Highlights From the Third Democratic Debate
The third Democratic presidential debate took place Thursday, Sept. 12. Here are the highlights from Houston.
All times local.
9:55 p.m. – Biden took on the most fire during debate
Early front-runner Joe Biden took on the most fire at Thursday’s Democratic presidential debate, and former Obama Housing Secretary Julián Castro was the most explicit in arguing it was time for a new generation.
Castro also seemed to allude to speculation about the 76-year-old Biden’s mental acuity during an exchange about health care. When Biden denied that his health plan required people to buy into Medicare, Castro exclaimed, “Are you forgetting what you said two minutes ago?”
Sen. Bernie Sanders faced sharp criticism about his universal health care plan from several candidates, and Sen. Elizabeth Warren was more in the background than in prior debates but didn’t damage herself.
The likely result is little change in a primary that has been remarkably static for months.
9:30 p.m. – Candidates discuss plans for fixing U.S. education
Democratic presidential contender Andrew Yang says he supports a mix of options, including charter schools, in trying to fix the nation’s education system.
The former tech entrepreneur said at Thursday night’s debate that he is “pro-good school.” Yang also said that his proposed “Freedom Dividend” would help lower-income families support their children’s educational needs while alleviating teachers already overburdened because many are going beyond classroom instruction, compensating for support some students aren’t getting at home.
Several candidates, including Pete Buttigieg (BOO’-tuh-juhj), Kamala Harris and Elizabeth Warren, advocated for raising teacher salaries — something Cory Booker noted that “we actually did it” as mayor of Newark, New Jersey.
Both Warren and Bernie Sanders promoted student debt cancellation plans. Harris, a graduate of a historically black university or college, noted her proposal to put $2 billion toward the institutions’ teacher training programs, drawing applause from the audience at Texas Southern University, a Houston HBCU.
9:20 p.m. – Sanders refuses to call Maduro a dictator
Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders is again refusing to call Venezuelan leader Nicolas Maduro a “dictator,” calling him instead “a vicious tyrant” at Thursday night’s Democratic primary debate.
Sanders, who identifies as a democratic socialist, is also calling a question from the moderator asking him to contrast his vision of socialism with Maduro’s government “deeply unfair. He says he supports Canada’s and Scandinavia’s policies of universal health care and offering paid family leave and a living wage, as well as wresting control over major institutions from a small number of wealthy Americans.
Maduro’s 2018 reelection has been disputed, and the United States has recognized opposition leader Juan Guaidó as the legitimate leader of Venezuela. His leadership has seen the country fall into economic and political upheaval, with residents facing food shortages and the Venezuelan currency losing value.
9:15 p.m. – Buttigieg slams Trump treating ‘troops as props’
The only combat veteran on the Democratic presidential debate stage in Houston is reminding the audience that many new military inductees were newborns when the U.S. was attacked 18 years ago.
South Bend, Indiana, Mayor Pete Buttigieg’s comments on Thursday came the day after the anniversary of the Sept. 11 attacks.
The debate was an opportunity for him to bring up his proposal to seek an authorization for the use of military force with a built-in three-year sunset that Congress would be required to renew.
Buttigieg says, “We have got to put an end to endless war.”
Buttigieg also says that President Donald Trump treats “troops as props, or worse, tools for his own enrichment.” That final dig is an allusion to the Trump administration’s rerouting of U.S. military personnel to overnight stays at his Trump Turnberry golf resort in Scotland.
8:45 p.m. – Buttigieg jabs Trump over trade war with China
Democratic presidential hopeful Pete Buttigieg says President Donald Trump “clearly has no strategy” in his trade war with China.
The South Bend, Indiana, mayor and other candidates were asked during Thursday’s debate in Houston about the tariffs Trump has imposed on China. The country has retaliated with tariffs that have hit U.S. farmers and some other industries hard.
Trump has scoffed at Buttigieg’s candidacy, often saying he’d like to see the 37-year-old make a deal with Chinese leader Xi Jinping (shee jihn-peeng).
Buttigieg says, “I’d like to see him make a deal with Xi Jinping.” He says, “Wasn’t that supposed to happen in, like, April?”
Minnesota Sen. Amy Klobuchar also was critical of Trump, saying he’s treating farmers and workers “like poker chips in one of his bankrupt casinos.”
