Democratic Debate Highlights

Democratic Debate Highlights In Miami 2019 - First Half

The full two hours:

Beto O'Rourke and Julian Castro spar over immigration policy

Democrats take aim at big business, spar over health care in the first 2020 presidential debate
PUBLISHED WED, JUN 26 2019 4:47 PM EDT, UPDATED AN HOUR AGO

Ten Democratic candidates faced off for the first time Wednesday night in Miami, making repeated appeals to the working class and targeting corporations as they jockey for position in the 2020 presidential primary.

Some key business issues barely came up during the first Democratic debate. President Donald Trump’s trade war with China and pledges to break up technology titans saw little or no mention during the two hours of debate.

But Democrats drilled into arguments that they are best equipped to boost the working and middle classes as they elbow to gain ground in a field of two dozen strong. From pledging to make opioid companies criminally liable, promising to reduce drug prices and proposing to take on corporate consolidation, the 2020 candidates kept up the scrutiny of corporate America and the wealthy that has marked the early days of the primary cycle.

Full article and videos at https://www.cnbc.com/2019/06/26/what-to-know-about-first-2020-democratic-primary-debate-in-miami.html

NBC hot mic mars first Democratic debate
Dylan Stableford, Senior Editor, Yahoo News • June 26, 2019

A hot mic issue forced NBC’s moderators to take an unscheduled commercial break during the first Democratic presidential debate on Wednesday night.

After Lester Holt, Savannah Guthrie and Telemundo’s José Díaz-Balart handed off co-moderating duties to Chuck Todd and Rachel Maddow, someone in the control room apparently forgot to cut the volume from their lapel mics.

As Todd tried to ask Sen. Elizabeth Warren a question about gun violence, Guthrie and Holt could be heard talking backstage on the live broadcast.

“I think we had a little mic issue in the back,” Todd said, before attempting to ask Warren again.

But Guthrie was still audible. Several of the candidates broke into laughter.

“We are hearing our colleague’s audio,” Todd explained. “If the control room could turn off the mics.”

“You know, we prepared for everything,” Maddow said, laughing. “We didn’t prepare for this.”

“We’re going to get this technical situation fixed,” Todd told viewers before throwing to a commercial.

President Trump, who hosted NBC’s “Celebrity Apprentice” before being elected president, was watching.

“@NBCNews and @MSNBC should be ashamed of themselves for having such a horrible technical breakdown in the middle of the debate,” Trump tweeted aboard Air Force One en route to the G-20 summit in Osaka, Japan. “Truly unprofessional and only worthy of a FAKE NEWS Organization, which they are!”

Andrew Yang, who will appear onstage at Thursday’s Democratic debate in Miami, was too.

“Oh no — technical difficulties,” Yang tweeted. “It’s the Russians.”

Fact Check: Democrats Launch Primary Debate by Lying About Trump Economy
JOHN CARNEY | 26 Jun 2019

Democrat presidential hopefuls on Wednesday night falsely claimed the economy during Donald Trump’s presidency has only benefited the wealthy.

“It’s doing great for a thinner and thinner slice at the top,” Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-MA) said in her answer to the very first question of the Democrat candidates’ debate. “When you’ve got a government, when you’ve got an economy, that does great for those with money and isn’t doing great for everyone else, that is corruption pure and simple.”

“This economy is not working for average Americans,” Sen. Cory Booker (D-NJ) said.

In fact, the strongest economy in more than a decade and the extension of the expansion to nearly the longest on record is benefiting to Americans of every income bracket.

For several months now, the Bureau of Labor Statistics’ employment data have shown significant income growth for working-class Americans. Unemployment is at the lowest level in nearly 50 years. Unemployment for blacks, Hispanics, and Asians is at or near multi-decade lows.

Wages in May for nonsupervisory employees were up 3.4 percent year over year, the tenth consecutive month at or above three percent. That’s all the more impressive because inflation is running around 1.5 percent. Prior to Trump’s presidency, average wages have not risen by more than three percent since 2009.

