An hour in, and Sen. Amy Klobuchar leads the pack with almost nine minutes of speaking time. Mayor Pete Buttigieg follows with nearly eight.
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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Here's who spoke the most as of 9 p.m. ET
Biden's answer on oil and gas industry draws fire from GOP
From CNN's Eric Bradner
Republicans are already attacking former Vice President Joe Biden for saying in Thursday night’s debate that he’s willing to sacrifice jobs in the oil and gas industry to transition to a green economy.
Biden explained during his answer that the transition could bring a host of new, high-paying jobs -- and that he supports training workers for those jobs.
But he started his answer about whether he’s all right with sacrificing growth in the booming American oil and gas industries to push that transition forward.
“The answer’s yes,” he said.
That clip -- which had echoes of Hillary Clinton’s comments in 2016 about coal workers losing their jobs -- was quickly circulated by Republicans on social media.
“It’s clear: Joe Biden is a climate radical,” the Republican National Committee’s official @GOP Twitter account tweeted.
Sanders was asked to answer a question about race. Here’s how he responded.
Democratic debate moderator Amna Nawaz interrupted Sen. Bernie Sanders tonight when she tried to get him to answer question about the "overwhelmingly white" presidential field.
She first asked Andrew Yang, "The Democratic party relies on black, hispanic, and Asian voters. But you are the only candidate of color on the stage tonight. And the entire field remains overwhelmingly white. What message do you think this sends to voters of color?"
After Yang wrapped up his response, she asked Sanders to respond.
Here's what happened next:
Nawaz: "Thank you, Mr. Yang. Senator Sanders, I do want to put the same question to you."
Sanders: "I'll answer that question but I wanted to get back to the issue of climate change for a moment, because I do believe this is the existential issue."
Nawaz: "Senator, with all respect, this question is about race. Can you answer the question as it was asked?"
Sanders: "Because people of color in fact are going to be the people suffering most if we do not deal with climate change. And by the way, we have an obligation up here, if there are not any of our African-American brothers and sisters up here, to speak about an economy in which African-Americans are exploited, where black women die three times at higher rates than white women, where we have a criminal justice system which is racist and broken, disproportionately made up of African-Americans and Latinos and Native Americans who are in jail. We need an economy that focuses on the needs of oppressed, exploited people, and that is the African-American community. "
Watch here:
Andrew Yang: "An honor and disappointment" to be the only candidate of color on stage
Andrew Yang said Thursday that is was "both an honor and disappointment” to be the only candidate of color on the debate stage, something that happened after New Jersey Sen. Cory Booker and former Housing and Urban Development Secretary Julián Castro failed to qualify for the debate and California Sen. Kamala Harris dropped out of the race.
“It’s both an honor and disappointment to be the lone candidate of color on the stage tonight,” said Yang, who is Asian.
“I miss Kamala, I miss Cory,” Yang said, before adding with a smile, “although I think Cory will be back.”
The line drew big applause and highlighted Yang’s long-standing friendship with Booker. Yang went on to detail how he had racial epithets used against him as a child, but added, “but black and Latinos have something much more powerful working against them than words.”
Yang used the answer to pivot to his Freedom Dividend, the universal basic income proposal that is central to his campaign.
“The question is why am I the lone candidate of color on this stage? Fewer than 5% of Americans donate to political campaigns. You know what you need to donate to political campaigns? Disposable income,” Yang said. “I guarantee if we had a freedom dividend of $1,000 a month, I would not be the only candidate of color on this stage tonight.”
Watch here:
Biden says returning to normal after Trump is not enough
Former Vice President Joe Biden said that returning to “normal is not enough” when pressed Thursday night on his claims that if President Donald Trump loses in 2020, Republicans will have an “epiphany” and bipartisan cooperation will become more possible.
“With Trump out of the way, it’s not going to change things in a fundamental way,” Biden said.
Still, he said, Republicans would no longer be intimidated by the threat of primaries from pro-Trump challengers.
“I refuse to accept the notion, as some on this stage do, that we can never, never get to a place where we have cooperation again. If that’s the case, then we are dead as a country,” he said.
Biden said he has “no love” for GOP lawmakers who have attacked him and his family.
“We have to be able to get things done, and when we can’t convince them, we go out and beat them like we did in the 2018 elections in red states and in purple states,” he said.
Watch here:
Buttigieg suggests Warren is offering "false choice" with her plans
From CNN's Dan Merica
South Bend, Indiana, Mayor Pete Buttigieg subtly hit Massachusetts Sen. Elizabeth Warren in response to a question about her ambitious and costly plans, suggesting that Warren is offering the country a “false choice” by arguing candidates who don’t agree with her vision are not willing to take on the nation’s biggest fights.
“Right now, I think we’re being offered a false choice. You either have to go all the way to the extreme or it’s business as usual,” Buttigieg said. “Yes, we must deliver big ideas and yes, taxes on wealthy individuals and on corporations are going to have to go up. We can also be smart about the promises we’re making, make sure they’re promises that we can keep without the kind of taxation that economists tell us could hurt the economy.”
Buttigieg added, “Whether it’s infrastructure, childcare, housing, health, on issue after issue, we’ve got to break out of the Washington mindset that measures the bigness of an idea by the trillions of dollars it adds to the budget or the boldness of an idea by how many Americans it can antagonize.”
Buttigieg’s argument against Warren heading into the debate is that she has unrealistic proposals that don’t add up and is more interested in fighting than accomplishing the possible.
Sanders: "We need an economy that works for working families, not just the 1%"
At the heart of Sen. Bernie Sanders' campaign is income inequality in the US and a plan to eliminate large pay gaps between executives and workers which is something he addressed tonight when discussing the economy.
"Today in America, we have the highest rate of childhood poverty of almost any major country on Earth. More income and wealth inequality since the 1920s. We need an economy that works for working families, not just the 1%," Sanders said.
More on Sanders' tax plan: In September, Sanders outlined his tax plan and how much large corporations would pay in taxes. These taxes are aimed at companies with large pay gaps between their executives and workers.
According to the campaign, if Sander's income inequality tax were in effect last year, "McDonald's would have paid up to $110.9 million more in taxes, Walmart would have paid up to $793.8 million more in taxes, JPMorganChase would have paid up to $991.6 million more in taxes, Home Depot would have paid up to $538.2 million more in taxes, and American Airlines would have paid up to $18.8 million more in taxes."
Watch here:
Here's who spoke the most so far
We're tracking candidates' speaking times for tonight's debate. After the first 30 minutes, Sen. Elizabeth Warren leads the group with more than four minutes, followed by Mayor Pete Buttigieg with more than three.
Tom Steyer says his business experience sets him apart from Democratic field
From CNN's Eric Bradner
Investor Tom Steyer sought to differentiate himself from the rest of the Democratic presidential field Thursday night by touting his business experience.
“I built a business over 30 years from scratch,” Steyer said. He said Democrats will need to challenge Trump on the growing economy.
“My experience -- building a business, understanding how to make that happen -- means I can go toe to toe with Mr. Trump.”
“I think that’s different from other people on this stage,” he said. Noting that Trump in 2016 defeated one of the best-prepared presidential candidates in history, he said, “I have a different, unconventional way of attacking a different, unconventional candidate.”
Watch here: