convict Trump, ” is the precedent that is set.” He lays out what a president could do with this precedent.
UPDATE, 5:40 PM (Ruairi): Sanders: “The saddest aspect of this whole thing is that there are Republicans in the Senate who knew better…with the exception of Mitt Romney, they didn’t have the guts.”
UPDATE, 5:41 PM (Ruairi): Tom Steyer says that Republicans “have covered up the truth,” but the focus of Democrats should be on winning.
UPDATE, 5:41 PM (Ruairi): Steyer: “Is he a crook? I knew that two years ago!” Steyer says that Trump is a threat to the American people.
UPDATE, 5:42 PM (Ruairi): Buttigieg is asked whether nominating Biden would be a threat because the Republicans are investigating him. “No,” says Buttigieg.
UPDATE, 5:42 PM (Ruairi): Trump “would seek to weaponize a son against his own father.” Buttigieg brings a note of unity to the debate.
UPDATE, 5:43 PM (Ruairi): Biden, visibly upset by the conversation, says that Trump will lie about anyone the Democrats nominate. He than calls for a standing ovation for Colonel Vindman, the whistleblower who was fired by Trump.
UPDATE, 5:44 PM (Ruairi): Klobuchar is asked about Hillary Clinton’s vicious attacks on Sanders. Biden, smiling, hugs Sanders.
UPDATE, 5:44 PM (Andrew): That was a pretty cool moment and a nice show of unity. Brings to mind a couple of the happier moments from the 2016 Democratic debates, when Hillary Clinton and Bernie Sanders stood united.
UPDATE, 5:45 PM (Ruairi): Klobuchar refers to drug legislation that she and Sanders worked together on. “We got fourteen Republican votes…it’s just an example of what we have to do here.”
UPDATE, 5:45 PM (Ruairi): Klobuchar wants to offer “an optimistic America” for voters. She calls out Trump’s comments on the tax bill to friends at Mar-a-Lago
UPDATE, 5:46 PM (Ruairi): Klobuchar says she doesn’t know if Sanders’ programs will get Republican support. “I’m the only one who has consistently won in red districts… I have a way of working with people.”
UPDATE, 5:47 PM (Ruairi): Sanders says, “I must confess, I don’t get too many newspaper editors’ support,” before turning to Clinton’s critique.
UPDATE, 5:48 PM (Ruairi): Sanders wants to “look forward, not back to 2016.” He says that in Vermont, as a candidate, he secured 25% of the Republican vote. “I passed more bipartisan amendments on the floor of the House…than any other member of the House.”
UPDATE, 5:48 PM (Ruairi): Sanders: “There are ways that we can work with Republicans on certain issues. Let’s do that.”
UPDATE, 5:49 PM (Ruairi): Buttigieg is asked about the death of Iran’s General Suleimani – would he have ordered the strike? Buttigieg says “there is no evidence” that the strike was justified.
UPDATE, 5:50 PM (Ruairi): Buttigieg says that Trump’s aggression against Iran “didn’t start with Suleimani,” but started with the withdrawal from the Iran nuclear deal.
UPDATE, 5:51 PM (Ruairi): Buttigieg recounts meeting a former military comrade – “People in uniform will do whatever the United States requires of them. Keep U.S. politics out of it!”
UPDATE, 5:52 PM (Ruairi): Buttigieg says that a strike decision “depends on the circumstances…this is not an episode of 24!” Discussing intelligence reports, he says, “I don’t think he even reads it!”
UPDATE, 5:53 PM (Ruairi): Biden says that “there’s no evidence yet of imminent threat” over Suleimani. Biden says the United States is “alone, without friends” in the Middle East.
UPDATE, 5:53 PM (Ruairi): Biden says that if his son Beau were in Iraq today, “I’d have been so mad [about the strike], I don’t know what I would have done!”
UPDATE, 5:54 PM (Ruairi): Sanders says there are a lot of bad actors around the world. “You cannot go around saying you’re a bad guy, we’re gonna assassinate you…you’re opening the door to international anarchy!”
UPDATE, 5:55 PM (Ruairi): Sanders says we have to “bring countries around the world together” through “debate and discussion at the U.N.”
UPDATE, 5:55 PM (Ruairi): Warren is asked about Afghanistan. Would she listen to generals who want to remain in the country?
UPDATE, 5:56 PM (Ruairi): Warren recounts experience as a senator, touring the region: “Nobody can describe what winning looks like, all they can describe is endless war.”
UPDATE, 5:56 PM (Andrew): ABC has done a terrible job with questions so far today. The premise and framing of nearly every question has been bad. Very bad.
UPDATE, 5:57 PM (Ruairi): “What has all these years of war brought us?” asks Warren. “We sent our troops in and they did their best… it is time to bring our combat troops home.”
UPDATE, 5:57 PM (Ruairi): Warren is pressed on the issue: “I want to hear the plan…I want to hear where our allies are… it can’t just be the United States waging endless war.”
UPDATE, 5:59 PM (Ruairi): Biden is asked if Warren is wrong. “I’m not sure if she wants to pull all troops out of the Middle East.” He talks about the Obama Administration’s policy to contain the Islamic State group.
UPDATE, 5:59 PM (Ruairi): Biden attacks Trump’s decision to withdraw from Kurdish-held areas of Syria, saying U.S. troops had their heads down in shame.
UPDATE, 6:00 PM (Ruairi): “There is no possibility of uniting that country,” says Biden, referring to Afghanistan. He wants a small U.S. presence to restrain terrorism.
UPDATE, 6:01 PM (Andrew): At least half of ABC’s debate questions have been crafted to invite the Democratic candidates to attack each other, often using right wing framing. This is shameful and outrageous.
UPDATE, 6:01 PM (Ruairi): Buttigieg, on the 2003 Iraq invasion, says “the Vice President made the wrong decision.”
He lays out the foreign policy issues that next president will face.
UPDATE, 6:01 PM (Ruairi): Buttigieg wants to “be ready for the future,” rather than have Trump’s “17th century” approach to security.
UPDATE, 6:02 PM (Ruairi): Biden says he was deceived by Bush over Iraq (in fact, he supported the occupation, even after the U.S. invasion in 2003).
UPDATE, 6:03 PM (Ruairi): Biden says that, unless the Democrats win, NATO will fall apart. He touts his international experience: ”I know every one of these leaders by name.”
UPDATE, 6:04 PM (Ruairi): Steyer is asked about his foreign policy experience. He says that the military-focused approach to foreign policy is a symptom of corruption
UPDATE, 6:05 PM (Ruairi): Steyer asks how the military will help solve climate change – that will take diplomacy. Biden jumps in, saying he has had a part of every diplomatic effort of the Obama administration.
UPDATE, 6:06 PM (Ruairi): Biden says “we must keep our commitments when we make them, otherwise we have no power…it doesn’t require large number of troops, I never said that!”
UPDATE, 6:06 PM (Ruairi): Sanders repeats his catchphrase: “I not only opposed [the Iraq] War, I helped lead the opposition” in 2003.
