Ten Democratic presidential candidates took the stage tonight in Atlanta for the fifth debate in the 2020 election.
Here are the winners and losers from tonight’s debate:
Winners: Amy Klobuchar, Andrew Yang, Kamala Harris, Pete Buttigieg
Losers: Joe Biden, Tom Steyer
After more than two hours spent discussing topics like the impeachment inquiry and climate change, Sen. Elizabeth Warren and Mayor Pete Buttigieg spoke the most at tonight’s debate.
Watch a minute-by-minute breakdown of where each candidate ranked:
In response to a question about child care costs tonight, businessman Andrew Yang said, “There are only two countries in the world that don’t have paid family leave for new moms: the United States of America and Papua New Guinea.”
Facts First: It’s true that America ranks behind all other major developed nations when it comes to statutory paid family leave. But Yang’s claim that only the US and Papua New Guinea offer no paid family leave appears to be based on a report that is more than five years old.
The United States is the only member of the Organisation for Economic Co-Operation and Development that doesn’t offer statutory paid family leave, according to a report from August 2019.
A May 2014 report by the International Labor Organization showed that out of 185 countries and territories that share information on parental leave, only Papua New Guinea and the United States “have no general legal provision for cash benefits.”
The Yang campaign did not immediately respond to a request for comment on its sources.
In a heated exchange, California Sen. Kamala Harris said Hawaii Rep. Tulsi Gabbard “during the Obama administration spent four years full time on Fox News” criticizing President Barack Obama.
Facts First: Harris’ characterization is misleading. Gabbard did appear on Fox News during the Obama administration, and often criticized the administration’s Middle East policy. But she has appeared much more frequently on Fox News since President Trump took office.
Gabbard appeared on Fox News at least 15 times between January 2013, when she first took office, and January 2017 when Obama left office. She often criticized the Obama administration but primarily in the context of Middle East policy.
By comparison, Gabbard has appeared on Fox News far more frequently during the Trump administration, and since she announced her presidential campaign – appearing at least 15 times in 2019 alone.
The fifth Democratic presidential debate has just wrapped up with each candidate making their closing case to be the party’s nominee.
Here are some of the key lines from their closing statements:
The final count is in, and Sen. Elizabeth Warren led the group with more than 13 minutes in speaking time. Mayor Pete Buttigieg, who had more than 12 minutes, came in second.
See the full breakdown:
Pete Buttigieg defend his level of experience on Wednesday in contentious exchanges with Minnesota Sen. Amy Klobuchar and Hawaii Rep. Tulsi Gabbard, using the debate to argue “Washington experience is not the only experience that matters.”
The most contentious point of Buttigieg’s defense came when the mayor said, “There’s more than 100 years of Washington experience on this stage, and where are we right now as a country.”
Buttigieg’s experience – he leads a city of just over 100,000 people, has only ever been elected by a few voters thousand and lost his only statewide election – has been a central question about his candidacy. And it was clear on Wednesday that his competitors came into the debate looking to questions his qualifications.
When Buttigieg mentioned voting rights, Klobuchar jumped in and said the issue is a “good example of where (Buttigieg) has said the right words” but not followed it up with action and called the mayor a “local official.”
“I have actually done this work,” Klobuchar said.
Buttigieg fired back.
“Washington experience is not the only experience that matters,” he said, nodding not only his time as mayor, but his experience as a war veteran.
Then Gabbard jumped and said Buttigieg showed a lack of judgment when he suggested using the U.S. military to help combat cartel violence along the border for security cooperation.
“That is outlandish, even by the standards of today’s politics, Buttigieg responded. “Do you seriously think anybody on this stage is proposing invading Mexico? … I’m talking about building alliances.”
The mayor then hit Gabbard for meeting with Syrian President Bashar al-Assad.
“Let’s also talk about judgment. One of the foreign leaders you mentioned meeting was Bashar al-Assad,” Buttigieg said.
Gabbard responded by noting how past leaders met with opposing leaders, citing when President John F. Kennedy met with Soviet Union Premier Nikita Khrushchev and former President Franklin Roosevelt met with Russian leader Joseph Stalin.
Buttigieg interrupted, “Like Donald Trump who met with Kim,” a nod to North Korean Leader Kim Jong Un.
Former Vice President Joe Biden said Wednesday that he was endorsed by the only African American woman ever elected to the Senate, leading California Sen. Kamala Harris, his 2020 rival and the second black woman elected to the Senate, to laugh and point out that Biden was wrong.
