All You Need to Know About Last Night’s 2020 Democratic Debate

Twelve candidates debated for three hours last night, so we can’t blame you if it was hard to keep up. Here is a look at some of the biggest moments.

You can also read a full recap of the debate here.

Former Vice President Joseph R. Biden Jr. said multiple times that neither he nor his son Hunter had done anything wrong with regard to Hunter Biden’s business dealings in Ukraine, denouncing allegations from President Trump that have led to an impeachment inquiry. Read more here.

Two weeks after he had a heart attack, Senator Bernie Sanders fielded a direct question about how he would convince voters of his strength and stamina. Mr. Biden and Senator Elizabeth Warren received similar questions. Read more here.

Senator Kamala Harris expressed anger at the lack of abortion-related debate questions up until that point, and Senator Cory Booker backed her up, saying women “should not be the only ones taking up this cause and this fight.” Read more here.

Ms. Harris criticized Ms. Warren for declining to call on Twitter to suspend Mr. Trump’s account, telling her, “You can’t say you’re for corporate responsibility if it doesn’t apply to everyone.” Read more here.

The candidates were mostly united in condemning President Trump’s withdrawal of troops from Syria, but Representative Tulsi Gabbard stood apart. Read more here.

During the same discussion of Mr. Trump’s withdrawal from Syria, Ms. Gabbard denounced “regime change wars” and, unprompted, brought up news reports about her frequent mentions in Russian news outlets. Read more here.

Mayor Pete Buttigieg and former Representative Beto O’Rourke picked up where they left off at a gun policy forum two weeks ago, sparring over whether an assault weapons buyback should be voluntary or mandatory. Read more here.

Mr. O’Rourke attacked Ms. Warren over her proposed wealth tax, saying she was being divisive instead of “lifting people up and making sure that this country comes together around those solutions” — an attack that struck some as gendered. Ms. Warren said she was “really shocked at the notion that anyone thinks I’m punitive.” Read more here.

Mr. Buttigieg and Senator Amy Klobuchar both went after Mr. Warren on “Medicare for all,” accusing her of dodging the question of whether her plan would increase middle-class taxes. Ms. Warren said, as she has before, that overall costs — including premiums, deductibles and co-pays in addition to taxes — would go down for the middle class. Read more here and here.

The entrepreneur Andrew Yang emphasized the central argument of his campaign: that the loss of jobs to automation makes a universal basic income necessary. Ms. Warren countered that the real problem was trade policy. Read more here.

When the moderator Erin Burnett asked Mr. Sanders about his declaration that billionaires should not exist, it opened a lengthy exchange among Mr. Sanders, Mr. Biden, Ms. Warren and Tom Steyer, who is himself a billionaire. Read more here.

All of the Democratic candidates support the impeachment inquiry against President Trump, and the moderators pressed them on the political ramifications. Read more here.



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