UPDATE, 6:07 PM (Ruairi): Sanders says climate change “is not an American issue, it;s’a global issue… here is my dream… instead of spending [huge sums] of money a year on weapons of destruction, maybe we pool our resources” against climate change.
UPDATE, 6:14 PM (Ruairi): The debate turns specifically to issues that are especially relevant to New Hampshire.
UPDATE, 6:14 PM (Ruairi): Pete Butigieg is asked about drug overdoses. He has argued that “incarceration should no longer be the response to drug possession.”
UPDATE, 6:15 PM (Ruairi): Buttigieg says that “some of this has been driven by drug companies that were irresponsible,” referring to lawsuits against drug companies in South Bend, his city.
UPDATE, 6:16 PM (Ruairi): Buttigieg calls for more mental health professionals. Andrew Yang is asked if he would mandate treatment for drug overdoses.
UPDATE, 6:17 PM (Ruairi): Yang says “you have to look at the companies that profited…as President we will take back those profits.” He says that the opioid epidemic happened “on the government’s watch.”
UPDATE, 6:18 PM (Ruairi): Andrew Yang also calls for less punitive measures against opioid users. He says that the opioid epidemic is an issue that is affected by corporate corruption.
UPDATE, 6:18 PM (Ruairi): Klobuchar is asked if, as a prosecutor, she regrets sending drug users to jail. “We weren’t a business, we didn’t want to see repeat customers.”
UPDATE, 6:19 PM (Ruairi): Klobuchar promises to use money from a federal lawsuit against opioid producers (approximately billion) to pay for addiction treatment.
UPDATE, 6:19 PM (Ruairi): Klobuchar says “I will get this done, and it is personal for me.”
UPDATE, 6:20 PM (Ruairi): Sanders is asked about gun control. He voted against gun regulation in the 1990s.
“In 1988, I said we should ban the sale of assault weapons.”
UPDATE, 6:21 PM (Ruairi): Sanders says that gun policy won’t be “dictated by the NRA.” He says that Vermont is a rural, pro-gun state. “I represented that perspective…the world has changed and my views have changed.”
UPDATE, 6:22 PM (Ruairi): Sanders gives a good explanation for his gun policy record. Biden is asked about his own gun record, and whether Sanders can be given the benefit of the doubt.
UPDATE, 6:23 PM (Ruairi): Biden attacks Sanders’ vote for loopholes for manufacturers. He says that, while he was pushing for gun control, Sanders was voting against him.
UPDATE, 6:24 PM (Ruairi): Warren is asked about America’s “gun culture.”
She says that the country has “a gun violence problem,” talking about mass shootings, domestic violence, suicide and other issues.
UPDATE, 6:25 PM (Ruairi): “We need to think of it just like auto safety!” Warren refers to the overwhelming public support for more gun control and lack of legislation – “it is the gun industry that continues to call the shots.”
UPDATE, 6:25 PM (Ruairi): Warren uses gun control as an argument to “roll back the filibuster.”
UPDATE, 6:26 PM (Ruairi): The debate moves to the Supreme Court and abortion. Biden is asked if he would apply a “litmus test on abortion.”
UPDATE, 6:27 PM (Ruairi): Biden says that he didn’t apply a “specific test, but a generic test.” He says he was “part of the reason why” justices Kagan, Bader-Ginsburg and Sotomayor got onto the court.
UPDATE, 6:28 PM (Ruairi): Biden launches into a robust defense of abortion. Warren says “I’ve lived in an America where abortion is illegal and rich women still got abortions.”
UPDATE, 6:29 PM (Ruairi): Warren says that “we can’t simply rely on the courts…3 out of 4 people believe that Roe v Wade should be the law.” She calls for a law to enshrine Roe v Wade.
UPDATE, 6:29 PM (Ruairi): Klobuchar says that “I would only appoint judges that respect precedent and one of those precedents in Roe v Wade.”
UPDATE, 6:30 PM (Ruairi): Klobuchar refers to the 2016 campaigm, when Trump promised to put women and doctors who perform abortions in jail.
UPDATE, 6:31 PM (Ruairi): Buttigieg is asked about expanding the court. “What I’ve called for is…structural reform so that some of the justices are not appointed by a partisan process.”
UPDATE, 6:32 PM (Ruairi): Buttigieg supports the idea of making constitutional amendments to tackle Supreme Court reform and bringing down Citizens United.
UPDATE, 6:32 PM (Ruairi): Biden says he pushed for a law to take down money in politics decades against. “Whoever has the majority [of the Supreme Court] will have the ability to abuse it.”
UPDATE, 6:33 PM (Ruairi): Biden says that “we must win back the United States Senate…who is most likely to help get a Senate elected.” He says that he can not only win the presidency, but win the Senate.
UPDATE, 6:34 PM (Ruairi): Sanders says that he would never appoint a justice against Roe v Wade, legislate on it, and support Planned Parenthood.
UPDATE, 6:35 PM (Ruairi): Steyer says that, on the courts, “the Republicans refused to give President Obama his due.” He says that the Republicans are stacking courts for future generations with “young, right-wing radicals.”
UPDATE, 6:35 PM (Ruairi): Steyer says “we have not said one word tonight about race…are you kidding me!”
He says that Democrats need to get voters to the polls.
UPDATE, 6:36 PM (Ruairi): Steyer says that Democrats can win on all the issues if they beat Trump on the economy.
UPDATE, 6:37 PM (Ruairi): Buttigieg is asked about unequal policing in his home city that happened under his leadership. “Systemic racism has penetrated o every level of our system and my city is not immune.”
UPDATE, 6:38 PM (Ruairi): Buttigieg: “Opioid addication is best described as a medical problem.” He makes a pitch to black voters, saying he will make reforms to incarceration over drugs.
UPDATE, 6:39 PM (Ruairi): How does he explain the increase in marijuana arrests of black people in South Bend on his watch. He says that drug enforcement was targeted to tackle violence.
UPDATE, 6:40 PM (Ruairi): Warren is asked if Buttigieg’s answer was substantial. “No. You have to own up to the facts!” Warren refers to studies that show that black people are mistreated throughout the criminal justice system.
UPDATE, 6:40 PM (Ruairi): “We need to start having race-conscious laws!” Warren points to historic discrimination against blacks throughout U.S. legislation.
UPDATE, 6:41 PM (Ruairi): Andrew Yang says “you can’t regulate against racism.” Referring to Martin Luther King, he says that King supported universal basic income.
UPDATE, 6:42 PM (Ruairi): Yang says that his UBI program will give black and latino people “buying power.” Steyer says “I disagree with you, Andrew… I am for reparations.”
UPDATE, 6:42 PM (Ruairi): Steyer calls out a member of Joe Biden’s campaign (Dick Harputlian) who made racist comments against a Steyer campaigner in South Carolina.
UPDATE, 6:43 PM (Ruairi): Biden defends himself by saying that he has more support from the South Carolina African American community than anyone.
UPDATE, 6:44 PM (Ruairi): Sanders interjects, saying calling for an end to the War on Drugs, private prisons, and other systems of racism in the U.S. “We’re gonna end cash bail,” Sanders says.