Last Christmas, store clerks were paid on average 5.5 percent more than the year before, the largest annual gain since 1998. And the gains have continued, with retail employees seeing a 3.8 percent year over year gain in April’s data. Restaurant and hotel workers in April were paid 4.7 percent more than the year before.

Highlights From The First Democratic Debate, Day Two

Democratic Debate Highlights In Miami 2019 Night 2

Democratic Debate: Kamala Harris Blasts Joe Biden Over Busing Stance |

Democratic Debate: See Every Night 2 Candidate's Closing Remarks

Democratic Presidential Debate - June 27 (Full)

Here are the Democrats who gained and lost the most in the first 2020 presidential primary debate
PUBLISHED THU, JUN 27 2019 11:52 PM EDT, UPDATED AN HOUR AGO
Jacob Pramuk, CNBC

KEY POINTS

Several candidates set themselves up to capitalize on their performances during the first 2020 Democratic presidential debates in Miami.

Sen. Kamala Harris and former Housing and Urban Development Secretary Julian Castro are among the candidates considered winners in the first debate.

Former Rep. Beto O’Rourke and former Vice President Joe Biden are among those who appeared to struggle.

Twenty Democratic presidential candidates had their first chance to square off on the same stage this week.

A handful of them took steps that could help them stand out in the jammed field — while others struggled or gained little ground on a crowded debate stage.

Some of the race’s early leaders met expectations as contenders. Candidates such as Sen. Elizabeth Warren, D-Mass., and South Bend, Indiana, Mayor Pete Buttigieg earned plaudits in surveys and from pundits.

Others also had performances during the Wednesday and Thursday night debates that made them stand out — for better or worse. A strong debate performance can help to propel a candidate with donors and media coverage, but it hardly guarantees a surge or sustained success in a primary. On the other hand, one poor performance does not necessarily deter a candidate’s campaign — especially if they come into the debate with strong support.

Here are five of the candidates that both post-debate polls and pundits identified as the winners and losers of the two nights of debate in Miami.

Winner: Kamala Harris

Harris took swings at President Donald Trump early in Thursday night’s debate. She criticized the Republican tax plan and his immigration policy.

But she created the most memorable moment of either night when she targeted a Democratic rival. The senator from California criticized former Vice President Joe Biden — the primary’s early frontrunner — over his record on race and the desegregation of school busing in personal terms.

“There was a little girl in California who was part of the second class to integrate her public schools, and she was bused to school every day, and that little girl was me,” Harris said. She called his comments about working with segregationist senators “hurtful.”

In a tweet, Democratic presidential candidate John Delaney called Harris’ criticism of Biden an “incredible moment.”


Lynn Vavreck, a professor of American politics and public policy at UCLA, called the moment “among the more amazing things I have seen in a political debate.” She added that Harris “had an amazing night.”

It’s too early to tell how the moment will affect Harris in scientific polls. Still, searches on Google for “busing” spiked more than 3,000% after the senator brought up the issue, according to Google Trends. At one point during the debate, Harris was the top trending topic on Google across the U.S.

Biden, for his part, said Harris mischaracterized his record on race. He said he worked as a public defender instead of a prosecutor, which Harris was as district attorney in San Francisco and attorney general in California.

Winner: Julian Castro

“I think that you should do your homework on this issue,” Castro said to fellow Texan and former Rep. Beto O’Rourke after a heated exchange on whether the U.S. should decriminalize immigration.

The Obama administration’s Housing and Urban Development secretary started the night’s discussion on immigration by saying a photo of a drowned father and 23-month-old daughter trying to gain asylum in the U.S. should “piss us all off.” He ended the night with the fourth-most speaking time out of the 10 participants, according to The Washington Post.

Castro entered the night as a relative unknown: Only about 39% of likely Democratic voters had an opinion of him entering the night, according to Morning Consult polling done for FiveThirtyEight. But after the debate, 47.4% of respondents had a favorable view of him, versus only 12.9% who had an unfavorable opinion.