Biden appeared to be referring to former Illinois Sen. Carol Moseley Braun, the first black woman elected to the Senate – though not the only one. Moseley Braun is a strong Biden supporter.
“I said the first,” Biden said as Harris reacted.
South Bend, Indiana, Mayor Pete Buttigieg acknowledged the most existential threat to his candidacy at Wednesday’s debate – his lack of African American support – and accepted implicit criticism by California Sen. Kamala Harris by saying he agrees with her views on the importance of black voters.
Buttigieg’s lack of black support, especially in South Carolina, has been a critical issue for the mayor of South Bend and something he has been trying to address for months. But his work has done little and a recent poll in the southern state – where the Democratic primary electorate is expected to be heavily African American – found he has 0% support.
Harris, in response to question about past comments she made about Buttigieg’s support, said that her answer came in response to the Buttigieg campaign using a stock photo that was taken in Kenya as an image related to his plan aimed at racial equality on a host of issues. The Buttigieg campaign apologized for using the photo, but said they were not aware the photo was taken in Kenya when it was used.
Harris didn’t focus on the photo issue very long – “I believe the mayor has made apologies for that,” she said – and instead turned to the importance of black voters in an implicit criticism of the mayor.
When the conversation turned to Buttigieg, the mayor said, “I completely agree.”
“And I welcome the challenge of connecting with black voters in America who don’t yet know me,” Buttigieg said. “And before I share what’s in my plans, let me talk about what’s in my heart and why this is so important.”
Buttigieg went on to talk about his time as mayor of South Bend, a city that is over a quarter black, and his faith.
“I care about this because my faith teaches me that salvation has to do with how I make myself useful to those who have been excluded, marginalized, and cast aside and oppressed in society,” he said.
But he closed out the answer by talking about his sexuality:
We are two hours into tonight’s Democratic debate, and Sen. Elizabeth Warren is still out front with the most speaking time so far.
Here’s the full rundown of how much everyone has spoken as of 11 p.m. ET:
Follow our live graphic for the latest figures.
Former Vice President Joe Biden continued to face criticism tonight from his 2020 rivals for his stance on the legalization of marijuana.
New Jersey Sen. Cory Booker went after Biden’s recent remarks at a town hall in Las Vegas, where he said he still opposes legalizing marijuana on the federal level and told attendees that he wants to see more study on whether it is a “gateway drug.”
The remark drew laughter from the audience.
Biden went on to defend his position, saying he thinks marijuana should be decriminalized.
“Anyone who has a record should be let out of jail, their records expunged and be completely zeroed out, but I do think it makes sense based on data that we should study what the long-term effects are for the use of marijuana,” he said.
During a discussion on sexual violence and harassment against women in the US, former Vice President Joe Biden explained that the US needs to change its culture.
Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders drew a bright line between his and former Vice President Joe Biden’s foreign policy views, pointing to his opposition to both of America’s wars in Iraq.
“One of the big differences between the Vice President and myself is he supported the terrible war in Iraq and I helped lead the opposition against it,” Sanders said. “And not only that, I voted against the very first Gulf War.”
Sanders pushed further, saying as he so often does on the trail, that “we need a foreign policy which understands who our enemies are” and “that we don’t have to spend more money on the military than the next 10 nations combined.”
He responded to the initial question, which asked whether he would negotiate with the Taliban as a means of ending the war in Afghanistan, with a pledge to work with allies to do whatever it takes to stop the conflict.
“I will (end the war there) by working with the international community,” Sanders said, “and, if it’s necessary to negotiate with the Taliban, then of course we will do that.”
But, given the current administration’s recent actions to pull troops out of Syria without warning, Sanders also said he would take a different approach to the process.
“Unlike Trump, I will not do it through a tweet at 3 o’clock in the morning,” Sanders said. “I will do it working with the international community.
Sanders also took a step away from the party establishment consensus by calling out Israel’s treatment of Palestinians in Gaza.
“It is no longer good enough for us simply to be pro-Israel. I am pro-Israel,” he said. “But we must treat the Palestinian people as well with the respect and dignity they deserve,” to applause from the debate hall.
Sen. Bernie Sanders said the US has a health care system “in which we spend twice as much as do the people of any other country.”
Facts First: This is not true. The US spent twice as much per capita on health care last year than the average for Organisation for Economic Co-Operation and Development (OECD) countries, but not twice as much as every single one of the organization’s 35 other members.