UPDATE, 6:45 PM (Ruairi): Steyer says “I’ve worked to end cash bail in California, and it’s gone!” Steyer wants Biden to disavow the statements of his campaign aide.
UPDATE, 6:45 PM (Ruairi): Biden says that the aide “is sorry for what he said.” Biden swiftly turns away from the question, saying that the Democrats need to stop “taking the black community for granted.”
UPDATE, 6:46 PM (Ruairi): Biden calls for a wide array of programs to help minority communities across the board, from prisons to housing. Biden says the civil rights movement “got me involved in the first place.”
UPDATE, 6:47 PM (Ruairi): Biden starts to argue for increased investment in education, particularly hiring more African American men as teachers.
UPDATE, 6:48 PM (Ruairi): Sanders is asked if he agrees with Nina Turner that Biden has “betrayed” African Americans. Sanders says: “Biden is a friend, and I’m not here to attack him.”
UPDATE, 6:48 PM (Ruairi): Sanders says there is “no excuse” for various inequalities between black and white families.
UPDATE, 6:49 PM (Ruairi): Klobuchar says “we know that there are economic solutions here… there is something else insidious here.” She calls out systematic voting suppression across the U.S.
UPDATE, 6:49 PM (Ruairi): Klobuchar wants to “stop the voting purges…they are discriminating with surgical precision against these African American voters.”
UPDATE, 6:50 PM (Ruairi): Biden agrees “completely” with automatic voter registration. He slightly loses track of his train of thought before coming back to voting suppression.
UPDATE, 6:51 PM (Ruairi): Warren says that Democrats “talk about how important the black community is – at least at election time.” She says that she can offer “real, concrete plans” to help minority communities.
UPDATE, 6:52 PM (Ruairi): Warren says that cutting student loan debt will disproportionately help out African Americans.
UPDATE, 6:52 PM (Ruairi): Tom Steyer says, “out of narrative, comes policy.” He wants to “set up a commission on race and deal with race explicitly.”
UPDATE, 6:53 PM (Ruairi): Steyer wants to “retell the story of the last four hundred years,” recognizing the moral leadership of the black community in American politics.
UPDATE, 6:54 PM (Ruairi): While Steyer wants to honor black political heroes, Andrew Yang makes an economic argument: “It’s an economic unnatural disaster, and we know who is worst affected by natural disasters.”
UPDATE, 6:55 PM (Ruairi): Andrew Yang wants to put “straight cash, into their hands.” He says that economic change will “hit black people the hardest.”
UPDATE, 6:55 PM (Ruairi): Warren is asked about Michael Bloomberg. “I don’t think anyone ought to be able to buy their way into a campaign!”
UPDATE, 6:56 PM (Ruairi): Warren says “we want to end this unlimited spending…everyone on this stage except Amy and me is either a billionaire, or receiving money from PACs.”
UPDATE, 6:57 PM (Ruairi): Warren asks her vierwers to “pitch in five bucks…our democracy is in the balance!” Klobuchar opines that she “can’t stand the big money in politics.”
UPDATE, 6:57 PM (Ruairi): Klobuchar says that nobody looks at Trumop and thinks “can we get anyone richer?” (an implicit attack on Bloomberg).
UPDATE, 6:58 PM (Ruairi): Klobuchar recounts her working-class roots in the Midwest. She makes an effective case for her viability as a presidential candidate.
UPDATE, 6:59 PM (Ruairi): Sanders wants to not only overturn Citizens United, but introduce public funding of elections. He directly atacks Buttigieg for the “forty billionaires” who are contributing to that campaign.
UPDATE, 7:00 PM (Ruairi): “Build a mass movement of working people who are willing to stand up to, not take money from, billionaires,” says Sanders, waving a finger at Buttigieg.
UPDATE, 7:01 PM (Ruairi): Buttigieg argues that he is the only person on stage who “isn’t a millionaire or a billionaire.” He argues that he doesn’t have wealthy supporters (which is patently not true).
UPDATE, 7:02 PM (Ruairi): Buttigieg says “we need you to join us right now…this is a time for addition, not subtraction, for belonging, not exclusion.”
UPDATE, 7:02 PM (Ruairi): Sanders is asked about the recent Trump trade deal. He says the New Hampshire senators who voted for the deal are wrong.
UPDATE, 7:03 PM (Ruairi): Sanders says that he offers the most comprehensive climate action plan, and the trade deal is “simply exporting fossil fuel emissions to Mexico.”
UPDATE, 7:04 PM (Ruairi): Sanders says that job losses to Mexico will continue under the trade agreements negotiated by Trump’s regime. Klobuchar says Trump’s deal offered some improvements, so she voted for it.
UPDATE, 7:05 PM (Ruairi): Klobuchar says the best way to tackle climate damage is to bring back Obama-era policies. “Having no trade agreement with Canada and Mexico puts us at a disadvantage,” when negotiating with China.
UPDATE, 7:06 PM (Ruairi): Warren said Democratic lawmakers made the trade deal “a whole lot better.” She says that she voted for the deal because it made life slightly better for American farmers and consumers.
UPDATE, 7:06 PM (Ruairi): Tom Steyer: “I gotta agree with Bernie Sanders.” He says that “we have to stop making foreign policy decisions in the old way.”
UPDATE, 7:07 PM (Ruairi): Steyer says that the trade deal does offer positive changes, but it shows wrong thinking. “If we actually want to be the leader of the world…we’re going to have to put climate first…and ask, does that help us build a coalition of countries around the world to do the right thing.”
UPDATE, 7:08 PM (Ruairi): Steyer says he would use access to U.S. markets to bargain for climate justice. Klobuchar says “you’ve got to have some friends,” arguing that a deal with Mexico and Canada helps the United States.
UPDATE, 7:09 PM (Ruairi): Klobuchar says that when the United States has opportunities to work with allies and doesn’t do it it will isolate the country.
UPDATE, 7:16 PM (Ruairi): The final question concerns child poverty. After ten straight years of economic growth, one in five children are living in poverty. What does that say about the United States of America?
UPDATE, 7:16 PM (Andrew): Finally, a decent question from the modaerators. Why couldn’t they have led off with this one? You’ll never hear a question like this asked at a Republican presidential debate.
UPDATE, 7:17 PM (Ruairi): Andrew Yang wants to put money “directly into the hands of families.” He says that the market doesn’t value stay-at-home moms, coaches, most artists, many journalists.
UPDATE, 7:18 PM (Ruairi): Buttigieg says that “we’re counting the wrong things… we’ve had an economy grow and not be able to lift up” people.
UPDATE, 7:19 PM (Ruairi): Buttigieg says “the American people want to see change.” He wants to “turn a new page, leave the politics of the past in the past.”
UPDATE, 7:20 PM (Ruairi): Warren says that “the best investment we can make as human beings is to invest in our children.” Her wealth tax can pay for childcare and pre‑K education, while raising wages for childcare workers.
UPDATE, 7:20 PM (Ruairi): Warren wants to “put real money” into healthcare, education, housing and other programs to help lift people up.
UPDATE, 7:21 PM (Ruairi): Biden recounts his father losing a job. He was the poorest man in Congress for many years: “I’ve never focused on money for me… I was a single dad for years.”