His net favorability rating — the difference between positive and negative views — increased 14.5 percentage points, more than that of any other candidate in Wednesday’s debate. In addition, 2.1% of likely Democratic voters said they would vote for him following the event, versus only 0.3% before it.

Winner: Cory Booker

Booker has found himself outside the top tier of contenders in most early primary polling. He made his presence known on Wednesday night.

The senator from New Jersey talked about how “this economy is not working for average Americans.” He tried to fight off accusations that he is too friendly to drug companies by promising to hold opioid makers criminally liable for their role in an addiction and overdose crisis.

By the end of the night, Booker talked more than any other candidate. His net favorability rating jumped by 7.7 percentage points, third most among Wednesday’s participants, according to Morning Consult.

Loser: Beto O’Rourke

Many experts considered the immigration spat with O’Rourke as Castro’s signature moment Wednesday. On a night where few candidates faced personal attacks, O’Rourke also found himself targeted for his health-care stance.

When the former congressman argued against eliminating private insurance, New York Mayor Bill de Blasio jumped in to say the system “is not working for tens of millions of Americans.”

Only Booker talked more than O’Rourke on Wednesday, according to the Post. But O’Rourke’s net favorability dropped 3.4 percentage points, the most among all the candidates on stage Wednesday, according to Morning Consult.

After the debate, 2.8% of respondents said they would vote for O’Rourke, down from 3.8% before.

During a conference call with O’Rourke on Thursday, his donors discussed how he could improve in the next debate.

Loser: Joe Biden

As the race’s frontrunner, Biden appeared to try to stay out of the fray Thursday. During a debate in which candidates interrupted one another repeatedly to make points, Biden abruptly stopped his answers at least twice.

“My time’s up. I’m sorry,” he said at one point during the debate when he reached his official time limit.

Biden hit some popular talking points for Democratic voters. He addressed trying to “return dignity” to the middle class and “build on” Obamacare to expand health-care coverage in the U.S.

But Harris put Biden on his heels in the most talked about moment in two nights of debates. The former vice president defended himself by saying he didn’t oppose busing in the U.S. “What I opposed was busing ordered by the Department of Education,” he said.

It remains to be seen whether the debate will put a dent in Biden’s support in public polls. His standing in surveys has stayed steady despite earlier comments in the race that sparked criticism from some of his rivals.

Published 3 hours ago
10 questions Dems should have been asked in debates – But weren’t
By Cal Thomas | Fox News

The first poll after the debate spells trouble for Joe Biden

Joe Biden drops 10 points in a Morning Consult/FiveThirtyEight poll after his first 2020 presidential debate.

The likelihood I would ever be invited to serve on a network panel questioning the Democratic presidential candidates is equivalent to an invitation to take the next trip to the moon.

Still, as I tortured myself watching the two "debates," which were not really debates, but mostly a show of memorized sound bites, I thought of unasked questions that ought to have been put to them all.

Question 1: Some of you have, or had, the power to change many of the things you now say are wrong with America. Why didn’t you?

Question 2 (for Joe Biden): You and President Obama, for a time, had a Democratic majority in Congress. Why didn’t you reform immigration laws and address homelessness? Your administration deported a lot of people who were in the country illegally, so why criticize President Trump for wanting to follow your example? Do our laws mean nothing?

Question 3: During the second debate, all of you raised your hands when asked if you would provide free health care to immigrants who are here illegally. Aren’t you inviting even more to come to America with such a policy, and wouldn’t that add to our already staggering debt? Follow-up: Trump said we should take care of Americans first. Why would you use American tax dollars to pay for people who break our laws?

Question 4: Is there anything Trump has done that you could praise? Many of you talk as if unemployment hasn’t declined — especially for minorities — and wages haven’t risen. Unemployment is at, or near, record lows and wages are up.

Question 5: Some of you think raising taxes again is a good idea, but with $22 trillion in federal debt and with record amounts of revenue already coming into Washington, isn’t the real problem uncontrolled spending? Follow-up: Are there any government programs you would cut or eliminate?