At $10,586 per capita in 2018, US spending was well over twice the OECD average ($3,992) and well over twice the figures for some other major countries, including Canada ($4,974). But Switzerland ($7,317), Norway ($6,187) and Germany ($5,986) were all substantially above half the US level. Sweden ($5,447), Austria ($5,395) and Denmark ($5,299) were also above half, though more slightly.
Sanders has been repeating this exaggeration since at least 2009, when fact-checkers at PolitiFact first noted that it wasn’t true. CNN fact-checked him during the Democratic debate in September.
We are more than an hour into tonight’s Democratic debate, and former Vice President Joe Biden is out front with the most speaking time so far.
Here’s the full rundown of how much everyone has spoken as of 10:30 p.m. ET:
Follow our live graphic for the latest figures.
Businessman Andrew Yang didn’t pull punches when asked about what he would tell Russian President Vladimir Putin during their first call if elected president.
Yang added that the Russia had “made it so that we can’t even trust our own democracy.”
California Sen. Kamala Harris went after President Donald Trump on his response to North Korea.
Asked whether she’d make concessions to the North Korean leader to keep talks going, Harris said, “Donald Trump got punked.”
She went on to say that Trump has conducted his foreign policy “born on a fragile ego.” Harris listed a series of Trump administration policies that she considered failures, including pulling out of the Paris climate agreement.
Harris said Trump is the “greatest threat to the national security of our nation at this moment.”
South Bend, Indiana, Mayor Pete Buttigieg slammed President Donald Trump for the ongoing trade war impacting farmers across the country, bluntly stating that he doesn’t believe “this President cares one bit about farmers.”
Buttigieg said he would continue to provide farm subsidies as President, something Trump has done to help farmers deal with the trade war. But he added that he doesn’t believe farmers would need them under his leadership “because we are going to fix the trade war.”
Buttigieg noted that those payments aren’t “even making farmers whole” and specifically called out soybean farmers, who he said are getting “killed” by the tariffs and other factors.
The Trump administration, in response to retaliatory tariffs implemented by China on a host of American agriculture products, has begun a series of direct payments to farmers who are struggling to sell their products.
Farmers have already received $6.8 billion this year from the trade mitigation package, according to the US Department of Agriculture. The first round of payments was made over the summer and was meant to cover 50% of what farmers are due this year.
But Democrats have argued that those payments would not be needed if the President hadn’t started the trade war to begin with.
Billionaire businessman Tom Steyer was animated tonight in Atlanta when discussing climate change, a top priority for his presidential campaign and a “state of emergency.”
What else Steyer has said about climate change: During his town hall on Nov. 10, he also pledged to demand Congress to pass a version of the Green New Deal during his first 100 days in office.
“I’ve spent over a decade fighting oil companies and beating them at the ballot box. I’ve led the charge for clean energy across the country at the ballot box,” Steyer said. “I’ve worked to stop pipelines. I’ve worked to stop fossil fuel plants. We’re talking about the future, but you can look at my history and know that this is something that is an absolutely top priority for me.”
Hawaii Rep. Tulsi Gabbard slammed the Democratic Party at Wednesday’s debate, accusing Hillary Clinton and other Democrats of having the same views on war as former President George W. Bush and President Donald Trump.
The attack led California Sen. Kamala Harris to hit back at Gabbard, saying that it is “unfortunate that we have someone on this stage that is attempting to be the Democratic nominee for the President of the United States who during the Obama administration has spent four years full-time on Fox News criticizing President Obama” and “full-time criticizing people on this stage, affiliated with the Democratic Party.”
Gabbard’s answer came in response to a question about Hillary Clinton recently telling an interviewer that the Hawaii congresswoman is being groomed for a third party run and is a “favorite of the Russians.”
Gabbard said on Wednesday that the Democratic Party “has been, and continues to be, influenced by the foreign policy establishment represented by Hillary Clinton.”
Harris, among other issues, slammed Gabbard for failing to “call a war criminal by what he is as a war criminal,” nodding to Gabbard’s past comments about Syrian Leader Bashar al-Assad.
Gabbard responded by acknowledging her own military service and saying, “What Sen. Harris is doing is unfortunately continuing to traffic in lies and smears and innuendos because she cannot challenge the substance of the argument that I’m making.
“I’m seeking to bring in our foreign policy, which only makes me guess that she will, as president, continue the status quo, continue the Bush-Clinton-Trump foreign policy of regime change wars, which is deeply destructive,” Gabbard concluded.