UPDATE, 7:22 PM (Ruairi): Biden says that children are “the kite strings that raise our national ambition.” He wants to help education throughout a child’s life, as well as creating training programs.
UPDATE, 7:22 PM (Ruairi): Biden: “Everyone is entitled to be treated with dignity and respect, and we’re not doing it.”
UPDATE, 7:23 PM (Ruairi): Sanders says that the reason for child poverty is the same reason the United States gives billions to corporations and has massive drug prices. “That reason is that our priorities are determined by the 1% and wealthy campaign contributors.”
UPDATE, 7:24 PM (Ruairi): “We say unashamedly that we are raising our funding not from billionaires, but from the working class of this country.” Sanders wants to “change our national priorities.”
UPDATE, 7:25 PM (Ruairi): Klobuchar says that “we have not lost hope.” She has a plan to eradicate child poverty in a generation. “To get it done, we have to be able to reach voters that we lost.”
UPDATE, 7:25 PM (Ruairi): Klobuchar says that Trump has “a complete lack of empathy.” She says, “I know you, and I will fight for you.”
UPDATE, 7:26 PM (Ruairi): Klobuchar says people who are tired of noise and extremism “have a home with me.”
UPDATE, 7:27 PM (Ruairi): Tom Steyer says the Republican plan is “pretty simple. They want to cut taxes on the richest corporations.” He says, “it is true in every red state.”
UPDATE, 7:28 PM (Ruairi): Steyer says that Trump “has no idea what prosperity looks like across this country.” He promises to combine mobility, investment and justice. “Dream it, and make it happen.”
UPDATE, 7:28 PM (Ruairi): With Steyer’s closing comments, the New Hampshire debate is over.
Friday, February 7th, 2020
We’re watching the eighth 2020 Democratic presidential debate. Join us!
Good evening, and welcome to NPI’s live coverage of the eighth Democratic presidential debate of the 2020 cycle.
NPI staff are watching and sharing impressions of the debate as it progresses, which will take place over the course of several hours in Manchester, New Hampshire. ABC is the media partner for this DNC-sanctioned debate along with its Manchester affiliate WMUR and Apple News.
The debate will run for three hours, from 5 PM Pacific to 8 PM Pacific.
Here’s how you can tune in:
And here’s an overview of the format and moderator lineup:
Tonight’s lineup of seven candidates is identical to the December debate lineup.
Our live coverage begins below.
UPDATE, 4:57 PM (Ruairi): Welcome to NPI’s coverage of the eighth Democratic presidential debate! Seven candidates face each other in Manchester, NH, in the aftermath of Iowa’s caucus débacle.
UPDATE, 5:03 PM (Ruairi): The debate will be moderated by ABC’s George Stephanopoulos, David Muir and Linsey Davis.
UPDATE, 5:03 PM (Ruairi): Tom Steyer is the first on stage, sporting his favourite plaid tie
UPDATE, 5:04 PM (Ruairi): Steyer is followed by the two female candidates in this debate, Amy Klobuchar and Elizabeth Warren.
UPDATE, 5:05 PM (Ruairi): Joe Biden and Bernie Sanders, the frontrunners, will be center stage. Pete Buttigieg walks onto stage to a huge cheer.
UPDATE, 5:05 PM (Ruairi): Andrew Yang jogs onto stage to join his rival candidates.
UPDATE, 5:06 PM (Ruairi): Joe Biden is asked about the results of Iowa – why did Sanders and Buttigieg beat him? “I took a hit in Iowa, and I’ll take a hit here [in New Hampshire],” Biden predicts.
UPDATE, 5:07 PM (Ruairi): Biden is asked if Buttigieg and Sanders are “too big a risk.” Biden says: “Bernie’s labelled himself a Democratic Socialist.”
UPDATE, 5:07 PM (Ruairi): Biden calls out Buttigieg’s biggest weakness – Buttigieg doesn’t have a broad coalition of minority voters.
UPDATE, 5:08 PM (Ruairi): Asked if he is worried about Trump’s attacks on him. He says no because “Donald Trump lies all the time!”
UPDATE, 5:09 PM (Ruairi): Sanders calls for unity among Democrats in order to beat Trump. He says that the way to beat Trump is by increasing voter turnout.
UPDATE, 5:09 PM (Ruairi): Asked about low turnout in Iowa, Sanders says that “young people turned out in bigger numbers than they did in Obama’s campaign in 2008.”
UPDATE, 5:10 PM (Ruairi): Amy Klobuchar says that she is concerned about a “democratic socialist” at the top of the ticket. She argues that such a label next to the nominee’s name will “shut people out.”
UPDATE, 5:10 PM (Ruairi): Klobuchar says she can “bring in independents…as well as moderate Republicans.” She says that Trump’s “worst nightmare” is a candidate who brings in “the middle.”
UPDATE, 5:11 PM (Ruairi): Tom Steyer says that “after this week, there’s a real threat that Donald Trump could be reelected.”
UPDATE, 5:12 PM (Ruairi): Steyer says that a candidate has to appeal to a diverse group of voters, but by mentioning latino and black voters he seems to be attacking Buttigieg more than Sanders.
UPDATE, 5:12 PM (Ruairi): Andrew Yang says “America, it’s great to be back on the debate stage,” before referring to his signature program – $1,000 a month for every American (the Freedom Dividend).
UPDATE, 5:13 PM (Ruairi): Yang says that the capitalist-socialist dichotomy is out of date. He says that profits and the economy aren’t the only metrics to watch.
UPDATE, 5:13 PM (Ruairi): Yang calls for a “human centered version of capitalism.”
UPDATE, 5:14 PM (Ruairi): Elizabeth Warren launches straight into her stump speech against corporate-controlled government.
UPDATE, 5:14 PM (Ruairi): “That is corruption, pure and simple… that’s what we can run on!” Warren says that Democrats should be on the side of hard-working people.
UPDATE, 5:15 PM (Ruairi): Instead of attacking any other candidate, Warren chooses to call for a united front behind anti-corruption policies.
UPDATE, 5:15 PM (Ruairi): Pete Buttigieg says he isn’t interested in labels. “Politically, we’re facing a fundamentally new problem” in Donald Trump.
UPDATE, 5:16 PM (Ruairi): Buttigieg says that Sanders is saying “it’s my way or the high way.” Buttigieg directly claims that Sanders’ policies are polarizing.
UPDATE, 5:17 PM (Ruairi): Sanders: “Needless to say, I’ve never said that!” He says that “the way you bring people together…you raise the minimum wage to 15 bucks an hour…make it clear you’re not going to give tax cuts to billionaires.”
UPDATE, 5:17 PM (Ruairi): Sanders describes the lack of universal single-payer healthcare in the United States as “an international disgrace.”
UPDATE, 5:18 PM (Ruairi): Buttigieg says that “there is a better way” to expand healthcare. Buttigieg says he doesn’t want “to command people to accept a public program if they don’t want it.”
UPDATE, 5:19 PM (Ruairi): Buttigieg says he is offering a methodology that can both unite the country and get “game changing” stuff done.