Question 6: Many of you have a lot of complaints about the United States. Is there anything positive you could say?

Question 7: Many of you have criticized President Trump for confronting Iran and withdrawing from the nuclear deal. Iran is a major sponsor of terrorism in the world and its leaders say they have a religious mandate to wipe out Israel and impose Islamic law on everyone. How would you negotiate with their leaders and what is your plan for fighting terrorism?

Question 8: Some of you say Russia is the greatest existential threat and others name China. Russia has been supporting the Syrian regime of Bashar Assad and the crumbling dictatorship of Nicolas Maduro in Venezuela. Russia has also sent a warship to Cuba. How would you oppose Russia’s adventurism and China’s expansionism? How would you deal with China spying on us?

Question 9 (for Sen. Kamala Harris): You attacked Joe Biden for working with segregationist senators during his time in the Senate. He (and Lyndon Johnson, who pushed through significant civil rights legislation in the ’60s) said it was necessary in order to accomplish anything. If you were in the Senate at that time, would you have refused to work with those senators, possibly scuttling significant legislation that has led to improvements in the lives of many Americans, including African-Americans?

Question 10: There have been 60 million abortions in America since the Supreme Court’s Roe v. Wade decision in 1973. According to the Alan Guttmacher Institute, black women are more than five times as likely as white women to have an abortion. Does this trouble you? Follow-up: Some states allow babies to die if they survive an abortion and some call that infanticide. Are you opposed to that practice?

These questions and others might have provided more useful information to the public than the ones tossed at the candidates. As I say, though, it is unlikely I will ever have a chance to ask them and the network stars won’t either.

Published 2 days ago
CNN gets brutally mocked for special announcing Dem debate lineups: 'The stupidest thing I've ever seen'
By Joseph A. Wulfsohn | Fox News


CNN finally revealed the lineups for its upcoming Democratic debates, but the elaborate primetime special is already proving unpopular with voters.

Amid much fanfare, the left-leaning network revealed who would take to the stage on which night later this month.

On Tuesday, July 30, the debate stage will have Sen. Bernie Sanders, I-Vt., Sen. Elizabeth Warren, D-Mass., South Bend Mayor Pete Buttigieg, Beto O'Rourke, Sen. Amy Klobuchar, D-Minn., former Gov. John Hickenlooper, D-Colo., Gov. Steve Bullock, D-Mont., former Rep. John Delaney, D-Md., Rep. Tim Ryan, D-Ohio, and spiritual guru Marianne Williamson.

And on Wednesday, July 31, the stage will include former Vice President Joe Biden, Sen. Kamala Harris, D-Calif, Sen. Cory Booker, D-N.J., former HUD Secretary Julian Castro, Rep.Tulsi Gabbard, D-Hawaii, Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand, D-N.Y., Gov. Jay Inslee, D-Wash., Sen. Michael Bennet, D-Colo., New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio, and businessman Andrew Yang.

But it was the network's way of getting to those final lists that had many shaking their heads.

During the "draw" special, the 20 eligible candidates were split between three tiers and then divided among the tiers. Three CNN hosts then randomly selected each candidate and the night they'd appear on from two sets of boxes, one that had the candidates and one that had the debate nights.

This was meant to prevent an uneven spread of candidates, which took place with the NBC debates when Warren was placed on one stage and four of the other Democratic frontrunners, Biden, Sanders, Harris, and Buttigieg, were placed on the other.

CNN, however, was brutally mocked by viewers. Slate writer Ashley Feinberg said it the "stupidest thing I've ever seen" while others like journalist Yashar Ali joked that he had accidentally switched to the "Game Show Network."

Others called it "nonsense" and "idiotic".

Warren will be sharing the stage for the first time with two other frontrunners, Sanders and Buttigieg. Meanwhile, there will be high anticipation of a potential slugfest between Harris and Biden after the California senator went after the former vice president for his record on busing.

