Twelve 2020 Democratic presidential hopefuls face off Tuesday at a debate hosted by CNN and The New York Times. The debate can be streamed live at CNN’s website.
The debate, taking place at Otterbein University in Westerville, Ohio, will feature the following candidates:
Former Vice President Joe Biden
New Jersey Sen. Cory Booker
South Bend, Indiana, Mayor Pete Buttigieg
Former Housing and Urban Development Secretary Julián Castro
California Sen. Kamala Harris
Minnesota Sen. Amy Klobuchar
Former Texas Rep. Beto O’Rourke
Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders
Massachusetts Sen. Elizabeth Warren
Entrepreneur Andrew Yang
Hawaii Rep. Tulsi Gabbard
Billionaire philanthropist Tom Steyer
The winner of the Democratic primary is expected to face President Donald Trump in the general election.
Read live updates on the debate below. (You may need to refresh the page to see the latest updates.)
8:48 p.m. ET
General Motors, whose workers are currently striking in the biggest auto industry work stoppage in decades, prompts a discussion about unions and living wages.
― Paige Lavender
8:46 p.m. ET
Booker takes a swipe at Yang’s universal basic income platform, saying it’d be better to raise the minimum wage and put “the dignity back in work.”
― Nina Golgowski
8:43 p.m. ET
Castro, like Sanders, says he would create jobs by investing in infrastructure and a Green New Deal.
― Nina Golgowski
8:41 p.m. ET
Warren reiterates her argument that corporate greed, not automation, is the leading cause of job loss in the U.S. She argues for greater worker representation on corporate boards and stronger unions.
― Ja’han Jones
8:39 p.m. ET
Booker quotes Yogi Berra and says he’s “having deja vu all over again” listening to his peers debate health care and Hunter Biden. He also argues women shouldn’t be the only ones fighting for reproductive rights.
― Paige Lavender
8:38 p.m. ET
Sanders vows to put Americans to work by fixing infrastructure, hiring more teachers, canceling student debt, and creating 20 million jobs through his proposed Green New Deal.
― Nina Golgowski
8:36 p.m. ET
Harris jumps into the fierce debate on health care to call attention to the issue of women’s reproductive health. She says there has been “not nearly one word” on the topic during previous debates, even as there is a “full-on attack” on abortion access in some states.
“Poor women, women of color will die. … People need to keep their hands off of women’s bodies and let women make the decisions about their own lives,” Harris says, to loud cheers.
― Sarah Ruiz-Grossman
8:29 p.m. ET
Sanders hits back amid a fierce debate on stage on “Medicare for All”: “As somebody who wrote the damn bill … premiums are gone, co-payments are gone, deductibles are gone. ... The overwhelming majority of people will save money on their health care bills.” He also adds that “it is appropriate to acknowledge that taxes will go up.”
― Sarah Ruiz-Grossman
8:27 p.m. ET
Buttigieg, taking his first swipe at Warren over her support for “Medicare for All,” says the senator has a plan for everything except how to pay for her health care bill.
― Ja’han Jones
8:26 p.m. ET
Asked to clarify whether her health care plan will raise taxes for the middle class, Warren says she won’t sign a bill into law “that does not lower costs for middle-class families.”
“Costs will go up for the wealthy and big corporations; for hardworking middle-class families costs will go down,” she says.
― Paige Lavender
8:23 p.m. ET
Biden answers a question on his son Hunter’s business dealings with Ukraine while Biden was vice president. (The moderator notes there was no evidence of wrongdoing.) “Look, my son did nothing wrong. I did nothing wrong,” Biden says, adding that the issue should be “Trump’s corruption ― that’s what we should be focusing on.” He points repeatedly to statements Hunter Biden made earlier on Tuesday.
― Sarah Ruiz-Grossman
8:19 p.m. ET
During his first remarks, O’Rourke praises Gabbard and Buttigieg for serving in the military.
― Paige Lavender
8:18 p.m. ET
Yang says he supports impeachment but argues Democrats are losing “when we’re talking about Donald Trump” instead of discussing policies the candidates hope to advance.
― Ja’han Jones
8:17 p.m. ET
Buttigieg, on impeachment, says that “presidents 10 years or 100 years from now will look back on this moment to see whether the president is above the law.” He adds, though, that he’s running to unify the country.
― Sara Boboltz
8:16 p.m. ET
Gabbard, the only member of the House on tonight’s debate stage, says if the Senate doesn’t vote to impeach Trump he will feel “exonerated.”
― Nina Golgowski
8:15 p.m. ET
Warren: “Impeachment is the way that we establish that this man will not be permitted to break the law over and over without consequences.”
Sanders: “I look forward to not only a speedy and expeditious impeachment process, but Mitch Mcconnell has got to do the right thing and allow a free and fair trial in the Senate.”
― Nina Golgowski
8:14 p.m. ET
Klobuchar mentions some of Trump’s recent controversies, saying she’d like to know how abandoning Kurdish allies and asking the Ukrainian president to investigate Biden will “make America great again.”
― Paige Lavender
8:13 p.m. ET
Harris says Trump has “committed crimes in plain sight.”
“On this issue with Ukraine, he’s been selling out our democracy. ... I don’t think this impeachment process is gonna take very long, because as a former prosecutor, I know a confession when I see it.”
— Sarah Grossman
8:12 p.m. ET
Booker on impeachment: “This must be fair” and must be about “patriotism, not partisanship.”
— Ja’han Jones
8:10 p.m. ET
MarianWilliamson would like to remind everyone she’s still in the race.
— Sara Boboltz
8:06 p.m. ET
Warren on impeachment: “Sometimes there are issues that are bigger than politics and I think that’s the case with this impeachment inquiry. ... No one is above the law, and that includes the president of the United States.”
— Sarah Ruiz-Grossman
8:03 p.m. ET
The candidates are all officially on the stage and the debate has begun.
— Sara Boboltz