UPDATE, 5:19 PM (Ruairi): Biden is very aggressive tonight. He launches immediately into an attack on Medicare for All – “the idea middle class taxes aren’t going to go up is crazy!”
UPDATE, 5:20 PM (Ruairi): Joe Biden says that Bernie says “go figure!” over the costs of Medicare for All. “I busted my neck getting [the Patient Protection Act] passed, I know how hard it is!”
UPDATE, 5:21 PM (Ruairi): Sanders says: “If we do what Joe wants, we’ll spend $15 trillion on healthcare” over ten years. He points out that Americans spend more than any country on healthcare.
UPDATE, 5:21 PM (Ruairi): Sanders offers simplification, saying that zero billion a year is wasted on administrating thousands of plans.
UPDATE, 5:22 PM (Ruairi): Sanders says that Biden’s plan will ultimately cost Americans more. Biden snaps back: “My proposal gives you a choice.”
UPDATE, 5:22 PM (Ruairi): Biden returns to the point that Medicare For All would double the federal budget. Klobuchar jumps on the bandwagon against Medicare For All.
UPDATE, 5:23 PM (Ruairi): Klobuchar lashes out against Sanders, Warren and Buttigieg’s plans, and says she can offer leadership on “mental healthcare, addiction and long term care.”
UPDATE, 5:24 PM (Ruairi): Warren points out that thirty-six million Americans regularly cannot afford to fill a prescription. “It’s either that or groceries, either that or pay rent on time.”
UPDATE, 5:24 PM (Ruairi): Warren promises to use presidential power “to reduce the cost of commonly used prescription drugs… We can start to make healthcare better.”
UPDATE, 5:25 PM (Ruairi): Pete Buttigieg says that he “brings a different perspective…that of somebody whose life has been shaped” by the Beltway.
UPDATE, 5:26 PM (Ruairi): Biden argues “the politics of the past, I think, were not all that bad.” He points to a variety of legislative efforts he spearheaded.
UPDATE, 5:26 PM (Ruairi): Biden says that the Obama administration “was just he beginning of the future.”
UPDATE, 5:27 PM (Ruairi): Buttigieg says that the next president will face challenges that are different from the Obama era. “We cannot solve the problems before us by looking back.”
UPDATE, 5:27 PM (Ruairi): Buttigieg declares that he wants to invite “future former Republicans” to “turn the page.”
UPDATE, 5:28 PM (Ruairi): Klobuchar brings up impeachment. She applauds the courage of Doug Jones of Louisiana and Mitt Romney of Utah.
UPDATE, 5:29 PM (Ruairi): Klobuchar criticizes Buttigieg’s comments about impeachment being boring. She says “we have a newcomer in the White House, and look where it got us!”
UPDATE, 5:30 PM (Ruairi): Sanders launches into a list of the problems in the American health system: “Why is it!… we’ve been talking about healthcare in this country for one hundred years!”
UPDATE, 5:31 PM (Ruairi): Taking a leaf from Warren’s rhetoric, Sanders says that we have to “take on” the insurance industry and drug companies. “This country belongs to all of us, not a handful of special interests!”
UPDATE, 5:32 PM (Ruairi): Steyer jumps in: “The question is, how do we beat Donald Trump? We’re going to have to take Mr Trump down on the economy,” referencing the Clinton campaign of the 1990s.
UPDATE, 5:32 PM (Ruairi): Steyer is having his best moment of the debates so far: “If we win, we can get the right thing Bernie, and I’m with you!”
UPDATE, 5:33 PM (Ruairi): Buttigieg says that Democrats can win by putting up somebody “who’s not afraid…to remind Americans that God does not belong to a political party.” He refers to his background in Indiana and military service.
UPDATE, 5:34 PM (Ruairi): Buttigieg: “We feel a sense of exhaustion watching the division…I see that temptation to walk away from it all.”
UPDATE, 5:35 PM (Ruairi): Andrew Yang says “Donald Trump is not the cause of our problem… he is the symptom of a disease that’s been growing in our communities.”
UPDATE, 5:35 PM (Ruairi): Yang says that “communities are seeing their way of life getting blown to smithereens” by industrial changes and corporate monopolies.
UPDATE, 5:36 PM (Ruairi): The debate turns to the Senate’s failure to convict Trump. Warren is asked if she would investigate Trump if elected.
UPDATE, 5:36 PM (Ruairi): “No one is above the law and that includes the president of the United States.” Warren wants to “reestablish the rule of law in this country” and would have an independent commission look into Trump’s wrongdoing while in office.
UPDATE, 5:37 PM (Ruairi): Warren says that people “are losing faith in our government… they see a government that just works great if you’re rich!”
UPDATE, 5:37 PM (Ruairi): Warren says that “it’s not enough to simply talk about the future.” She lays out her progressive agenda, but says we can only do it by taking on corruption.
UPDATE, 5:38 PM (Ruairi): Andrew Yang is asked about his comments about impeachment. He says that throwing past presidents in jail is a bad precedent.
UPDATE, 5:39 PM (Ruairi): Yang wants to focus on the future, and says that the American people want the president to focus on the future.
UPDATE, 5:40 PM (Ruairi): Sanders says that the truly horrifying part of the Senate’s refusal to convict Trump, ” is the precedent that is set.” He lays out what a president could do with this precedent.
UPDATE, 5:40 PM (Ruairi): Sanders: “The saddest aspect of this whole thing is that there are Republicans in the Senate who knew better…with the exception of Mitt Romney, they didn’t have the guts.”
UPDATE, 5:41 PM (Ruairi): Tom Steyer says that Republicans “have covered up the truth,” but the focus of Democrats should be on winning.
UPDATE, 5:41 PM (Ruairi): Steyer: “Is he a crook? I knew that two years ago!” Steyer says that Trump is a threat to the American people.
UPDATE, 5:42 PM (Ruairi): Buttigieg is asked whether nominating Biden would be a threat because the Republicans are investigating him. “No,” says Buttigieg.
UPDATE, 5:42 PM (Ruairi): Trump “would seek to weaponize a son against his own father.” Buttigieg brings a note of unity to the debate.
UPDATE, 5:43 PM (Ruairi): Biden, visibly upset by the conversation, says that Trump will lie about anyone the Democrats nominate. He than calls for a standing ovation for Colonel Vindman, the whistleblower who was fired by Trump.
UPDATE, 5:44 PM (Ruairi): Klobuchar is asked about Hillary Clinton’s vicious attacks on Sanders. Biden, smiling, hugs Sanders.
UPDATE, 5:44 PM (Andrew): That was a pretty cool moment and a nice show of unity. Brings to mind a couple of the happier moments from the 2016 Democratic debates, when Hillary Clinton and Bernie Sanders stood united.
UPDATE, 5:45 PM (Ruairi): Klobuchar refers to drug legislation that she and Sanders worked together on. “We got fourteen Republican votes…it’s just an example of what we have to do here.”
