The first Democratic Presidential Debate was held over two nights on June 26 & 27 in Miami, Florida. Out of the twenty-five candidates, only twenty candidates made it to the stage. Because it was a two-night event, the field was split into two groups of ten. The candidates discussed a wide variety of subjects, ranging from the economy, crime, Afghanistan, and immigration among others. I’m going to discuss who I think were the winners and loses were.
Night one saw ten field of candidates take the stage. In order of last name, the people who took the stage were Cory Booker, Julian Castro, Bill de Blasio, John Delaney, Tulsi Gabbard, Jay Inslee, Amy Klobuchar, Beto O’ Rourke, Tim Ryan, and Elizabeth Warren.
The debate started off strong, with one of the major highlights being that three or four of the candidates answered some of their questions in Spanish, which solidified their connection and influence in drawing the Latino-American voters into the field. Beto O’ Rourke got the ball rolling on this with his first question tackling the subject of economy (and also delivered part of his answer in Spanish again in tackling the issue of immigration). Julian Castro also answered a question or two in Spanish, as well as Cory Booker. This is a plus in my book because if candidates want to reach out and expand on their platform by drawing on the Latino and LatinX-American crowd, they could see a significant rise in their polling numbers.
I think the three women on stage had the biggest draw of the night. They were on point with all their debate questions. Warren was able to bring hot-button issues such as Medicare-for-All, the economy, and abortion to the forefront, and made a reasonable case of why we need them and should stay the course.
Klobuchar and Gabbard were also strong in their approach on certain issues. Gabbard was sharply critical when it came to the subject of conflict and war, mainly with the recent conflict in Afghanistan. Gabbard was the sole candidate on stage who served in the U.S. Army National Guard immediately following the 9/11 attacks, and she took offense to Senator Ryan’s comment that soldiers must remain engaged in the fight. She basically won that round of questioning when she stated that it was unacceptable and that we need to bring troops home and for the war in Afghanistan to cease.
Booker’s moment came when asked about the issue of gun violence and how it hits home for him personally, stating that he is “the only one on this panel…that had seven people shot in their neighborhood “ To me, this is a really powerful statement that highlights the rising increase of violence in American society. Even the fact-checkers agreed that this was a true statement.
So to me, the basic winners of round 1, night 1 were: Cory Booker, Tulsi Gabbard, Amy Klobuchar, Elizabeth Warren, Julian Castro, Beto O’ Rourke (first half, a little weak during the second)
The losers were: John Delaney and Tim Ryan. Delaney was a little bit interrupting and defensive on trying to get his talking points in.
Bill de Blasio was a little off, but he gets points for the story about his father being involved in the Battle of Okinawa during World War II.
Jay Inslee was strong when it comes to tackling the issue of climate change, but did not seem to put that same vigorous spirit into other hot button topics.
Night two saw the next ten field of candidates take the stage. In order of last name, the people who took the stage were Micheal Bennet, Joe Biden, Pete Buttigeg, Kristen Gillibrand, Kamala Harris, John Hickenlooper, Bernie Sanders, Eric Swalwell, Marianna Williamson, and Andrew Yang.
Joe Biden was the obvious front-runner here, as he was the former Vice President from 2008-16 when Barack Obama was president. He brought his A-game when talking about the important issues on a lot of topics that was tackled in the first debate, mainly on the economy and health care.
Bernie Sanders had the same tenacity that he showed in the 2012 election. While he did emerge as a surprise in that race (and challenger and Democratic nominee Hilary Clinton even acknowledged), I don’t know if he’s going to keep the momentum going as I kind of see him as more of a “one-note” candidate at this point. I wouldn’t be surprised if he makes it far, but I would be surprised if he makes it to the primary roster in February. However, I still consider him one of the winners of the night.
Kamala Harris came out with a knockout performance that proved that she is the one candidate to watch out for, and her scathing attack on our current president was what was clearly missing from night one (although Inslee mentioned him as the greatest geopolitical threat). Gillibrand also shared similar viewpoints such as race, gender equality, and the issue of abortion, which is under threat of being wiped out if Lord Voldermort and the GOP get their way.
Harris even challenged Biden on the race topic; she brought up the issue of busing that he supposedly “opposed” during the 1960s and 1970s, and for supporting two U.S. Senators that “built their reputations and career on the segregation of race”. Biden seemed a little taken aback, but did not back down and brought up his strong record as a public defender during these years. He has since apologized to anyone who found the comments hurtful, but I wonder if this will play out going forward into future debates or if the hatchet will be buried. But it’s certainly clear that this was the last thing Biden expected when walking to the stage.
Pete Buttigeg also emerged as a clear winner, as he spoke in an eloquent manner when handling the wide range of topics. Like Gabbard the previous night, he also served in the U.S. Army but was involved in the combat of Afghanistan. We’ll see how this plays out with voters, but he certainly made it clear that military-issued weapons must be kept off the streets and that wars must be justified and America should not hastily rush into a conflict.
Summing up, the basic winners of round 1, night 2 were: Joe Biden, Kamala Harris, Bernie Sanders, Kristen Gillibrand, and Pete Buttigeg
The losers were: Marianne Williamson and Andrew Yang.
I think Marianne Williamson and Andrew Yang have to go after this round or the next round of debates in July, as their platform ideas won’t certainly resonate with many Americans at least not in the long run.
I would put the remaining people in the middle-ground. It’s almost for me a let’s-wait-and-see-more-of-them approach. I like some of their ideas and what they have to offer, but again: wait and see. I don’t think I’ll have my field narrowed down until December, so let’s see what happens then.
The next round of debates will also be a two-night event and will be held in Detroit, Michigan on July 30 & 31.
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