This will mark Gov. Bullock's first presidential debate since he was ineligible for NBC's debates last month. He will fill in the slot left vacant by Rep. Eric Swalwell, D-Calif, who has dropped out of the race.

The July 39th debate

The winners, losers and snoozers of the third Democratic debate
By Nolan Hicks, NYPost, September 13, 2019 | 12:39am

The Democratic presidential front-runner, former Vice President Joe Biden, stumbled through another debate, offering answers with so many asides and twists and turns even the Post’s veteran debate watcher had trouble keeping track.

The longtime politicians stumbles gave New Jersey Senator Corey Booker an opportunity to shine, he added.

“Corey Booker was the winner of the night,” said Coffey, a veteran strategist who worked for former Mayor Michael Bloomberg and guided City Council Speaker Corey Johnson bid to lead the chamber. “He offered a mixture of authenticity — which I think voters want — funniness and depth.”

He added: “Biden performed poorly, but I’m not sure it was enough to really shift the momentum in the race,” he added.

Former Vice President Joe Biden: Wayne Gretzky said you have to go where the puck is, not where it was. Biden’s politics are stuck in the Democratic Party’s past. And his responses frequently veered off-course. I was paying close attention and he lost me at least three times by jumping around.

Arrow: Down

Sen. Bernie Sanders: His answers often seemed like a reprise of his performances during the 2016 primary debates. I don’t see how he picked up any new voters tonight, and it’s hard to keep old ones with so much talent on the stage.

Arrow: Down

Sen. Elizabeth Warren: She comes off progressive, unflappable and authentic, which might be the dream combination in this race. Voters crave personal authenticity. Democratic activists crave progressive authenticity. Warren’s got both in droves.

Arrow: Up

Sen. Cory Booker: This was his best debate yet, especially on guns and veterans. His critique of Beto needing a massacre to happen in El Paso to wake up to the gun epidemic was powerful. Might have been the best outing of the night.

Arrow: Up

Mayor Pete Buttigieg: When Mayor Pete talks about his Douglass Plan to fight racism, he sounds smart, passionate and inspiring. He had a really solid second half, too, talking about Afghanistan, his military service and respecting teachers.

Arrow: Up

Sen. Kamala Harris: The former prosecutor started strong but faded. She should have been ready for questions about her shifting positions at this point, but seemed surprised. Her quips were overly scripted.

Arrow: Sideways

Andrew Yang: Lots of hype on his surprise announcement turned out to be a letdown. And he didn’t seem to have much else to talk about once he unleashed his 10 winners. On the flip side, if his list gets millions of new sign-ups, maybe it will be worth it.

Arrow: Down

Former Rep. Beto O’Rourke: This was his best debate yet, but was it enough to break out? Not sure a straight white guy can inspire Democrats in 2020 with a field this crowded.

Arrow: Sideways

Former HUD Secretary Julián Castro: He needed to do something drastic, and while it may have seemed mean, his attacks on Biden will get him much-needed ink. At least people are talking about him.

Arrow: Up

Sen. Amy Klobuchar: Being all the way at the end of the row can be tough and she couldn’t work her way into the discussion all night long. She can stay in, but why?

Arrow: Down

Who won the third Democratic debate in Houston?
Analysis: Here's how the candidates fared — from those who gave their campaigns a likely boost to those who mostly missed the mark.
Sept. 12, 2019, 10:58 PM MDT
By Jonathan Allen and Lauren Egan, NBCNews

HOUSTON — The Democratic Party still has no clear direction.

The marquee matchup for Thursday night's debate here at Texas Southern University, between former Vice President Joe Biden and Massachusetts Sen. Elizabeth Warren — a test of the establishment front-runner against the rising liberal insurgent — was mostly a dud.

That was good for both of them — bad for the also-rans — and unlikely to change the basic dynamics of a race in which no candidate is close to carrying a majority nationally or in any of the early state contests.