UPDATE, 5:45 PM (Ruairi): Klobuchar wants to offer “an optimistic America” for voters. She calls out Trump’s comments on the tax bill to friends at Mar-a-Lago
UPDATE, 5:46 PM (Ruairi): Klobuchar says she doesn’t know if Sanders’ programs will get Republican support. “I’m the only one who has consistently won in red districts… I have a way of working with people.”
UPDATE, 5:47 PM (Ruairi): Sanders says, “I must confess, I don’t get too many newspaper editors’ support,” before turning to Clinton’s critique.
UPDATE, 5:48 PM (Ruairi): Sanders wants to “look forward, not back to 2016.” He says that in Vermont, as a candidate, he secured 25% of the Republican vote. “I passed more bipartisan amendments on the floor of the House…than any other member of the House.”
UPDATE, 5:48 PM (Ruairi): Sanders: “There are ways that we can work with Republicans on certain issues. Let’s do that.”
UPDATE, 5:49 PM (Ruairi): Buttigieg is asked about the death of Iran’s General Suleimani – would he have ordered the strike? Buttigieg says “there is no evidence” that the strike was justified.
UPDATE, 5:50 PM (Ruairi): Buttigieg says that Trump’s aggression against Iran “didn’t start with Suleimani,” but started with the withdrawal from the Iran nuclear deal.
UPDATE, 5:51 PM (Ruairi): Buttigieg recounts meeting a former military comrade – “People in uniform will do whatever the United States requires of them. Keep U.S. politics out of it!”
UPDATE, 5:52 PM (Ruairi): Buttigieg says that a strike decision “depends on the circumstances…this is not an episode of 24!” Discussing intelligence reports, he says, “I don’t think he even reads it!”
UPDATE, 5:53 PM (Ruairi): Biden says that “there’s no evidence yet of imminent threat” over Suleimani. Biden says the United States is “alone, without friends” in the Middle East.
UPDATE, 5:53 PM (Ruairi): Biden says that if his son Beau were in Iraq today, “I’d have been so mad [about the strike], I don’t know what I would have done!”
UPDATE, 5:54 PM (Ruairi): Sanders says there are a lot of bad actors around the world. “You cannot go around saying you’re a bad guy, we’re gonna assassinate you…you’re opening the door to international anarchy!”
UPDATE, 5:55 PM (Ruairi): Sanders says we have to “bring countries around the world together” through “debate and discussion at the U.N.”
UPDATE, 5:55 PM (Ruairi): Warren is asked about Afghanistan. Would she listen to generals who want to remain in the country?
UPDATE, 5:56 PM (Ruairi): Warren recounts experience as a senator, touring the region: “Nobody can describe what winning looks like, all they can describe is endless war.”
UPDATE, 5:56 PM (Andrew): ABC has done a terrible job with questions so far today. The premise and framing of nearly every question has been bad. Very bad.
UPDATE, 5:57 PM (Ruairi): “What has all these years of war brought us?” asks Warren. “We sent our troops in and they did their best… it is time to bring our combat troops home.”
UPDATE, 5:57 PM (Ruairi): Warren is pressed on the issue: “I want to hear the plan…I want to hear where our allies are… it can’t just be the United States waging endless war.”
UPDATE, 5:59 PM (Ruairi): Biden is asked if Warren is wrong. “I’m not sure if she wants to pull all troops out of the Middle East.” He talks about the Obama Administration’s policy to contain the Islamic State group.
UPDATE, 5:59 PM (Ruairi): Biden attacks Trump’s decision to withdraw from Kurdish-held areas of Syria, saying U.S. troops had their heads down in shame.
UPDATE, 6:00 PM (Ruairi): “There is no possibility of uniting that country,” says Biden, referring to Afghanistan. He wants a small U.S. presence to restrain terrorism.
UPDATE, 6:01 PM (Andrew): At least half of ABC’s debate questions have been crafted to invite the Democratic candidates to attack each other, often using right wing framing. This is shameful and outrageous.
UPDATE, 6:01 PM (Ruairi): Buttigieg, on the 2003 Iraq invasion, says “the Vice President made the wrong decision.”
He lays out the foreign policy issues that next president will face.
UPDATE, 6:01 PM (Ruairi): Buttigieg wants to “be ready for the future,” rather than have Trump’s “17th century” approach to security.
UPDATE, 6:02 PM (Ruairi): Biden says he was deceived by Bush over Iraq (in fact, he supported the occupation, even after the U.S. invasion in 2003).
UPDATE, 6:03 PM (Ruairi): Biden says that, unless the Democrats win, NATO will fall apart. He touts his international experience: ”I know every one of these leaders by name.”
UPDATE, 6:04 PM (Ruairi): Steyer is asked about his foreign policy experience. He says that the military-focused approach to foreign policy is a symptom of corruption
UPDATE, 6:05 PM (Ruairi): Steyer asks how the military will help solve climate change – that will take diplomacy. Biden jumps in, saying he has had a part of every diplomatic effort of the Obama administration.
UPDATE, 6:06 PM (Ruairi): Biden says “we must keep our commitments when we make them, otherwise we have no power…it doesn’t require large number of troops, I never said that!”
UPDATE, 6:06 PM (Ruairi): Sanders repeats his catchphrase: “I not only opposed [the Iraq] War, I helped lead the opposition” in 2003.
UPDATE, 6:07 PM (Ruairi): Sanders says climate change “is not an American issue, it;s’a global issue… here is my dream… instead of spending [huge sums] of money a year on weapons of destruction, maybe we pool our resources” against climate change.
UPDATE, 6:14 PM (Ruairi): The debate turns specifically to issues that are especially relevant to New Hampshire.
UPDATE, 6:14 PM (Ruairi): Pete Butigieg is asked about drug overdoses. He has argued that “incarceration should no longer be the response to drug possession.”
UPDATE, 6:15 PM (Ruairi): Buttigieg says that “some of this has been driven by drug companies that were irresponsible,” referring to lawsuits against drug companies in South Bend, his city.
UPDATE, 6:16 PM (Ruairi): Buttigieg calls for more mental health professionals. Andrew Yang is asked if he would mandate treatment for drug overdoses.
UPDATE, 6:17 PM (Ruairi): Yang says “you have to look at the companies that profited…as President we will take back those profits.” He says that the opioid epidemic happened “on the government’s watch.”
UPDATE, 6:18 PM (Ruairi): Andrew Yang also calls for less punitive measures against opioid users. He says that the opioid epidemic is an issue that is affected by corporate corruption.
UPDATE, 6:18 PM (Ruairi): Klobuchar is asked if, as a prosecutor, she regrets sending drug users to jail. “We weren’t a business, we didn’t want to see repeat customers.”
UPDATE, 6:19 PM (Ruairi): Klobuchar promises to use money from a federal lawsuit against opioid producers (approximately billion) to pay for addiction treatment.
UPDATE, 6:19 PM (Ruairi): Klobuchar says “I will get this done, and it is personal for me.”
UPDATE, 6:20 PM (Ruairi): Sanders is asked about gun control. He voted against gun regulation in the 1990s.
“In 1988, I said we should ban the sale of assault weapons.”
UPDATE, 6:21 PM (Ruairi): Sanders says that gun policy won’t be “dictated by the NRA.” He says that Vermont is a rural, pro-gun state. “I represented that perspective…the world has changed and my views have changed.”