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8:35 p.m. – Several candidates say they would loosen Trump immigration restrictions
Several of the Democrats seeking their party’s presidential nomination say they would loosen restrictions on immigration put into place under the Trump administration.
Massachusetts Sen. Elizabeth Warren said at Thursday’s debate that she would expand pathways to citizenship, blaming current problems on the United States’ withdrawal of aid to Central America. She says “a crisis that Donald Trump has created and hopes to profit from politically.”
Former tech entrepreneur Andrew Yang noted his status as the son of immigrants and called immigration “positive for our economic and social dynamism” and pledged to return immigration levels to those of the Obama administration.
Asked if President Donald Trump’s supporters are racist, given the president’s references to Mexican immigrants as rapists and criminals, South Bend, Indiana, Mayor Pete Buttigieg said, “Anyone who supports this is supporting racism.”
8:25 p.m. – Biden: ‘I stand with Barack Obama all 8 years’
Former Vice President Joe Biden is dismissing questions about the Obama administration’s record of deportations by touting the former Democratic president’s effort to open doors to immigrants.
Instead of answering whether the deportations were a mistake, Biden noted Thursday during the Democratic presidential debate Obama’s support of the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals program and a path to citizenship for people in the country illegally.
Former Housing and Urban Development Secretary Julián Castro pounced on Biden, accusing him of standing by Obama when it suits him but sidestepping the administration’s blemishes.
Castro says, “He wants to take credit for Obama’s work, but doesn’t want to answer any questions.”
Biden shot back angrily, “I stand with Barack Obama all eight years, good, bad, indifferent.”
8:20 p.m. – Will O’Rourke mandate gun buybacks? ‘Hell yes’
Former Texas congressman Beto O’Rourke says “hell yes” he will institute mandatory buybacks for some machine guns if elected president.
In one of the biggest applause lines of the Thursday night presidential debate, O’Rourke described in vivid detail how bullets shot by semi-automatic rifles are designed to “shred everything inside your body.”
He said that if a gun is meant to “kill people on a battlefield … hell yes, we’re going to take your AR-15s, your AK-47s.” While O’Rourke supports mandatory gun buybacks, other candidates believe such a program should be voluntary.
O’Rourke left the campaign trail last month to return to his hometown of El Paso after a gunman opened fire at a Walmart there, killing 22 people. He has sought to revitalize a flagging campaign by focusing on his gun violence plan.
8:15 p.m. – Candidates praise O’Rourke
Several of Beto O’Rourke’s fellow Democratic presidential hopefuls are praising him for the support he showed for residents of his hometown following a massacre there last month.
Former Vice President Joe Biden said Thursday on the debate stage that how the former Texas congressman “handled what happened in his hometown is meaningful,” a line that drew applause from the Houston crowd.
A white nationalist killed 22 people and wounded about two dozen others in the Aug. 3 mass shooting in El Paso, Texas. Following the violence, O’Rourke stepped away from the campaign trail for nearly two weeks to spend time supporting the community.
Biden started the exchange by calling O’Rourke by his first name, which O’Rourke accepted with a smile.
California Sen. Kamala Harris also said, “Beto, God love you for standing so courageously in the face of that tragedy.”
8:10 p.m. – Biden says no one should be jailed for drug problems
Former Vice President Joe Biden says “nobody should be in jail” for nonviolent crimes or for drug problems.
At the Democratic presidential debate in Houston on Thursday, Biden is touting his criminal justice reform plan, which would exonerate drug possession offenders and put drug rehabilitation ahead of jail time for such offenders.
Biden is also touting his role in the 1994 crime bill, often used as a strike against him by his rivals, for its introduction of drug courts aimed specifically at minor drug offenses.
And when the debate turned to mass shootings, Biden said he defeated the National Rifle Association by leading the 25-year-old crime bill’s ban on assault weapons.
8:05 p.m. – Trump says more people probably watching his speech than debate
President Donald Trump says more people are probably tuning into his speech in Baltimore than are watching Democratic presidential hopefuls on the debate stage in Texas.
Trump spoke Thursday to congressional Republicans attending an annual retreat in Baltimore.