Here's how the candidates fared — from those who gave their campaigns a likely boost to those who mostly missed the mark:

Sen. Elizabeth Warren, D-Mass.: She kept to her game plan, which is to communicate directly to voters — largely ignoring her opponents and moderators. Warren still hasn't answered big questions about how she plans to implement some of her more ambitious agenda items or to pay for them, but that hasn't arrested her rise so far.

Former Vice President Joe Biden: He came to fight; and his fans had good reason to be reassured by both his more aggressive posture toward his foes and his energy. But his "A" game still had some weak spots: he fumbled on a question about race at the historically black college and offered up word salad on some answers.

Former HUD Secretary Julian Castro: His punchy performance may have been the most noteworthy of the night and would score highest on a volatility index. Many observers thought his attacks on Biden over immigration and even the former vice president's instant recall would backfire. But others saw him saying out loud what Biden critics are thinking, and possibly opening a path to donations and new voters.

South Bend Mayor Pete Buttigieg: No one had ever told the story of coming out as gay during a presidential debate before Buttigieg did Thursday night, a historic political first. He gave the kind of smart, thoughtful answers to various questions that Democrats have come to expect from him, but didn't seize control of the stage for long periods of time.

Sen. Kamala Harris, D-Calif.: Harris had several awkward moments, including when she made a joke about President Donald Trump's size — comparing him to the wizard in "The Wizard of Oz." It was Trump she focused on this time, instead of her Democratic rivals, and that may have kept her out of damaging scrapes.

Former Rep. Beto O'Rourke, D-Texas: He's at the point at which other candidates are praising him for his handling of shooting massacres in his home state — both a sign of their respect for his dedication and sincerity on the issue but also perhaps an indication that they are not threatened by the prospect that they might aid him. O'Rourke spoke passionately about gun control Thursday night.

Sen. Cory Booker, D-N.J.: If his goal was to offend no one, he succeeded. But that may be too little to convince many voters to jump ship from other candidates and join his cause.

Sen. Amy Klobuchar, D-Minn.: Her best moment of the night came in her closing when she described fighting for longer guaranteed hospital stays for new mothers in her home state. She opened aggressively, alluding to Warren's refrain of "I've got a plan for that" and saying "I've got a better way." But Klobuchar didn't get much air time and didn't distinguish herself much from the pack.

Sen. Bernie Sanders, I-Vt.: Sanders became visibly agitated during some of his exchanges with Biden over health insurance plans, as well as their past votes on the Iraq war and other issues. But there wasn't much new from Sanders — or from the candidates who portray his policies as out of the mainstream.

Andrew Yang: The businessman-turned-neophyte politician talked about a plan to give away $1,000 a month to more families as he promotes his universal basic income idea, he racially stereotyped himself and he made several jokes that fell flat. It remains unlikely that he will win the Democratic nomination.

“Liberal, moderate divide on display in Democratic debate
By BILL BARROW and STEVE PEOPLES, Associated Press
5 minutes ago

HOUSTON (AP) — Joe Biden parried attack after attack from liberal rivals Thursday night on everything from health care to immigration in a debate that showcased profound ideological divides between the Democratic Party’s moderate and progressive wings.

The prime-time debate also elevated several struggling candidates, giving them a chance to introduce themselves to millions of Americans who are just beginning to follow the race.

Biden dominated significant parts of the evening, responding strongly when the liberal senators who are his closet rivals — Bernie Sanders and Elizabeth Warren — assailed him and his policies.

Unlike prior debates, where Biden struggled for words and seemed surprised by criticism from fellow Democrats, he largely delivered crisp, aggressive responses. He called Sanders “a socialist,” a label that could remind voters of the senator’s embrace of democratic socialism. And Biden slapped at Elizabeth Warren’s proposed wealth tax.

A two-term vice president under Barack Obama, Biden unequivocally defended his former boss, who came under criticism from some candidates for deporting immigrants and not going far enough on health care reform.

“I stand with Barack Obama all eight years, good bad and indifferent,” Biden declared.