UPDATE, 6:22 PM (Ruairi): Sanders gives a good explanation for his gun policy record. Biden is asked about his own gun record, and whether Sanders can be given the benefit of the doubt.
UPDATE, 6:23 PM (Ruairi): Biden attacks Sanders’ vote for loopholes for manufacturers. He says that, while he was pushing for gun control, Sanders was voting against him.
UPDATE, 6:24 PM (Ruairi): Warren is asked about America’s “gun culture.”
She says that the country has “a gun violence problem,” talking about mass shootings, domestic violence, suicide and other issues.
UPDATE, 6:25 PM (Ruairi): “We need to think of it just like auto safety!” Warren refers to the overwhelming public support for more gun control and lack of legislation – “it is the gun industry that continues to call the shots.”
UPDATE, 6:25 PM (Ruairi): Warren uses gun control as an argument to “roll back the filibuster.”
UPDATE, 6:26 PM (Ruairi): The debate moves to the Supreme Court and abortion. Biden is asked if he would apply a “litmus test on abortion.”
UPDATE, 6:27 PM (Ruairi): Biden says that he didn’t apply a “specific test, but a generic test.” He says he was “part of the reason why” justices Kagan, Bader-Ginsburg and Sotomayor got onto the court.
UPDATE, 6:28 PM (Ruairi): Biden launches into a robust defense of abortion. Warren says “I’ve lived in an America where abortion is illegal and rich women still got abortions.”
UPDATE, 6:29 PM (Ruairi): Warren says that “we can’t simply rely on the courts…3 out of 4 people believe that Roe v Wade should be the law.” She calls for a law to enshrine Roe v Wade.
UPDATE, 6:29 PM (Ruairi): Klobuchar says that “I would only appoint judges that respect precedent and one of those precedents in Roe v Wade.”
UPDATE, 6:30 PM (Ruairi): Klobuchar refers to the 2016 campaigm, when Trump promised to put women and doctors who perform abortions in jail.
UPDATE, 6:31 PM (Ruairi): Buttigieg is asked about expanding the court. “What I’ve called for is…structural reform so that some of the justices are not appointed by a partisan process.”
UPDATE, 6:32 PM (Ruairi): Buttigieg supports the idea of making constitutional amendments to tackle Supreme Court reform and bringing down Citizens United.
UPDATE, 6:32 PM (Ruairi): Biden says he pushed for a law to take down money in politics decades against. “Whoever has the majority [of the Supreme Court] will have the ability to abuse it.”
UPDATE, 6:33 PM (Ruairi): Biden says that “we must win back the United States Senate…who is most likely to help get a Senate elected.” He says that he can not only win the presidency, but win the Senate.
UPDATE, 6:34 PM (Ruairi): Sanders says that he would never appoint a justice against Roe v Wade, legislate on it, and support Planned Parenthood.
UPDATE, 6:35 PM (Ruairi): Steyer says that, on the courts, “the Republicans refused to give President Obama his due.” He says that the Republicans are stacking courts for future generations with “young, right-wing radicals.”
UPDATE, 6:35 PM (Ruairi): Steyer says “we have not said one word tonight about race…are you kidding me!”
He says that Democrats need to get voters to the polls.
UPDATE, 6:36 PM (Ruairi): Steyer says that Democrats can win on all the issues if they beat Trump on the economy.
UPDATE, 6:37 PM (Ruairi): Buttigieg is asked about unequal policing in his home city that happened under his leadership. “Systemic racism has penetrated o every level of our system and my city is not immune.”
UPDATE, 6:38 PM (Ruairi): Buttigieg: “Opioid addication is best described as a medical problem.” He makes a pitch to black voters, saying he will make reforms to incarceration over drugs.
UPDATE, 6:39 PM (Ruairi): How does he explain the increase in marijuana arrests of black people in South Bend on his watch. He says that drug enforcement was targeted to tackle violence.
UPDATE, 6:40 PM (Ruairi): Warren is asked if Buttigieg’s answer was substantial. “No. You have to own up to the facts!” Warren refers to studies that show that black people are mistreated throughout the criminal justice system.
UPDATE, 6:40 PM (Ruairi): “We need to start having race-conscious laws!” Warren points to historic discrimination against blacks throughout U.S. legislation.
UPDATE, 6:41 PM (Ruairi): Andrew Yang says “you can’t regulate against racism.” Referring to Martin Luther King, he says that King supported universal basic income.
UPDATE, 6:42 PM (Ruairi): Yang says that his UBI program will give black and latino people “buying power.” Steyer says “I disagree with you, Andrew… I am for reparations.”
UPDATE, 6:42 PM (Ruairi): Steyer calls out a member of Joe Biden’s campaign (Dick Harputlian) who made racist comments against a Steyer campaigner in South Carolina.
UPDATE, 6:43 PM (Ruairi): Biden defends himself by saying that he has more support from the South Carolina African American community than anyone.
UPDATE, 6:44 PM (Ruairi): Sanders interjects, saying calling for an end to the War on Drugs, private prisons, and other systems of racism in the U.S. “We’re gonna end cash bail,” Sanders says.
UPDATE, 6:45 PM (Ruairi): Steyer says “I’ve worked to end cash bail in California, and it’s gone!” Steyer wants Biden to disavow the statements of his campaign aide.
UPDATE, 6:45 PM (Ruairi): Biden says that the aide “is sorry for what he said.” Biden swiftly turns away from the question, saying that the Democrats need to stop “taking the black community for granted.”
UPDATE, 6:46 PM (Ruairi): Biden calls for a wide array of programs to help minority communities across the board, from prisons to housing. Biden says the civil rights movement “got me involved in the first place.”
UPDATE, 6:47 PM (Ruairi): Biden starts to argue for increased investment in education, particularly hiring more African American men as teachers.
UPDATE, 6:48 PM (Ruairi): Sanders is asked if he agrees with Nina Turner that Biden has “betrayed” African Americans. Sanders says: “Biden is a friend, and I’m not here to attack him.”
UPDATE, 6:48 PM (Ruairi): Sanders says there is “no excuse” for various inequalities between black and white families.
UPDATE, 6:49 PM (Ruairi): Klobuchar says “we know that there are economic solutions here… there is something else insidious here.” She calls out systematic voting suppression across the U.S.
UPDATE, 6:49 PM (Ruairi): Klobuchar wants to “stop the voting purges…they are discriminating with surgical precision against these African American voters.”
UPDATE, 6:50 PM (Ruairi): Biden agrees “completely” with automatic voter registration. He slightly loses track of his train of thought before coming back to voting suppression.
UPDATE, 6:51 PM (Ruairi): Warren says that Democrats “talk about how important the black community is – at least at election time.” She says that she can offer “real, concrete plans” to help minority communities.
UPDATE, 6:52 PM (Ruairi): Warren says that cutting student loan debt will disproportionately help out African Americans.
UPDATE, 6:52 PM (Ruairi): Tom Steyer says, “out of narrative, comes policy.” He wants to “set up a commission on race and deal with race explicitly.”
