- Who was on stage tonight: Joe Biden, Michael Bloomberg, Pete Buttigieg, Amy Klobuchar, Bernie Sanders and Elizabeth Warren
As she has in prior debates, Minnesota Sen. Amy Klobuchar asserted Wednesday that she’s won elections in Republican-held areas.
“I’m the one on this stage that had the highest voter turnout of any state in the country when I led the ticket, as well as bringing in rural and suburban voters. And I’ve done that as well,” she said. “And I’m the only one with the receipts to have done that in Republican congressional districts over and over again.”
Former Vice President Joe Biden, who spent most of his career as the senator for Delaware, won in Republican congressional districts.
Biden first won the 1972 election to be senator from Delaware and was repeatedly re-elected to serve in that position by considerable margins until he became vice president in 2009. During that time, Delaware’s sole congressional district was held by Republicans from 1973 to 1983, and from 1993 to 2011.
Turnout was highest in Minnesota in years when Klobuchar ran. In her three election years, Minnesota had the highest state voter turnout nationwide.
Former Vice President Joe Biden said that, as mayor of New York, Michael Bloomberg had “stop and frisk – throwing close to five million young black men up against a wall.”
Biden spokesman Michael Gwin said Biden meant to refer to the total number of stops. Gwin correctly noted that the stops disproportionately targeted young African-American and Hispanic men.
He began apologizing for stop and frisk in November 2019, the month he launched his presidential campaign, saying he only belatedly realized that too many innocent people were being harmed. However, his account of what happened has left out important information.
Each of the six candidates gave a closing statement to wrap up tonight's debate, the last one before the Nevada caucus.
Sen. Elizabeth Warren led the pack, speaking for almost 17 minutes, followed by Sen. Amy Klobuchar at more than 16 minutes.
Protesters interrupted former Vice President Joe Biden as he started delivering his opening statement at the debate tonight.
He started his statement, saying, "I'm running because so many people are..."
That's when protesters in the audience began screaming, while others clapped and cheered. The moderator quickly interjected and said they were clearing the room.
Moments later, Biden continued his statement.
With such a crowded field, there is a real possibility that Democrats will go to their summer convention in Milwaukee with none of the candidates having clinched the nomination.
So, what then?
For five of the six candidates onstage tonight, the answer was to roll the dice, perhaps allow superdelegates in on a second ballot and, as a couple put it, "let the process play out."
Michael Bloomberg, Elizabeth Warren, Joe Biden, Pete Buttigieg and Amy Klobuchar all said that a candidate with a plurality of delegates should not automatically be handed the nomination.
Former Vice President Joe Biden said former New York City Michael Bloomberg called Obamacare "a disgrace" after it passed.
“The mayor said, when we passed it, the signature piece of this administration, it's a disgrace,” Biden said. “They're the exact words. It was a disgrace. Look it up, check it out, it was a disgrace.”
"Some parts of Obamacare I don't think will work, I don't think is fair, I don't think is intelligent, whatever. But I don't have a better answer other than let's try this," Bloomberg also said.
Sen. Bernie Sanders and former New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg got into a heated debate tonight over who owns the most homes and where.
Bloomberg kicked off the discussion with a shot at Sanders, calling him the "best known socialist in the country happens to be a millionaire with three houses. What did I miss?"
"I work in Washington, house one. I live in Burlington, house two. And like thousands of other Vermonters, I have a summer camp. Forgive me for that. Where is your home? Which tax haven do you have your home?" Sanders said.