His vulnerabilities surfaced, however, in the final minutes of the debate, when he was pressed on a decades-old statement regarding school integration. Biden rambled in talking about his support of teachers, the lack of resources for educators and at one point seemed to encourage parents to play records for their children to expand their vocabulary before segueing into talk of Latin America.

“That’s quite a lot,” quipped Julian Castro, the former Housing secretary who was Biden’s frequent foe during the debate.

The candidates debated with polls showing a strong majority of voters believe the country is headed in the wrong direction under the first-term president’s leadership. But nine months into their nomination fight, divided Democrats have yet to answer fundamental questions about who or what the party stands for beyond simply opposing Trump.

The party’s 2020 class, once featuring two dozen candidates, has essentially been cut in half by party rules requiring higher polling and fundraising standards. Just 10 candidates qualified for Thursday’s affair, though more than that have qualified for next month’s round.

Those in the second tier, after Biden, Warren and Sanders, are under increasing pressure to break out of the pack. They all assailed Trump.

New Jersey Sen. Cory Booker called Trump a racist. Former Texas Rep. Beto O’Rourke called him a white supremacist. And Kamala Harris, a California senator, said Trump’s hateful social media messages provided “the ammunition” for recent mass shootings.

“President Trump, you have spent the last two-and-a-half years full time trying to sow hate and vision among us, and that’s why we’ve gotten nothing done,” Harris charged.

In addition to Trump, Biden’s rivals also turned against Obama’s legacy at times as they sought to undermine the former vice president’s experience.

Sanders insisted that Biden bears responsibility for millions of Americans going bankrupt under the “Obamacare” health care system. Castro raised questions about the Obama-Biden record on immigration, particularly the number of deportations that took place.

Castro, a 44-year-old Texan, appeared to touch on concerns about Biden’s age when he accused the former vice president of forgetting a detail about his own health care plan. At 76, Biden would be the oldest president ever elected to a first term.

“Are you forgetting what you said two minutes ago?” an incredulous Castro asked, challenging Biden on health care. “I can’t believe that you said two minutes ago that you have to buy in and now you’re forgetting that.”

He added: “I’m fulfilling the legacy of Barack Obama and you’re not.”

The ABC News debate was the first limited to one night after several candidates dropped out and others failed to meet new qualification standards. A handful more candidates qualified for next month’s debate, which will again be divided over two nights.

As well as policy differences, the Democratic debates have been shaped by broader questions about diversity.

In a nod to the diverse coalition they need to defeat Trump, the Democrats held this debate on the campus of historically black Texas Southern University. It unfolded in a rapidly changing state that Democrats hope to eventually bring into their column.

The party cheered when America elected the most diverse congressional class in history in last fall’s midterm voting. But some Democrats still fear that anyone other than a white man may struggle in a head-to-head matchup against Trump.

Biden was one of four white men onstage.

Along with health care, gun violence emerged as a flashpoint Thursday night in a state shaken by a mass shooting last month that left 22 people dead and two dozen more wounded.

O’Rourke noted that there weren’t enough ambulances at times to take all the wounded to the hospital.

“Hell yes, we’re gonna take your AR-15, your AK-47,” he said, as the crowd cheered.

Minnesota Sen. Amy Klobuchar noted that all the candidates on stage favor a ban on assault weapons and high-capacity magazines. She favors a voluntary buy-back program on assault weapons, however.

The national economy got surprisingly little attention, though several of the candidates criticized Trump on foreign trade and his trade war with China.

South Bend, Indiana, Mayor Pete Buttigieg said Trump had said scornfully of his candidacy “he’d like to see me making a deal with Xi Jinping,” the Chinese president.

“I’d like to see HIM making a deal with Xi Jinping.”

Trump was silent on social media during the event. But Kayleigh McEnany, his campaign’s national press secretary, said in a statement: “Thank you to ABC and the Democrat Party for another infomercial for President Trump!”

Earlier in the day, Trump said he’d likely have to watch a re-run because of travel conflict. He predicted the Democratic nominee would ultimately be Biden, Warren or Sanders.

___