UPDATE, 6:53 PM (Ruairi): Steyer wants to “retell the story of the last four hundred years,” recognizing the moral leadership of the black community in American politics.
UPDATE, 6:54 PM (Ruairi): While Steyer wants to honor black political heroes, Andrew Yang makes an economic argument: “It’s an economic unnatural disaster, and we know who is worst affected by natural disasters.”
UPDATE, 6:55 PM (Ruairi): Andrew Yang wants to put “straight cash, into their hands.” He says that economic change will “hit black people the hardest.”
UPDATE, 6:55 PM (Ruairi): Warren is asked about Michael Bloomberg. “I don’t think anyone ought to be able to buy their way into a campaign!”
UPDATE, 6:56 PM (Ruairi): Warren says “we want to end this unlimited spending…everyone on this stage except Amy and me is either a billionaire, or receiving money from PACs.”
UPDATE, 6:57 PM (Ruairi): Warren asks her vierwers to “pitch in five bucks…our democracy is in the balance!” Klobuchar opines that she “can’t stand the big money in politics.”
UPDATE, 6:57 PM (Ruairi): Klobuchar says that nobody looks at Trumop and thinks “can we get anyone richer?” (an implicit attack on Bloomberg).
UPDATE, 6:58 PM (Ruairi): Klobuchar recounts her working-class roots in the Midwest. She makes an effective case for her viability as a presidential candidate.
UPDATE, 6:59 PM (Ruairi): Sanders wants to not only overturn Citizens United, but introduce public funding of elections. He directly atacks Buttigieg for the “forty billionaires” who are contributing to that campaign.
UPDATE, 7:00 PM (Ruairi): “Build a mass movement of working people who are willing to stand up to, not take money from, billionaires,” says Sanders, waving a finger at Buttigieg.
UPDATE, 7:01 PM (Ruairi): Buttigieg argues that he is the only person on stage who “isn’t a millionaire or a billionaire.” He argues that he doesn’t have wealthy supporters (which is patently not true).
UPDATE, 7:02 PM (Ruairi): Buttigieg says “we need you to join us right now…this is a time for addition, not subtraction, for belonging, not exclusion.”
UPDATE, 7:02 PM (Ruairi): Sanders is asked about the recent Trump trade deal. He says the New Hampshire senators who voted for the deal are wrong.
UPDATE, 7:03 PM (Ruairi): Sanders says that he offers the most comprehensive climate action plan, and the trade deal is “simply exporting fossil fuel emissions to Mexico.”
UPDATE, 7:04 PM (Ruairi): Sanders says that job losses to Mexico will continue under the trade agreements negotiated by Trump’s regime. Klobuchar says Trump’s deal offered some improvements, so she voted for it.
UPDATE, 7:05 PM (Ruairi): Klobuchar says the best way to tackle climate damage is to bring back Obama-era policies. “Having no trade agreement with Canada and Mexico puts us at a disadvantage,” when negotiating with China.
UPDATE, 7:06 PM (Ruairi): Warren said Democratic lawmakers made the trade deal “a whole lot better.” She says that she voted for the deal because it made life slightly better for American farmers and consumers.
UPDATE, 7:06 PM (Ruairi): Tom Steyer: “I gotta agree with Bernie Sanders.” He says that “we have to stop making foreign policy decisions in the old way.”
UPDATE, 7:07 PM (Ruairi): Steyer says that the trade deal does offer positive changes, but it shows wrong thinking. “If we actually want to be the leader of the world…we’re going to have to put climate first…and ask, does that help us build a coalition of countries around the world to do the right thing.”
UPDATE, 7:08 PM (Ruairi): Steyer says he would use access to U.S. markets to bargain for climate justice. Klobuchar says “you’ve got to have some friends,” arguing that a deal with Mexico and Canada helps the United States.
UPDATE, 7:09 PM (Ruairi): Klobuchar says that when the United States has opportunities to work with allies and doesn’t do it it will isolate the country.
UPDATE, 7:16 PM (Ruairi): The final question concerns child poverty. After ten straight years of economic growth, one in five children are living in poverty. What does that say about the United States of America?
UPDATE, 7:16 PM (Andrew): Finally, a decent question from the modaerators. Why couldn’t they have led off with this one? You’ll never hear a question like this asked at a Republican presidential debate.
UPDATE, 7:17 PM (Ruairi): Andrew Yang wants to put money “directly into the hands of families.” He says that the market doesn’t value stay-at-home moms, coaches, most artists, many journalists.
UPDATE, 7:18 PM (Ruairi): Buttigieg says that “we’re counting the wrong things… we’ve had an economy grow and not be able to lift up” people.
UPDATE, 7:19 PM (Ruairi): Buttigieg says “the American people want to see change.” He wants to “turn a new page, leave the politics of the past in the past.”
UPDATE, 7:20 PM (Ruairi): Warren says that “the best investment we can make as human beings is to invest in our children.” Her wealth tax can pay for childcare and pre‑K education, while raising wages for childcare workers.
UPDATE, 7:20 PM (Ruairi): Warren wants to “put real money” into healthcare, education, housing and other programs to help lift people up.
UPDATE, 7:21 PM (Ruairi): Biden recounts his father losing a job. He was the poorest man in Congress for many years: “I’ve never focused on money for me… I was a single dad for years.”
UPDATE, 7:22 PM (Ruairi): Biden says that children are “the kite strings that raise our national ambition.” He wants to help education throughout a child’s life, as well as creating training programs.
UPDATE, 7:22 PM (Ruairi): Biden: “Everyone is entitled to be treated with dignity and respect, and we’re not doing it.”
UPDATE, 7:23 PM (Ruairi): Sanders says that the reason for child poverty is the same reason the United States gives billions to corporations and has massive drug prices. “That reason is that our priorities are determined by the 1% and wealthy campaign contributors.”
UPDATE, 7:24 PM (Ruairi): “We say unashamedly that we are raising our funding not from billionaires, but from the working class of this country.” Sanders wants to “change our national priorities.”
UPDATE, 7:25 PM (Ruairi): Klobuchar says that “we have not lost hope.” She has a plan to eradicate child poverty in a generation. “To get it done, we have to be able to reach voters that we lost.”
UPDATE, 7:25 PM (Ruairi): Klobuchar says that Trump has “a complete lack of empathy.” She says, “I know you, and I will fight for you.”
UPDATE, 7:26 PM (Ruairi): Klobuchar says people who are tired of noise and extremism “have a home with me.”
UPDATE, 7:27 PM (Ruairi): Tom Steyer says the Republican plan is “pretty simple. They want to cut taxes on the richest corporations.” He says, “it is true in every red state.”
UPDATE, 7:28 PM (Ruairi): Steyer says that Trump “has no idea what prosperity looks like across this country.” He promises to combine mobility, investment and justice. “Dream it, and make it happen.”
UPDATE, 7:28 PM (Ruairi): With Steyer’s closing comments, the New Hampshire debate is over.
# Written by Andrew Villeneuve :: 5:00 PM
Categories: Elections
Tags: Democratic Presidential Debates, US-Pres
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