Trump said people “should be watching the debate, but they’re probably watching this.” His speech was aired on CSPAN, while ABC aired the debate.
The joke drew chuckles from the friendly audience of GOP members of the House.
The candidates in Texas have mentioned him frequently, including on issues of racism and shootings. Former Texas Rep. Beto O’Rourke called Trump “a mortal threat” to people of color in the United States and accused him of inspiring the actions of the El Paso gunman who killed 22 people.
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8:05 p.m. – Harris defends criminal justice record
Kamala Harris is vocally defending her criminal justice record during Thursday’s Democratic presidential debate in Houston.
The California senator has taken flak since beginning her campaign for what some activists have described as an insufficiently progressive record during her prosecutorial career, culminating with service as the state’s attorney general. But Harris has since rolled out a detailed criminal justice reform proposal, including the elimination of federal mandatory minimum sentences for drug offenders — a policy blamed for increasing mass incarceration.
Harris said on Thursday that, as she became a prosecutor, “I made a decision that if I was going to have the ability to reform the system, I would try to reform it from the inside.”
She said she was “absolutely not” able to do enough at the time.
8 p.m. – Candidates outline plans to address racism
Democratic presidential candidates are outlining their plans to address racism in the nation and attacking President Donald Trump as they do so.
At Thursday’s Democratic presidential debate, Beto O’Rourke called Trump “a mortal threat” to people of color in this country as he calls on Congress to pass a bill giving reparations to the descendants of slaves.
Julián Castro says white supremacy “is a growing threat to this country,” and he adds, “we have to root it out.”
Cory Booker says the nation must have the “courage” to call out systemic racism in the nation.
And Pete Buttigieg (BOO’-tuh-juhj) says the nation’s issues of systemic racism ” preceded this president, and even when we defeat him, it will be with us.”
The Democratic primary debate is being held at Texas Southern University, a historically black university.
7:55 p.m. – Some candidates call on rivals to stop attacking one another
Some Democratic presidential candidates have called on their rivals to stop attacking one another as the debate over health care grew heated.
Ten candidates are meeting Thursday in Houston for the third presidential primary debate.
The night kicked off with sometimes-fiery exchanges about “Medicare for All,” the health care overhaul backed by Sens. Bernie Sanders and Elizabeth Warren and some other candidates.
Former Vice President Joe Biden says it’s too expensive. He wants to build on “Obamacare” to expand coverage to those who want it.
As former Obama Housing Secretary Julián Castro accused Biden of forgetting what he said moments earlier, South Bend, Indiana, Mayor Pete Buttigieg (BOO’-tuh-juhj) interjected, saying, “This is why presidential debates are becoming unwatchable.”
Sen. Amy Klobuchar agreed, saying, “A house divided cannot stand.”
7:50 p.m. – Castro accuses Biden of fumbling comments
Former Obama Housing Secretary Julian Castro has accused former Vice President Joe Biden of fumbling comments on his own health care reform plan.
During Thursday’s Democratic presidential debate in Houston, Castro said Biden was “forgetting already what you said just two minutes ago” when he claimed that 10 million people would not be left in a coverage gap under his health care reforms but would be automatically enrolled.
Castro also said fact checks after a debate earlier this summer showed Biden’s plan would leave out 3% of Americans, or about 10 million people.
Castro says President Barack Obama’s Affordable Care Act vision “was not to leave 10 million people uncovered.”
In July’s presidential debates, Castro criticized Biden for his role in immigration deportations under the Obama administration.
7:45 p.m. – Biden and Sanders sharply battle over Medicare for All
Joe Biden and Bernie Sanders are sharply battling over “Medicare for All” at Thursday’s Democratic presidential debate in Houston.
The former vice president is accusing Sanders of being less than candid about “how much it’s going to cost the taxpayers” to shift the nation to single-payer health insurance, particularly union members who made concessions to obtain better health insurance under the current system.
Biden says, “For a socialist, you’ve got a lot more confidence in corporate America than I do.”
When Sanders pushed back, invoking cancer treatment, Biden replied that “I know a lot about cancer — it’s personal to me.” Biden’s son Beau died of brain cancer in 2015.
7:40 p.m. – Biden targets Warren
Former Vice President Joe Biden is suggesting his 2020 rival Elizabeth W