Democratic debate in Los Angeles

By Veronica Rocha and Fernando Alfonso III, CNN

Updated 11:58 PM ET, Thu December 19, 2019
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8:41 p.m. ET, December 19, 2019

Biden rails against the wealthy: "The middle class is getting killed"

Justin Sullivan/Getty Images
Justin Sullivan/Getty Images

Former Vice President Joe Biden decried tax cuts to the wealthy, and said he wants to invest in services crucial to helping the middle class, like education.

"The middle class is getting killed. The middle class is getting crushed. The working class no way up as a consequence of that," Biden said.

Biden added: "We have to eliminate a significant number of these god awful tax cuts that were given to the wealthy. We have to invest in education. We have to invest in healthcare. We have to invest in those things that make a difference in the lives of middle class people so they can maintain their standard of living."

Watch here:

8:29 p.m. ET, December 19, 2019

Sanders and Klobuchar split on new trade agreement

From CNN's Eric Bradner

Justin Sullivan/Getty Images
Justin Sullivan/Getty Images

Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders and Minnesota Sen. Amy Klobuchar split on the new US-Mexico-Canada trade agreement, with Sanders saying he’ll vote against it and Klobuchar saying she’ll support it.

At Thursday's debate, Sanders called the deal, negotiated to replace former President Bill Clinton’s North American Free Trade Agreement, “a modest improvement over what we have right now,” but said it won’t stop companies from outsourcing their manufacturing.

“I will not be voting for this agreement, although it makes some modest improvements,” he said.

Klobuchar, meanwhile, pointed to another populist Democrat -- Ohio Sen. Sherrod Brown, once seen as a presidential contender -- saying he backs the new deal and she will, too.

“We have a change with this agreement,” she said. Klobuchar also touted alterations negotiated by Democrats, saying the pact now brings “better labor standards, better environmental standards, and a better deal.”

8:23 p.m. ET, December 19, 2019

Warren frames argument against Biden and Buttigieg from the start

From CNN's Dan Merica

Maddie McGarvey for CNN
Maddie McGarvey for CNN

Massachusetts Sen. Elizabeth Warren used the first question during the debate -- about impeachment – to frame her argument against former Vice President Joe Biden and South Bend, Indiana, Mayor Pete Buttigieg by questioning the willingness of some candidates to take on the powerful and wealthy.

“We need a candidate for president who can draw the sharpest distinction between the corruption of the Trump administration and a Democrat who is willing to get out and fight not for the wealthy and well-connected, but to fight for everyone else,” Warren said. “That’s why I’m in this race.”

Warren is sticking with an argument she has made coming into the debate: Because Biden and Buttigieg raise money from top Democratic donors, they are not willing to take on monied interests.

8:22 p.m. ET, December 19, 2019

Elizabeth Warren calls impeachment a moment to "uphold our Constitution"

Frederic J. Brown/AFP/Getty Images
Frederic J. Brown/AFP/Getty Images

Sen. Elizabeth Warren called the impeachment of President Trump a moment for the Senate to "uphold our Constitution" in her answer to the first question tonight from moderators during tonight's Democratic debate in Los Angeles.

"I see this as a constitutional moment. Last night the President was impeached. And everyone now in the Senate has taken a constitutional oath to uphold our Constitution. And that doesn't mean loyalty to an individual. It doesn't mean loyalty to a political party. It means loyalty to our country," Warren said.

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8:21 p.m. ET, December 19, 2019

Sanders: Trump is "a pathological liar"

PBS NewsHour/POLITICO
PBS NewsHour/POLITICO

Sen. Bernie Sanders called President Trump a "pathological liar" a day after the President was impeached by the House.

"We have a President who is a pathological liar," Sanders said. "We have President who is running the most corrupt administration in the modern history of this country. And we have a President who is a fraud because during his campaign he told working people one thing and he ended up doing something else."

Sanders will likely need to be in Washington if the Senate convenes a trial to decide whether to convict Trump and remove him from office.

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8:43 p.m. ET, December 19, 2019

Joe Biden calls the impeachment of President Trump a "constitutional necessity"

The first question tonight in the Democratic debate was on the impeachment of President Trump and was directed at former Vice President Joe Biden who called it a "constitutional necessity."

"It was a constitutional necessity for the House to act as it did," Biden said in his opening remarks. "Is it any wonder that if you look at the international polling that's been done, that the Chinese leader is rated above the American president, or that Vladimir Putin congratulated him, saying stand fast and that in fact it was a mistake to impeach him. We need to restore the integrity of the presidency, of the office of the presidency."

Watch here:

8:02 p.m. ET, December 19, 2019

NOW: The debate has started

PBS NewsHour/POLITICO
PBS NewsHour/POLITICO

The sixth Democratic primary debate has just started in Los Angeles.

Elizabeth Warren, Bernie Sanders, Andrew Yang, Joe Biden, Pete Buttigieg, Tom Steyer and Amy Klobuchar have taken the debate stage at Loyola Marymount University.

7:59 p.m. ET, December 19, 2019

Here's what the Democrats who didn't make the stage are up to

From CNN's Dan Merica

The size of the Democratic field has been historic. The latest proof: The seven Democratic candidates on the debate stage on tonight make up less than half of the 15-person Democratic primary field — a first for the 2020 nominating process. 

And that has led those candidates left off the stage to fight for attention ahead and around the debate, in part, because they know the three-hour event will offer their top polling counterparts a wealth of exposure.

Julián Castro, the former Housing and Urban Development Secretary under President Barack Obama, will live tweet the debate from afar. His campaign on Thursday released a new television ad on his opposition to Iowa and New Hampshire going first in the nominating process.

New Jersey Sen. Cory Booker, who will be missing his first debate, will air his first TV ad of the campaign during the Democratic debate. In the spot titled “Together,” Booker says: “You’re only going to see this ad once, because I’m not a billionaire.” 

Michael Bloomberg, a late entrant to the Democratic race who has spent around $100 million to prop up his poll numbers, unveiled his health care proposal today, injecting himself into the most contentious and closely watched debate inside the Democratic primary. Bloomberg is getting behind a public option plan that positions the former New York mayor more in line with moderate candidates like former Vice President Joe Biden and South Bend, Indiana, Mayor Pete Buttigieg and firmly against the progressive "Medicare for All" approach championed by Massachusetts Sen. Elizabeth Warren and Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders.

Former Massachusetts Gov. Deval Patrick, another late entrant, released the outlines of his policy agenda today, a four-pillared policy vision that includes an opportunity agenda, a reform agenda, a democracy agenda and a foreign policy agenda.

And Hawaii Rep. Tulsi Gabbard, hours after she broke with the Democratic Party and voted "present" on the impeachment of President Donald Trump.

None of these moves will break through the attention created by the final debate of 2019, but it shows how the candidates who don’t make the stage are still fighting to stay relevant.

7:54 p.m. ET, December 19, 2019

Catch up: Here's what happened at the last debate

From CNN's Kate Sullivan

Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-MA) (C) speaks as South Bend, Indiana Mayor Pete Buttigieg (L) and former Vice President Joe Biden (R) listen during the Democratic Presidential Debate at Tyler Perry Studios Nov. 20, 2019 in Atlanta, Georgia.
Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-MA) (C) speaks as South Bend, Indiana Mayor Pete Buttigieg (L) and former Vice President Joe Biden (R) listen during the Democratic Presidential Debate at Tyler Perry Studios Nov. 20, 2019 in Atlanta, Georgia. Alex Wong/Getty Images

At the fifth Democratic presidential debate in November, the leading Democratic candidates made strong appeals to African American voters — particularly women — and drew a direct line between recreating the coalition that elected President Barack Obama in 2008 and defeating President Trump in 2020.

Debating in a Deep South state where black voters will likely be the majority of the Democratic electorate in the March primary, the discussion over who could best represent that community drew the most fireworks in an otherwise civil debate among the 2020 candidates in Atlanta.

Questions from the MSNBC/Washington Post moderators on the thorny topic of race drew charged exchanges between Sen. Cory Booker and former Vice President Joe Biden, as well as South Bend Mayor Pete Buttigieg and Sen. Kamala Harris, who has since dropped out.

The debate struck at the core of the electability argument taking place within the primary. Both Booker and Harris, the two black candidates on stage, argued that Democrats must nominate a candidate in 2020 who understands the issues facing those communities if the party intends to activate and bring out enough voters on Election Day to defeat Trump.

Biden's solid support from black female voters, who have so often been the linchpin for successful Democratic nominees, has bolstered his standing in the polls, particularly in states like South Carolina. Booker, Harris, Buttigieg and Sen. Elizabeth Warren all sought to loosen his grip on that key constituency in the debate.